It was originally announced May 22, 2019, and now, nearly three years later, Toronto‘s production of the Canadian premiere of the world’s most awarded new play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, is finally well underway.
The cast and creative team met in person for the first time Monday at the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre while the soon-to-be home of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child — the CAA Ed Mirvish theatre — continues to undergo a more than $5-million renovation.
This is the first time a show will have physically altered the theatre’s lobby and auditorium — with the goal of creating an immersive experience upon entry.
The massive production has taken over two major downtown Toronto theatres. One of the rehearsal halls at the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre has been completely dedicated to the more than 500 costumes.
“This was very complicated on different levels because I didn’t want to let anybody down. It’s got a huge fan base; you wanted to kind of honour everybody’s own kind of imagination and sense of this world,” said Katrina Lindsay, costume designer for the play.
Since the Hogwarts capes require thousands of metres of fabric to make, the costume design team had to get the fabric specifically milled for this production. Thomas Mitchell Barnet, who plays Scorpius Malfoy, tried on his Slytherin House costume for the first time.
“The detail of the cut is so amazing,” Barnet told Global News.
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“It’s a separation between myself and the world of the play, so that’s exciting to start to feel.”
Later in the day, Luke Kimball, who plays Albus Potter — the middle child of Harry Potter — got his final fitting and a first look in the mirror became emotional.
“As soon as I put the robe on for the first time, I just started crying. It was really moving putting the cloak on for all that it meant for me and my childhood — my mom read it to my brothers and I — but it was also waiting two years for this thing to happen,” said Kimball.
The story, set 19 years after Harry, Ron and Hermione saved the wizarding world, will hit the stage at the CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre on May 31.
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