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I posted earlier, but I ran out of time and kind of rushed, so this is a more coherent repost. :P Sorry if you get it twice, LJ isn't letting me set the old version to private so I'll try again afterwards. (Also, I'm going to leave this public, so if anyone sees the personal stuff I mentioned, I'd rather that not be brought up. Thanks!)



I have seen mixed responses to this, even within the more enthusiastic ones. The general consensus seems to be "this is awesome! But um, how am I ever going to see it?" Because even if there's a world tour, plays can be pretty expensive, not to mention limited. Fortunately I live 2.5 hours from New York City so Broadway's an option, but even so, the cost is a factor.

It'll be interesting to see how this influences the fandom, too, although there's not a whole lot of fandom left so maybe it won't make much difference. But new canon - I mean actual scripted canon, not Pottermore or whatever - has almost always been accessible in the English language, at least, at the same time. Whereas suddenly you have a play that is extremely limited, because it's probably harder to even pirate a play. (Although honestly, it would not surprise me at all were the script to be leaked.) So I have to wonder how this will all pan out among the fans. (And not just within the fandom, since there were/are a lot of huge fans who never got into the fandom itself.)

Although I do think they'll probably release a film of the play - not a movie version, just when they film it on stage. Or maybe there'll be a companion novel. Who knows.

My second thought is one I often have, which is: how will JKR's novel writing translate to script writing? I'm not saying she can't do it, clearly she thinks she can and maybe she's done a lot of script writing in the past (she's writing the Newt Scamander films, after all), though I have the same exact question there), but there's a huge difference. On the other hand, it's possible she or someone else realized this works better as a play. Maybe it was originally meant to be an 8th book. Which is the other thing a lot of people are wondering - why not just write another book? It very well could be that her more recent material works better in script form.

Anyway, those are my thoughts. I'll probably try and see it at some point, whether I make a trip to London again or see it in New York City.

(I'm sure there'll be spoilers, but I don't really want that. One of my regrets about Wicked is how spoilerified I ended up being. Even the photos from the Defying Gravity scene spoil the song somewhat.)

Date: 2015-11-02 05:22 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] secondmezzanine.livejournal.com
I'm honestly not sure how I feel about it. In terms of access to content, I dislike the idea in a way. I want to love it, but JKR is all about inclusion--we've all gone to Hogwarts together, etc. And theatre can be very exclusive. I am lucky enough to be able to travel to NYC every few years to see a show, but even then, it's difficult to pull off, and I imagine tickets to these plays will be in high demand. At the same time I don't begrudge her wanting to try something in this medium; it's her right and she doesn't owe me anything in that sense. And perhaps I'm a hypocrite, since I fully enjoyed the Wizarding World, and there are tons of people who are unable to go to it. On the other hand, the Wizarding World doesn't really create new content and add to the overall HP story. So... hmm. Not sure.

Another part of me is always worried that adding MORE content to my favorite things will ruin it. Kind of like how even big fans of Star Wars tore apart the newer films (and in that case, I think the new-new films can only help). If the content is great, I'm all for it. If I don't like the content much... well, I don't know. I'm just always afraid my beloved HP will be tainted somehow. :)
Edited Date: 2015-11-02 05:22 pm (UTC)

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