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After returning back from the past, Albus and Scorpius land in the deans office with their guardians. Hermione Granger (in red) is also in the room because she aided the two main characters to their return to the present. Through this excursion it costed lives for a time period, but after convincing the people of the past to help their present became normal again.
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The exposition of the play where the cast aims their wands at the antagonist, Delphi Diggory. The cast travels to 1981, the night Harry Potter was attacked. Restraining Delpini, preventing her from talking to he who should not be named.
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Senior Benjamin Kish and Senior Michael John display the despair and hopelessness Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy feel while their children are missing. Ginny Weasley, Junior Naama Goldberg, in between the two only arousing the tension. “There is a certain fatherly maturity, especially in the beginning, as the show goes on there’s a bit more adventure to it,” Kish said.
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Sidhu and Rotten preparing for a dive into the pipes, accompanied by Moaning Myrtle. About to go back to the past to rewrite the future for the third time.
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Rotten in the presence of the late Professor Snape, by senior Mason Lee. The reality she landed in was dominated by Voldemort; no Harry Potter, no Albus.
WJ’s annual fall play closed on Saturday, Nov 15, after a two weekend run. WJ Stage will now put up their broomsticks until the next production in the spring. “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (High School Edition)” is an adaptation of the original, where students embody the beloved characters of their childhood which takes place 19 years after the big three– Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger– saved the wizarding world from Voldemort’s Horcruxes (objects that Voldemort hid pieces of his soul in to achieve immortality). A new generation of wizards arise, Harry Potter’s son, Albus, befriends Draco Malfoy’s child, Scorpius. What was a ferocious rivalry between Potter and Malfoy becomes a friendship. Relationships suffer, but after a senTIMEmental moment, they rebuild stronger than before.
Once darkness surrounded the audience, we were greeted with the only narration of the play. A greeting and a warning about the loud noise and strobing lights, which I appreciated. After that, we started our journey in 2017 to Hogwarts with one of the main characters, Albus Potter, junior Kolton Sidhu. An exciting beginning as we get to see the new generations’ train ride experience, where Rose Granger-Weasley, junior Naama Goldberg, geeks out about their upcoming adventure. This is where they meet the second main character, Scorpius Malfoy, senior Sasha Rotton. Goldberg performed the disgust of interacting with a Malfoy convincingly.
Although these beginning scenes moved fast, I was able to follow along, but later in the play, I began to lose track. We moved from 2017 to 2020 in about 20 minutes, which didn’t allow me to build empathy towards the characters and their schooling experience. There was a time when Hogwarts students spent what felt like 10 minutes on lifting brooms, a part that was comedic the first couple of times but ran longer than expected. With some of the musical cutaways, I thought the play would turn into a musical, which honestly would have been a more fulfilling performance.
Harry Potter is a very familiar character, most recognized by his glasses, scar and accent. Throughout the series, everyone has a British accent, while in the play, most people attempted this accent but it wasn’t successfully maintained.
The crew made sure to switch the settings swiftly, taking mere seconds before the next scene. During these switches though, the auditorium was silent, no narration or context on what was going to happen next. When changes in the year started to happen, the year was projected onto the screen to the left of the stage. Although only one of the speakers was working, the mics worked just fine.
This story progressed when Amos Diggory, junior Alon Saroya, longed for the return of his son Cedric Diggory, asking Potter to go back in time with a time turner. This object is forbidden, but Albus overhears the conversation from the staircase and wants to help Diggory. Junior Guhner Jones, Delphini Diggory, is the undercover antagonist who manages to persuade the main characters to go on the dangerous excursion.
Albus was more motivated to get away from home since he had an argument with his father. Senior Benjamin Kish (Harry Potter) and Sidhu conveyed this heated argument with passion, the strong tone of Kish’s voice echoing. Draco Malfoy was played by senior Michael John who portrayed fatherly worry very strongly. Although during his performance, he startled some of the audience when he yelled which blew out the mic just a little. When the Malfoy’s reunited, John was able to perform the relief of a worried father. Rotton did a great job being the voice of reason, and because of the lack of narration, sometimes she would describe things that would fill in the gaps of the story.
The cast and ensemble did a great job with this play. I can’t blame them for following a script and the logic that follows with the story. The crew did a wonderful job with the scene switches, and the props were on point. Vibes were there.Though the performances didn’t feel representative of the full skill of WJ actors, I’m glad I went, both for the experience and to support the cast and crew.
