Fans of the popular book series "Harry Potter" by J.K. Rowling have done their waiting (nine years of it), and all of this waiting has finally paid off. This has been a story in the hearts of millions of fans, including mine, since the first book came out in 1997. On July 30, 2016, the next installment of the series will premiere as a play at the Palace Theater in London, and on July 31st the script book will be released, which as my fellow fans know that this is Harry Potter's birthday. This script book was written by, of course, J.K. Rowling along with Jack Thorne and John Tiffany. I have already pre-ordered my copy from Barnes and Noble, along with many other eagerly awaiting fans. For many Potterheads, hearing this news made them just as happy as when Harry heard Hagrid's famous line that changed the course of his life forever, "Yer a wizard Harry."
This story follows Harry Potter around as no longer the "Boy who lived" but as a working dad 19 years after the Battle of Hogwarts, and two years after the epilogue in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." This story also follows his younger son Albus Severus, named after the two bravest men Potter knew throughout his years as a student at Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape. The premise of the book is that while Harry struggles to keep his past in the past, understandable as he had his first battle against the darkest wizard of all time at the age of one and it only got worse from there, his son Albus has a family legacy that he has to live up to. His father saved the entire wizarding world from destruction so that would be a hard shadow for anyone to overcome. This is quite different than the image Rowling portrayed when she ended off the seventh book, and what everyone thought would be the last book with the quote, "all was well." Other major characters include Ginny Weasley-Potter, Harry's wife and sister of his best friend Ron Weasley, one of Harry's best friends since starting Hogwarts at 11, and Hermione Granger-Weasley, best friend of Harry and wife of Ron Weasley and their respective children.
The play, "The Cursed Child," has been in the news for other reasons than being a continuation as one of the best sold series of all time. Hermione Granger, as portrayed by Emma Watson in the movies, is being played by Noma Duemzweni, an African American actress originally from South Africa that moved to the UK as a small child. While the other actors and actresses in the play have similar features to their movie counter parts, Emma Watson, an actress with light brown hair and a pale complexion, differs from Duemzweni. This allows for the movies and play to be thought of as separate stories, as JK Rowling has stated, that this is not a continuation of Harry's journey, but a stand alone story. I'm happy to say that I will be able to see on of those shows during a family trip to London.
