JK goes Harry potty!
Author dons £465 winged stilettos and a slithering Slytherin ring – in her wizard red carpet welcome for epic Potter play
AUTHOR J.K. Rowling brought a sprinkling of fashion magic to the launch of the new Harry Potter play yesterday, with a stunning pair of winged stilettos.
The butterfly design paid homage to the logo of the blockbuster West End show Harry Potter And The Cursed Child, which depicts a young boy in a nest which has wings
Ms Rowling’s £465 Chiara butterfly sandals, by designer Sophia Webster, were not the only fashion choice to catch fans’ attention. She also wore a serpent ring, reminiscent of the snake-like symbol of the Slytherin House at Hogwarts – the rival to her hero’s Gryffindor.
One fan joked on Twitter: ‘Jo, what’s with the snake ring, you traitor.’
Ms Rowling said it was ‘lovely’ to be back on the red carpet, five years after the last Harry Potter film was released. ‘It’s been quite a long time obviously since I have been to a Potter opening night or a premiere,’ she said. ‘I’m having slight flashbacks.’
The author admitted that she had initially been reluctant to bring her creations to the stage. She said: ‘It was daunting. I have had probably three offers a week for the last decade to do a musical or a play or an ice show or an opera. You name it and I’ve been asked to do it.’
The new show, written by playwright Jack Thorne, lasts a total of
Fans wowed by a flying Dementor
five hours and 15 minutes, split into two parts that can be watched separately. Set 19 years after the last book, Harry is now a father of three and married to Ginny.
The show starts as they wave their middle child, Albus, off to Hogwarts, but the youngster struggles with the weight of his family legacy.
Rowling was joined on the red carpet by London Mayor Sadiq Khan, Downton Abbey’s Laura Carmichael and actress Lesley Manville.
The show is already a box-office and critical hit. Writing in today’s Event magazine, Mail on Sunday reviewer Georgina Brown called it a ‘visually astounding production [which] puts the wand into wonder’.
Fans at yesterday’s performance burst into applause after some of the show’s set pieces – but were told not to reveal details of the plot.
There was particular praise for a sequence in which Harry enters the Ministry of Magic, where he now works, through a phone box, and for the appearance of an evil Dementor which flew up into the gods.
Fans also gathered at bookshops at last night as they opened at midnight for the publication of the script, which is set to break sales records.