Harry Potter and the Cursed Child's Rachel Christopher on Identifying With Hermione and How the Play Is a Love Letter to Inclusivity

Rachel Christopher plays Hogwarts’ resident know-it-all, now Minister for Magic, Hermione Granger in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on Broadway. The actress chatted with Broadway.com Managing Editor Beth Stevens about bringing the iconic character to life on stage and inhabiting a world of theatrical magic.

“I grew up reading these books. I love this story. I used to stay up at night with my best friend reading the books the moment that they came out. It was an event to go to the bookstore and find which one had a copy. Sometimes it was a line for blocks,” Christopher reminisces. “I remember feeling so engaged and really connected to that world and all of the other people reading it. No book had quite done that for me before.”

In spite of her affinity for the series, Christopher was initially skeptical about the prospect of Harry Potter being adapted for the stage. “I was hoping that they wouldn't try to recreate all of the magic we had already seen in the movies. I was so surprised and thankful at the way that the play had also become this kind of love letter to theater and to how theater can be magical and how inclusive it can be, and how human bodies can tell stories of extraordinary size and magic.”

Being a part of the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child cast has given Christopher a chance to perform alongside Tom Felton, who also portrayed Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter film franchise. “I tell him all the time, I think he's a theater man," she says. "I think he is going to be making plays for a long time after this, because the way he entered our building was with such generosity and such excitement to be a part of a team effort, which is really what theater is. There is no play that is made by just one person.”

Playing Hermione means the world to Christopher, who says the bookish female lead was always her favorite character. “I related to her so much because I'm a bookie girl. I loved school, I loved learning things. I also loved being in community; friendship is one of the most important things to me," she continues. "I think what is loudest to me about Hermione is the ways in which she is so deeply committed to trying to maintain connection with the people that she loves and trying to make sure that they are seen and safe in life.”

When tasked with portraying Hermione as an adult, Christopher says she still has “access to that childhood curiosity, that intense desire to solve a problem or understand what makes something tick. But I also think you get to see the ways in which all of her commitment to all of those friendships have really blossomed, have really got her to where she wants to be," she adds. "That is not just the result of somebody with a big brain, it's the result of someone with a really big heart." 

Speaking to the choice to cast Hermione as a Black woman, Christopher says, “I think that there is this element of, not just surprise, but a leaning forward and realizing that these books, this story and these characters are actually far more encompassing and larger than I think folks imagine. Now they're getting to see how wide the wizarding world actually is and can be, so it's very exciting to be on the ride with people.”

Christopher was previously on Broadway in Jocelyn Bioh’s ensemble-driven play Jaja’s African Hair Braiding. She played a customer at an African braiding salon in Harlem, and was on stage for almost the entire show. She expresses a similar sentiment about representation in that production. “Jaja might be one of my favorite collaborations I've ever had because it was a play about so many different types of women that I have met and spent hours of my life with that I have never seen on a stage of any kind," she recalls. "That on its own was just an extraordinary gift to me and I think to anybody who got to see that show. It was a play that required a lot of exploration and deep investment.”

Christopher made her Broadway debut in the 2022 revival of Ntozake Shange’s landmark choreopoem for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf. “Those two productions were so centered around what the actor can do and really on the human body and how the human body can tell a story. I began to really have this craving to be a part of a play in which the actor was only one part of the story that was being told—that really there was an entire world being projected on stage and we as performers have to collaborate with each other, but also different elements of tech and artistry that we aren't necessarily in charge of. Harry Potter became that for me because it has untold amounts of spectacle. It has incredible movement. It is such a whirlwind of a piece and if you really trust it, it'll take you off the ground.”

Watch the full interview below!

Get tickets to Harry Potter and the Cursed Child!