Harry Potter

[Brooks0214]

Posted: 9/17/18 at 11:43pm

Should you watch Cursed Child without reading the book first or read the book then see the play? What were your thoughts on the new story and play?

[kmissa]

Posted: 9/18/18 at 12:29am

Don’t read the books.

[jordynmcanany]

Posted: 9/18/18 at 1:12am

It depends on what you're looking to get out of the experience.

 

Personally, for me, I was a huge Harry Potter fan so I read the book immediately when it came out. I adored it, but I know a lot of people weren't huge fans. That said, I think it's definitely easier to read if you have a theatre background, which obviously everyone on here does. So I think most of the people who didn't enjoy it didn't know what to expect out of a script.

One downfall is that you will probably have an image of the characters in your head. But I guess this could be a good thing as well. I know for me, Sam's portrayal of Albus very closely align to what I would have done with the character. But Anthony's Scorpius is pretty far from what I imagined (albeit absolutely brilliant! Seriously, this kid deserved the tony). It was a bit upsetting to me when the character went in a different direction than I had though, however, and I obviously wouldn't have had that issue if I hadn't read the book first.

On the flipside, I think reading the book has helped me not get too attached to one actor. While I'm going to be devastated when the original cast leaves (Seriously, Jamie Parker IS Harry Potter), I also think it would've been worse if I had based my idea of the character on the actor's portrayal.

But again, this is coming from the perspective of not only a theatre fan, but a HUGE potterhead. If you're a more casual fan, I'd probably just watch the play first.

 

If you're talking about the original 7 books, as long as you've seen the movies you'll be able to follow along with the play. Although there are some small references that you might not get, because they either mention events or characters that only appear in the books. These, however, are all very minor. There's also a summary of each of the 7 books (more or less the big events that happened in them) in the playbill, so if you absolutely haven't seen or read anything, the play will make sense, but you definitely won't get the full experience.

 

Sorry for the tl;dr. Just wanted to give a very thorough opinion :)

[willep]

Posted: 9/18/18 at 7:23am

I’m very much a supporter of not reading the script before seeing it. I’m a huge Harry Potter fan, but when it came out i knew it was something that needed to be seen more than read. I’ve read it since seeing it, and it doesn’t really do justice to the production and i can see why people weren’t as excited about just reading it first. It is meant to be experienced in the theatre with all its twists and surprises. At one point I talked to the director and he even said that they really didn’t want to release the script, but they knew it would leak out if they didn’t.

[Megsamegatron]

Posted: 9/18/18 at 12:00pm

I also am a supporter of not reading the script before seeing the play, it's the experience in the theater that makes it special. Since seeing it the first time not knowing the script I have taken several people and they have a bigger reaction and enjoy it not knowing what is going to happen. Now when I took my mom, she did read the script beforehand and did still love the twisted and parts that aren't explained thoroughly in the script. She wanted to read it beforehand in case she couldn't understand the accents.

 

 

 

[ilysespieces]

Posted: 9/18/18 at 12:00pm

willep said: "I’m very much a supporter of not reading the script before seeing it. I’m a huge Harry Potter fan, but when it came out i knew it was something that needed to be seen more than read. I’ve read it since seeing it, and it doesn’t really do justice to the production and i can see why people weren’t as excited about just reading it first. It is meant to be experienced in the theatre with all its twists and surprises.At one point I talked to the director and he even said that they really didn’t want to release the script, but they knew it would leak out if they didn’t."

I totally agree with you. Of all my friends who are Harry Potter fans who've seen the show, the ones who love it the most went in blind (which I did). It's 100% something to see and not read, especially if you're a fan of the books.

[haterobics]

Posted: 9/18/18 at 12:09pm

I try to read any novel ahead of its stage adaptation.

But never a play script ahead of seeing it staged.

[thedrybandit]

Posted: 9/18/18 at 12:14pm

I've owned the script since it came out, but didn't read it since they pretty quickly announced the Broadway transfer, and it was worth the wait. I would recommend seeing the show without reading it beforehand - I was surprised by everything, and stuff that I felt wouldn't have worked for me on paper if I'd read it first worked because of the staging and production overall.

As far as thoughts on the story go, I really enjoyed it. I won't say more, because it really should be experienced first hand, especially by Potter fans. It's a solid entry, with minor flaws, but overall incredibly enjoyable. Whenever you see it, have fun!

[dramamama611]

Posted: 9/18/18 at 12:40pm

To the op:  ARE you referring the the actual script (it wasn't a novel) that was published or are you referring to the original 7 novels?

[cali8]

Posted: 9/18/18 at 1:02pm

I strongly recommend going into the play cold -- don't read first. The surprises are best experienced in the theatre. OP, there are more thoughts on this topic in this thread: https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.php?thread=1109066&page=1

jordynmcanany, good point about attachment to actors' portrayals. I saw the play before reading the script, so the current portrayals are definitive in my mind, especially those of Harry, Albus, and, most of all, Scorpius (agree Anthony Boyle is brilliant here).

[Danielle0314]

Posted: 9/18/18 at 2:20pm

Ditto everything Jordyn said!

My best friend and I went, I read the script prior, she did not. We both enjoyed it immensely. So in our case it didn't matter.

[RemlapLBC]

Posted: 9/18/18 at 4:05pm

Read the 7 original books.  Don't read the play until after.   However, after seeing the show, I didn't have a desire to read the script anyway.  The show is amazing.

I've heard it summed up, Cursed Child is an amazing play, and just an ok book.