Video: Rachel Christopher Is Casting a Spell on Broadway

Are you ready

It's the Roundtable with me, Robert Bannon. It's a Friday, which means it's an exclusive here on Broadway World

And I am so excited. Our guest this week, firstly, my brother, pout, like magic wands and all growing up, he was the nerd

No, not that they're nerds. He was the person who stood on the Barnes & Noble at midnight to see

He doesn't like a Broadway show for nothing. He slept through all the greatest Broadway shows of the 90s and 2000s

But he sat through Harry Potter twice because it's magic and it's reminiscent of our childhood

And it's the perfect show to see this holiday season. It's the perfect gift to give. And, you know, back in the day, I went to the most amazing red carpet and did interviews for my show at Jajas

And the Arnex get, she was decked and dressed. Her hair was this tall

Her dress was gorgeous. They were the most beautiful people I've ever seen in a red carpet ever

And now our friend from that red carpet, Rachel, is on Broadway

And the biggest juggerna monster show, I have so many questions. I want to know everything

Rachel Christopher Broadway World, Roundtable, give a big welcome. Welcome to the show

Hello. Thank you so much, Robert, for that introduction. I was so fine

No, well, firstly, we need to do. I want the hair. I was looking for the pictures

I was looking for the pictures. I found I have pictures of you from the show

But the hair, everybody, you needed to be at the hair of that show

Was that as fun as it looked to be? Because it looked like a lot of fun. It was thrilling

That was a really exciting once-in-a-lifetime sort of experience that show, not just because of the entire ensemble of artists

the writer, the director, the crew, the designers, all just exceptional people working in the theatrical field and beyond

And the laughs, the joy that just straight out, I mean, just comedy that I experienced from rehearsal to lunchtime conversations to what we did on that stage every night

I mean, it's really, it was a once in a lifetime kind of thing

And I'm so glad that you got to see it. Not only did I get to see it, you all were amazing

Like it was just, and even though I am the widest, New Jerseyest, most person in the world

That's okay. We owned a hair salon. My mom grew up in a hair salon

And all I see when I was there is I thought of her. I thought of my aunts. I thought of everyone that worked there, the community about it and what it means

So thank you for that show. It was a blast. Yeah, that's right. I think, I mean, it's so many women spend

hours and hours of life in a chair of a hair salon or standing in a hair salon working

And it was the only play I've ever read that really focused on, A, the conversations that go on

the nuances of all of those lives and how much depth there is in that very small, sometimes

too hot space. And it was just so exciting to give space for some of those voices that

almost everyone in the theater, no matter of their background, had come across at some point

in their life in New York City or any other city in the country, quite frankly

I love it. So, so much. So you go from that show and nominations and, you know

all of the hoopla that was about Taraji P. Henson producing it and walking down like a moment

What a thrill. For me too. I was there. I was like, oh

So, Tidal, you jump into one of the biggest, longest running hits on Broadway

And what's moving to me is that it's many people's first experience in a Broadway theater

kids, tourists, people that come. This is their first show that they see

Yeah. It is such a honor. It's an honor to be part of the Harry Potter legacy in this way

I think I've met so many people at the stage door young and sometimes middle age older who just

have never, they didn't think theater was their thing, but they knew Harry Potter was their thing

And so they just decided to give the lyric a try and to see what was going on in that building

And there to connect with some of those faces and really the sort of, you can see the lights of imagination

that are just so evident on people's faces after this show. And it is such a joy to be working with a company of artists

who are totally committed to that level of just magic. And on

like just abandon. People come in and they just decide to believe for a day

They decide to believe that everything happening in the building is for them and real

And that is a really special theatrical space to be in because everybody always wants it to be real

And we all just have to decide, actually, that the thing that's happening matters

And people, boy, do they really care for Hogwarts? And they really are in the Harry Potter building

Yeah. Well you can get your tickets while we talking everybody Harry Potter Broadway If you coming to New York or you in the New York area and you have not taken your Harry Potterhead fans friends This is the year to go see it because you get to see her

Come and see us, please. What I loved about, I am not a Harry Potter

I went on the ride at Universal. I never finished all the movies. Don't judge, Rachel

I'm shocked. I'm just surprised. Okay, all right. You're telling on yourself

We will just let that air out. But I went. I went and I said to my brother and my best friend Mike, I said, what is the show

Is Harry Potter in it? Is he young? Is the old? Is it a prequel? Is it afterwards? There's a comic book

I don't know the story. Who's the curse child? What is the curse child

What is Hogwarts? What is a Dumbledore? But I knew that. So I go with the, I don't have the most knowledge

