By Joe Contreras, Latin Life Denver Media. (see video trailer below)

What if you could go back in time and change a few things with an object that has the power to change the past and future forever. But, what if the things you change only make matters worse. That is the basic story line in a very complicated story of ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ currently playing at the Buell Theatre at the DCPA through June 21, 2026. TICKETS

Even if you are not a Harry Potter aficionado this production will leave you wishing you were. Harry Potter is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the best selling fantasy series by author J.K. Rowling. The production includes some of the most astonishing theatrical immersive magic ever seen on stage. At times I thought I was watching a well edited movie. The time tunnel video and audio effects warps the audiences sensations as you ride along on this epic adventure.

The numerous set design changes are seamless and spectacular. Harry Potter and Cursed Child is not a musical but a three hour fast paced play with a dance type choreography that serves as a transition between scenes. There are 35 people in the cast and 35 more backstage hands working their magic to pull off all the illusions.

The winner of six Tony Awards including Best Play, Harry Potter And The Cursed Child is the eighth book in the series and has enabled the franchise to become the most profitable of all time at over $35 billion.

In the first book, “The Child Who Lived” Harry Potter is an orphan baby who survives a deadly curse by the dark wizard Lord Voldemort which leaves him with a lightening bolt scar on his forehead and his parents dead. At 11 years old Harry Potter discovers he is a wizard and attends Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and sets out defeat the dark wizard Lord Voldemort and his death eaters.

In the “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” it is now 2017 some19 years after the Battle of Hogwarts, the final conflict of the Second Wizarding War in the Harry Potter series. Harry is the Head of Magical Law Enforcement. Harry Potter (Nick Dillenburg) is now a grown man, married, with kids of his own. Albus (Adam Grant Morrison) is Harry’s second son.

Growing up as an abused orphan, Harry struggles to communicate with his son. Never having a father as a role model, he lashes out defensively when he feels rejected or overwhelmed. During one of those outbursts Harry shouts at his son Albus, telling him he wishes that he was not his son. It leaves an emotion scar on Albus that he longs to erase.

Hermione (Rachel Leslie) is the Minister for Magic. She works alongside Harry to protect the wizarding world and is portrayed as a powerful, brilliant leader. She is the loving wife to Ron Weasley (Matt Harrington), and the mother of their two children. Weasly runs the local joke shop and is also a friend of Harry Potter.

Its 2017, Harry Potter puts Albus on a train to the wizarding school, Hogwarts. On the train Albus meets and becomes friends with Scorpius Malfoy (Aidan Close), the son of Harry’s fiercest enemy, Draco (Ryab Hallahan). The two bond over being the sons of famous/infamous fathers and decide to steal a time machine artifact to right a historical tragedy and forge their own destinies.

Albus Potter seeks to correct the tragic death of Cedric Diggory (Josh Bates). Albus who died during the Triwizard Tournament. Albus believes Cedric’s death was an unjust tragedy and he was responsible for it.

Prompted by Cedric’s father, Amos, (Andy Pogson) Albus uses an illegal Time-Turner to go back to the Triwizard Tournament in an attempt to prevent Cedric from winning and being killed in the graveyard.

In an alternate timeline created by the meddling of Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy.  Cedric Diggory becomes a death eater and in fact is instrumental in helping to achieve victory for Lord Voldemort (Nathan Hosner) and his followers, leading to a timeline of an imaginary society characterized by oppressive societal control, dehumanization, environmental degradation, widespread suffering timeline.

They’re helped in this adventure by Delphi (Julia Nightingale), a woman whose family was affected by the tragedy. However, nothing goes as planned for Albus and Scorpius, as their attempts to alter the past end up horribly affecting the future, and their teen rebellion becomes a desperate attempt to save the world.

With all the time travel going on in this production I couldn’t help being reminded of the 1985 movie ‘Back To The Future’ starring Michael J. Fox as Marty. Traveling through time in a modified DeLorean car, Marty encounters young versions of his parents, and must make sure that they fall in love, or he’ll cease to exist. Even more dauntingly, Marty has to return to his own time and save the life of Doc Brown.

In the end you may find yourself asking; so who is the cursed child? You will have to make that evaluation on your own.

‘Harry Potter And The Cursed Child’ by Jack Thorne based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne & John Tiffany plays the Buell Theatre at Denver Center for the Performing Arts through June 21, 2026.

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