Brits on Broadway are the magnificent seven

Stars cast a spell as Harry Potter show wows New York

FOR all the brilliant magic in Harry Potter And The Cursed Child, which has crossed the Atlantic and landed on Broadway, where it will run . . . probably for ever... it’s the moments about family, love, loss and friendship that make it soar.

The two-part show — the biggest money-making drama in Broadway history — is trimmer than the production I first saw (and loved) in London nearly two years ago.

The producers, Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender, told me there have been some changes. ‘There are a few re-writes, and technically we’ve done a lot. It’s so much tighter all the way through,’ Friedman acknowledged.

Also, the performances by the (magnificent) seven actors, who were in the original London cast and have all transferred to Broadway — pictured left to right, Paul Thornley, Noma Dumezweni, Jamie Parker, Sam Clemmett, Poppy Miller, Alex Price and Anthony Boyle — are superb. They’re richer and deeper. And the U.S. cast members — all 33 of them — are tops, too.

At one point, Poppy Miller as Ginny Weasley — who is married to the grown-up Harry Potter (Jamie Parker) and mother of troubled Albus Potter (Sam Clemmett) — roars like a lioness at another character, and both actress and character have a new-found confidence.

I asked whether her part had been rewritten. Director John Tiffany shook his head, then smiled. ‘It’s just about playing a part and owning it.’

Ms Dumezweni put it another way: ‘I played Hermione for a year in London, and then left the cast and lived life with my family. Did some other work.

‘And coming back to play Hermione, I discovered things about her that I could investigate. I dug deep into her. We all have found richer seams in our characters.’

It’s wonderful watching the seven, who aren’t what you would call big-star names, raise their game. They’re the theatre magic in the Potter shows.

WHeN I first heard that the Cursed Child was going into the Lyric Theatre on 43rd Street, I thought it was an act of folly.

I’ve sat through countless shows there and always felt the place was a dump. As big as a barn — and with just about the same ambience.

‘It had no atmosphere,’ Callender agreed, adding that he, Friedman and Tiffany, along with writer and producer J.K. Rowling, were initially not interested.

But ATG, the London-based Ambassador Theatre Group, asked them to re-consider. ATG outlined a $33 million renovation plan that reduced the size of the auditorium, improving sightlines and seating. And they were hooked.

Designer Christine Jones teamed up with Brett J. Banakis to decorate the auditorium, and the huge foyer areas, and create what I call a ‘huggable’ atmosphere.

They introduced monogrammed ‘H’ for Hogwarts wallpaper and carpets.

Friedman showed me around the Patronus Room, featuring specially commissioned paintings of the animal guardians of the wizards and witches in the Potter stories — Harry’s patronus is a stag (right); Professor Albus Dumbledore’s is a phoenix; Professor Minerva McGonagall’s is a cat; Hermione Granger’s is an otter; and Ginny Weasley’s is a horse.

‘The lobby creates the right kind of atmosphere without it being turned into a theme park,’ Callender noted.

When I saw both parts of Cursed Child at the Lyric, I was struck by the fact that even though millions of copies of the script have been sold, many in the audience said they were waiting until after they’d seen the shows to read it.

A young woman sitting next to me got the script for Christmas, but hadn’t opened it. It was quite something to hear her gasping as the play’s secrets were revealed.

The play — written by Jack

Thorne and based on an origiory nal sto he, J.K. rowling and directo or Tiffany came up with — is the best new drama of the Broadway season.

The darker elements of Curse how many people are with how many people are feeling about the state of the Trump presidency.

Not only that, as I observed earlier the most heart-breakoments ing come when a m father and his son try to comcate; munic or when a mother attemp to protect her child.

When the seven British stars took their bows, I looked at their faces and saw in their eyes the excitement of making it on Broadway.

Michael Crawford told me when he did Phantom in New

York: ‘You don’t know the meaning of success until you’ve made it on Broadway.’

Cursed Child has its official first night on sunday, opening with a phenomenal $50 million already in the box office; and more tickets going on sale next week.

I asked Friedman and Callender if rowling had changed her mind about not allowing it to be filmed.

‘Jo rowling is absolutely adamant that this will never be a film,’ Friedman said. ‘This was created for the stage, and that’s how it’s going to be.’

a production of Cursed Child opens next spring in Melbourne; and plans are being studied for it to play fixed, long runs in other U.s. cities.