"This play got decidedly mixed reviews from my family. First the good news: The special effects were great. The many deft visual effects made this a special Broadway-caliber experience. (The theater was beautiful.) We all agreed the acting was top notch. We are not rabid Harry Potter fans, however. We felt that there was material the true Potter fans were reacting to that went over our heads. The writing accomplished something amazing: we felt the story was rushed and too drawn out at the same time! Three hours was simply too long to sit through and despite the length we felt that some of the character development was lacking. Several of the scary parts were too much for my 8 year old. I'd suggest age 10 and above for this play. Overall, I'd recommend to big fans of the Potter series, but casual fans can skip this one."
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Broadway.com Customer on Jan 27, 2025
Special effects
"The special effects were amazing. The actors did a wonderful job with their lines. The play starts off very slow but thankfully it picks up! "
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Broadway.com Customer on Dec 28, 2024
Not what I expected
"The special effects were great! We all loved those. But I have read all the books and seen all the movies and was a little confused the first part of it and thought it was a musical instead of a play but that didn't really bother me. It just okay...just not one of my favorites at all."
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Broadway.com Customer on Dec 5, 2024
Disappointing characters
"The magic and theatricality were engaging. The characterisation was not. Albus Potter didn’t look, sound or move like a teenager. He and many of the others gave one note performances. Shouting, rushing about and speaking quickly isn’t the only way to convey complex emotions. The special effects were terrific and towards the end there were moments of genuine drama. Read a synopsis first because the plot is very dense. "
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Kathy G from Sydney on Oct 16, 2024
A bit disappointed
"It’s not a musical but sold as such
Way too long and besides the effects, the script itself was not as engaging
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Broadway.com Customer on Jul 13, 2024
The thin strain holding it all together
"The elements of the show pertaining magic and scene work is impressive, and the Malfoy boy's acting was marvelous, but that is all that can be said on the positive side for this show. The plot itself is super thin, and we are left with alot of plot-contradictions. This is sub-par all of the harry potter books + movies by a long shot, and this extends even the Fantastic beasts movies.."
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Broadway.com Customer on Apr 24, 2025
Could be wrapped up thighter
"The show have great special effects. The magical is there. Visually, this is at the top for a broadway show. However, the scenario is weak and the lines are unconsistent. The dialogues are either talked way too fast, or are very very slow. Some scenes are not that relevant and just seem to be an excuse to pack all details of the serie of movie. It makes some part boring, useless and even in contradiction with the real story of Harry Potter (Snape is alive, Harry’s mom and Hermione are now afro-americans, and McGonagal is the principal despite 20 years later…). Many scenes could have been tighten if not cut completly, which would have make the show much more dynamic. Even more the last looooooong predictable monologue at the end. The show does too much too many for nothing, and 3 hours how monologues difficult to hear could be very long for kids. "
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Broadway.com Customer on Jan 5, 2025
It’s.. odd
"I assume part of the issue is merging it from two plays to one, but the pacing is awful. The effects are fantastic, the story is.. convoluted and a bit unnecessary, the acting is meh.. a bit too much shouting lines at each other.
Overall it's fine? Not something I'd see again but it's harry potter so it's fun enough."
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Broadway.com Customer on Dec 14, 2024
Don’t go unless you are extremely knowledgeable about history/Harry Potter
"The special affects were amazing. If you are not deeply knowledgeable about the Harry Potter history, you have no idea what is going on. By the end I got the drift but story line was convoluted. 2 of our group liked it a lot but they were very knowledgeable about potter past. Would not recommend "
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Broadway.com Customer on Nov 17, 2024
Disappointed
"I did not like that story lines were changed from the way it was written. None of the characters were endearing and did not develop an emotional interest. It was just a long, when will it end, play. I kept trying to “root” for ANY of the characters, but by the end, I really didn’t care. We looked forward to this a long time and assumed it would be “wonderful, magical, fantastic…” it was not."
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Broadway.com Customer on Oct 24, 2024
The plot wasn’t good enough
"The plot felt like it wasn’t well-thought-out. It felt like the writers knew the audience liked the 4th movie and they just rehashed it.. the tricks were very good and cool but we thought it wasn’t enough."
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Broadway.com Customer on Sep 15, 2024
OG Harry Potter Fan
"The effects in this were truly magical! The story line itself felt out of place for the original Harry Potter Series. "
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Carlyle J from Layton on Jul 30, 2024
Long and boring
"The second half was a bit better than the first half since there was some action. But the show itself was overall boring and I was falling asleep. Never was a Harry Potter fan so maybe that's why? I couldn't follow the story and wasn't clear to me and didn't care about any of the characters. "
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Broadway.com Customer on Jun 16, 2026
Convoluted, pretentious, and empty.