But it was magic and riveting. The whole theater is a character

The space. What's it like? It is, I mean, you said it correctly

The entire space is a character and that the lyric was renovated not long before Harry Potter sort of moved in and took over that building

And boy, did they really make a decision to theatricalize the entire event of that space

which is to say that before the lights even dim, you're walking into a space that is inviting you to

what the wizarding world is really about. It's full of such warmth

It's full of a lot of light. It's full of a lot of velvet and some dark shadows

Like there is nothing in that building that will lead you astray towards what the piece is about

and really what the books were about, which are places for exploration and self-discovery

So it's really, it starts upon entry, starts upon entry. And then just continues to grow

once the lights dim, it's just an invitation to actually explore how much is on offer in this story

and also just in your everyday lives. It's really people who have decided to make magic out of

I mean, the play is full of all different sorts of magics and tricks

but what I find so exciting and comforting about it is that some of the things you are seeing

you know, if you had the right knowledge and the right tools, you could discover a way to

make them happen in your world. And that to me is so thrilling that, yes, there is something

very niche and very specific and very secretive about what we are doing. But there's also something

that is really welcoming and available about it too. So I just, I love it. I love it. I love it. I

want people to go in. I want you to pay attention to intermission to the lobby. I want you to pay attention to the surroundings the whole time. I want you to explore this theater. I want you to get in

your seat. What I love about it, too, aside from the spectacle and the magic and yes, the space and yes, the tricks that you..

The grandeur. The grandeur of it all. But also the story at the root of it is really about friendship and discovering and community

and all the things that we take the wizardy world apart of it away. But it's about people, life, relationships

Yeah, I would say there's a very strong human heartbeat at the center of this piece

And I think that's why folks fell in love with Harry Potter to begin with is because

everybody saw themselves or somebody that they knew in these books and in these characters

And I would say that the play, if it has done one thing, if it has done one thing, it is to

remind us how much we all belong to each other in so many different ways

Wizards are not. And it is, I would say, what a gift to be able to meet these people

at a different part of life. Hermione is at a very different stage than she was

in our Hogwarts journey and in the books, as is Harry Potter

And so they're at Ron Weasley. And so you're, remember, you're meeting people

that you think you already knew and they're experiencing different challenges. They're on a very different part of their journey

And so it's exciting to see how they, how they remember and reform a lot of those relationships

that they fought so hard for as children. And that that sort of hunger

and need for each other never really goes anywhere. Yeah. So look at this, look at this, everybody

So who do you play? There we are. Who are you in the story

Tell us who you are in the story. I play Hermione Granger

and she is a part of the beloved trio that I will say is meetup of Harry Potter

Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger, and they were the trio that went

that sort of stayed together as a collective team over the entirety of these epic books

And now we meet these three characters. Again, Ron and Hermione have married each other

They started a relationship in the last book, and you get to see sort of the blossoming of that relationship in their children

and in their marriage. And they are both still best friends, of course

with Harry Potter who has his own family with Ronald Wiesley sister Jimmy And they have children as well One of him is Albus who is one of the protagonists of the play

And so now you get to see these three who were really each other's chosen family

Yes. Very much each other's chosen family in the book. They now have the responsibilities of their biological families

And you see how they challenge, how they struggle through that, rather

and also how they hold on to each other through that because they, boy, do the three of them

need each other to survive in almost every way. Yes, and it's beautiful

And I love the protagonists of our story, the children of the story

they have their own very interesting relationship that you could surmise and build

and see grow on stage every single night. It is really beautiful to see the generations

of these families join together on stage and tell this story. I am so, I mean, using this word a lot, and I'll use it again

enamored by the multi-generational storytelling that is in this play. And I am hungry for plays that really commit to this kind of storytelling of history and experience

And you meet professors that were present in the Hogwarts world when her mom

Hermione and Ron and Ginny and Harry were children. And they are in the play

And so they are still present now that, and so it's so gratifying

And there's something so deeply important about the fact that those characters are still

there to watch Harry and Hermione raise their own children and watch how, you know

Albus and Scorpius repeat some of the very same mistakes and also find new and different

solutions that Hermione and Harry and Ron could not have, would not have thought of, perhaps

And so, and invent new types of relationships and new ways of engaging with each other

And so it's just, there is a deep sense of memory and a deep sense of invention at the same

time. And that's really, that's, that's, that, that, that, that's, that, that, that's, that, that, that's, that, that's, that, that's, that's, that, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's

fire. So I want to know all the secrets, but I've been, I've interviewed people from the show before and you all won't tell me nothing

