This year, Dave tried to surprise me with Broadway tickets, but Harry Potter and the Cursed Child was a tough ticket to get. Dave had not been drawn for the October ticket lottery, so no tickets before Christmas. Ever optimistic, he planned to gift me the trip to New York and hope we could secure tickets in the February ticket lottery. He wrapped a Time-Turner necklace and a flight itinerary, and we waited.
When the time came, we registered four emails for the ticket lottery and crossed our fingers. Luckily, Dave received a presale code! The day tickets went on sale was stressful. He could not try for tickets until the third purchasing window opened, and he only had a small window of time to purchase. The two weekends we had hoped for were already sold out, and the site kept pushing him all the way to 2019. On a whim, he clicked on a Wednesday, and there they were! Tickets in June for both Part 1 and 2 on the same day! As a bonus, the trip would fall just days after our fourth anniversary. We have always used the “traditional” gift list for our anniversaries, and the fourth anniversary is “fruit and flowers.” A trip to the Big Apple fell right into place.
It would be a quick trip, so we booked two nights at the Casablanca Hotel in Times Square, just around the corner from the Lyric Theatre. They had a great staff AND a free wine and cheese reception every day from 5-8pm! After checking in, we walked down 5th Avenue and did a little window shopping. We popped into Tiffany & Co to get my wedding rings cleaned, grabbed a small Disney/Snow White goodie at the Coach flagship store, and browsed stuff we can’t afford in Saks. After that, we grabbed the subway down to the East Village to check out Please Don’t Tell, a fun little speakeasy hidden inside a hotdog shop and behind a phone booth wall - how very Harry Potter! After dinner and drinks at PDT, we popped into Stillwater Bar just a couple of blocks over. This bar is owned by an OSU Alumni member.
The next day was Play Day! Cursed Child is told in two parts with a couple of hours for dinner between Part 1 and Part 2. I know Harry Potter fans have polarized feelings about the script, but this play was an AMAZING production. I still don’t know how some of those things happened on a stage. Magic is the only way. I purposely avoided reading the script, and I’m glad I went into the show fully able to experience it without the nitpicking I’m prone to do. I think it is meant to be performed, not read as “Book 8,” and the script format does not play to Rowling’s strengths of amazing written description and character development. The actors, instead, are the ones who bring it to life. Like all fans, I have a few niggles about the storyline, but I otherwise thoroughly enjoyed the experience and would not hesitate to see it again. No spoilers as I must #keepthesecrets.