"I so wanted to love this show. And after 5 minutes I knew I would leave feeling so disappointed and empty handed.
I have seen hundreds of musicals and plays and shows, everywhere.
And here, of all things, there was no magic.
No magic feeling, no sense of wonder, no mystery.
Special effects? Abundantly, sure. Some spectacular, most just average.
The music has no flavor, the acting is plain and rushed, boy I could spend the whole day sharing details about this show not being able to deliver the "It's time to believe in magic again" promise.
I hate to have hated it.
I stayed until the very end, feeling more and more bored and tired of it all. I could have left after those first five minutes, when I already knew, and saved myself three hours of nonsense."
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Norberto J from Miami on Apr 17, 2025
Much too long
"I liked the idea of the plot but it was too long. I don’t think children would be able to understand it or have the attention span needed for over three hours. The dialogue was hard to understand because of the fake British accents and the actors were almost stepping on each other’s lines. The special effects were done really well. If you enjoy a magic show, then this would be great, but it was only marginally good for a play."
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John Y from Celebration on Aug 24, 2024
Not for me
"Lovely theater but very hard to hear some of the actors. Effects were great, play was too long. If you don’t know the Harry Potter story, don’t go. "
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Broadway.com Customer on Jul 13, 2024
Boring
"Awesome visuals and pyrotechnics. There were some funny lines as well but overall I found the storyline boring. Left at intermission. "
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Broadway.com Customer on Oct 19, 2025
Loud and confusing.
"Too loud and the story was difficult to follow. We had three great center orchestra aisle seats and walked out during intermission. Our 8 year old asked, “when can we go?”"
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Broadway.com Customer on Aug 24, 2025
Disappointing installment of the story
"I liked the stage set, music, and special effects. I did not like the plot/script, storyline or casting. A lot of over-acting. Adult themes. A mess of a story that only shined in the parts from movies (can't explain more without spoiling)."
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Broadway.com Customer on Oct 17, 2024
Chaotic story line
"The first 20 minutes of the show was extremely chaotic and I was planning on leaving during the intermission. The next 30 minutes got better and then all the way up to the end of act 1 I started enjoying it. The special effects were amazing. I was excited during intermission. During act 2 the first 20 minutes were good but past that I could have done without. The show is entirely too long and doesn’t need to be close to 4 hours total. I have watched all the Harry Potter movies and read all the books. I love Harry Potter and was really excited for this show. I don’t think I’ve ever disliked a show so much that I was debating leaving. Would not recommend to anyone to be honest. "
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Lauren T from Austin on Aug 26, 2024
Not a big fan of the story telling
"The specials effects were awesome, however I feel like that’s what you come to the show to watch. The plot isn’t there, I was confused half of the time. It was rushed, it was cheesy. The actors did not encompass the true characters. I am not a fan of the play. "
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Broadway.com Customer on Nov 11, 2025
Sadly disappointing
"We were looking forward to this play, being long time Harry Potter fans and appreciating Broadway theatre and artists. Unfortunately the storyline was terrible and overall the play was excessively long with disappointing performances by most of the actors (although I attribute this to being most directly related to the poor script and plot). There were good special effects, but overall I would not waste the money to see this play for that alone. Within the first 15 minutes we had wished that we had made another show option instead!"
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Christy E from Newport Beach on Jun 1, 2025
Not worth the time or money
"Some of the special affects were cool but the acoustics were horrible. Hard to understand story line too"
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Broadway.com Customer on Jan 13, 2025
Bad story bad writing
"Special effects were good - but the story was poor and the attempt at humor bad. Poorly written dialogue and relatively unlikely characters. "
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Zachary P from Larkspur on Aug 8, 2024
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About
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Adventure runs in the family. When Harry Potter’s head-strong son Albus befriends the son of his fiercest rival, Draco Malfoy, it sparks an unbelievable new journey for them all—with the power to change the past and future forever. Prepare for a mind-blowing race through time, spectacular spells, and an epic battle, all brought to life with the most astonishing theatrical magic ever seen on stage. “You’ll be wondering ‘how’d they do that?’ for days to come” (People Magazine).
Experience the wizarding world like never before from the moment you arrive. The entire theatre has been transformed with hidden surprises to discover around every corner. “It’s a marvel of imagination, as magical as any spell or potion” (The New York Times).
