Editor’s Note: This article contains spoilers for “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.”
The Segerstrom Center for the Arts is hosting “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” as part of its North American Tour. The Tony Award-winning production brings a magical story to life in spectacular fashion, with tickets starting at $49 and running in Costa Mesa July 11-25. With a runtime of 2 hours and 54 minutes, the play fully immerses audiences into the Wizarding World like never before.
An original story written by Jack Thorne, John Tiffany and J.K. Rowling, “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” takes place nineteen years after the events of Rowling’s 2007 novel, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.” In the 2016 play, the plot follows Harry Potter’s son, Albus Severus Potter (Adam Grant Morrison), and Draco Malfoy’s son, Scorpius Malfoy (David Fine). While the two boys develop a deep friendship, the long-standing rivalry between their fathers, Harry Potter (Nick Dillenburg) and Draco Malfoy (Ryan Hallahan), creates tension that echoes throughout the story.
Familiar faces, including Hermione Granger (Rachel Leslie), Ron Weasley (Matt Harrington), Severus Snape (Larry Yando) and Cedric Diggory (Josh Bates), return to the stage, giving longtime fans a welcoming nostalgia. At the same time, the story is propelled in unexpected directions as new characters are introduced, like Delphi Diggory (Julia Nightingale), who is introduced into the story as Cedric’s cousin.
The plot centers on a Time-Turner — first introduced in “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” — a tool that allows the characters to travel through time and make changes to history. Hoping to undo one of the wizarding world’s greatest tragedies, Albus and Scorpius travel back in time to prevent Cedric’s death. With every attempt, history shifts in dangerous and unexpected ways, forcing the boys to confront the consequences of changing history.
For longtime fans, these journeys help recreate some of the franchise’s most memorable moments. Albus and Scorpius go back and forth, realizing that one little change can determine an entirely different course of history. After saving Cedric, the boys learn that one change altered the entirety of history, making it so Albus was never born and Cedric becomes a Death Eater. Scorpius then returns back in time to bring Albus back, rewriting history over and over again.
Returning to the Triwizard Tournament from “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” audiences are reintroduced to beloved characters, this time through altered timelines. While the nostalgic callback is endearing, the story becomes increasingly suspenseful as Albus and Scorpius scramble to repair the damage they have caused.
The biggest revelation occurs when it is revealed that Delphi is not Cedric’s cousin, but the child of the series’s villains Lord Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestrange, adopting the Diggory name to alter the history of her father. Manipulating their grief and naivety, Delphi convinces the boys that Cedric’s death should have never happened, and they feel the pressure to go back and save him. Much of this conflict stems from Albus’ complicated relationship with Harry, as he struggles under the weight of his father’s legacy and questions whether so many sacrifices were worth one person’s survival.
The final act brings Harry, Albus, Scorpius, Draco, Hermione and Ron together to prevent Delphi from changing the outcome of Voldemort’s failed attempt to kill baby Harry. The team engages in a battle with her, defeating her and sending her to Azkaban. The true ending comes as Harry and Albus begin to heal their strained relationship, while Draco and Scorpius also find a renewed understanding of one another, giving the play an emotionally satisfying conclusion.
While the story is nostalgic and fast-paced, the lights, sound and costume production of the play is the true star, bringing magic to the stage. Every Time-Turner scene shook the stage, displaying an optical illusion to make it seem like the viewers were moving through time. Spells explode with convincing bursts of light, smoke and fire, while magical transformations happen in full view of the audience with astonishing speed. While there is some serious behind-the-scenes work, it genuinely feels as though the Wizarding World exists beyond the limited world it’s created in — an experience that many felt when Rowling first released the books and then again when the movies hit the big screen.
For Harry Potter fans, “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” offers more than another visit to Hogwarts. It gives audiences the chance to grow alongside characters they have loved for decades by seeing Harry, Ron and Hermione not as students, but as parents facing challenges of their own. Balancing heartfelt nostalgia with an original story, the production proves there are still new adventures waiting in the Wizarding World. Even after all these years, the magic still hasn’t faded.
Avani Kumar is a summer 2026 Assistant Arts & Entertainment Editor. She can be reached at avani1@uci.edu.
Edited by Corinna Chin and Riley Schnittger.
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