We won't tell a tick. We won't. We won't tell anything at all. It ruins the fun, quite frankly. And when you know, actually, when you know how something is done, you all of a sudden, you all of a sudden stop looking at it and you stop questioning it. You stop being curious. And I think the fact that you don't really know how something is accomplished makes you lean forward and believe even harder. So

I would say for everybody who is desperate to know how some of these things are done

just lean into the fact that that first feeling you felt of when you said

what, how, lean into that because that is actually where, that's where the joy is. That's where the fun is. The how we do it is so much less important

than the what it is that you just saw. Fair, fair. Now I'm going to, now I need the packet because I need to do yourself

to play Harry Potter because now I want to know. That's my way in, Rachel

Go on. Go on. Okay, so wait. So you have, you're speaking of auditioning, what was it like to get this part

What did you have to do? Was it one audition? Was it multiple? Did you have to, what was it like

This, I have to say, and I, you know, I don't think, it's hard for me to say if I'm biased or not because I did end up booking the job

But this was probably the most fun I've ever had in an audition process. And I don't know if it's because

I loved the script so much, or if it was because I had such a connection to just the lineage of what Harry Potter was that I decided, I'm going to do nothing but have fun with this, rather than be so concerned with, am I going to get it? Who else is up for this? Like, I just leaned into the joy and creativity of it. And it was, I'm so happy I did because there was a lot on offer with these audition process. It was not one. It was many. There were many

sort of stages of this process, some of which were the usual, you know, engaging with the script

and having conversations with the director and talking about a character and working through a scene

But some of it was also very physical. It was ensemble building. It was about collaboration. It was

about listening. It was about movement story, which is something that I deeply, I have a lot of deep connection to

And so to be able to experience that multiple times in an audition process was, I don't know

I got to build my own story with what Harry Potter got to mean to me before somebody told me

what they thought it meant. And I really appreciated that. And all of the wonderful artists from our director to our movement director, like they are so

interested in building trust and in building creative freedom inside of a room

And that was very evident to me. in the first few stages of this audition process

And I could not have loved, I couldn't have loved it more

I will also say that as a part of our audition process and I not sure everybody got to experience this I sure the characters who fly in the show had to experience this We had flying auditions And I have never felt so free in an audition space

because it's just not something that you get to do all of the time. And so for a creative team to say

and today, we're hooking you up to a harness to see how you do

And my response was bang-a-rang! Like I was so thrilled for some

somebody to show me how to do flips. I mean, they had to convince me to take it off is really

the situation. I was so excited to be in a space in a container that involved really significant

acting experience and chops, but also just an opportunity to learn and grow in ways that I could

not have put, I could not have listed as a goal months before because I didn't know that that was

going to be something on offer. And so it was just an extraordinary experience. And I remember people

from my audition process. I remember some of the folks who made it into the show and some of the

folks who I just met that one day. Because we actually made actual connection beyond the fact

that we are all wanting a job. And that's how, you know, you're on, you're on the, you're on the

you're on the trail to something that's really, um, going to perhaps be really rewarding

I love that, but I love about what the company, it's so good, it sounds fun

It was so fun. What I love about what the show did, if you don't know, there's a whole cast

Like a lot of the cast, there was a changeover of cast. And now you guys got to build and audition, rehearse together and then build your own

It's not like, let's take Rachel, we're going to throw her in the show with everyone who's been there for a year

You all have experienced this and kind of created your own cast and built your own way to this

What's it been like to work with your fellow actors? I am so thankful for every single one of them

I mean, there are many company members who, of course, have stayed on

and they are also a particular thrill. But our new ensemble, the new folks who have joined this show

have really, any sort of rehearsal period is quite bonding because you're learning so much

You're discovering and failing in front of each other all the time

And so I have the utmost respect for everybody who has joined this process and a deep well of affection

Because we have done what, you know, folks have deemed to be a really extraordinary show, right

We're part of an extraordinary show and we have had to learn how to enter into something that already had a trail going

And figure out how to add our own points of view, add our own sort of flare

onto what was already existing. And that's not an easy thing to do

The last role I did on Broadway, I originated. And so I got to decide all of the things with a director, an amazing writer

But I, you know, the conversation, my entry point was different. And so all of our entry points was one with, you know, a lot of data that we had to sort

of look at and understand what are the pieces that make Harry Potter and the curse child work

What is essential and what is us? and all of us are still on that journey of discovering

what is us that is now essentially a part of this amazing play

Well, listen, people, that if you haven't been convinced to get a ticket and you're headed on over

Oh, that is a time. It's a- Harry Potter, Broadway.com. Come to New York this holiday season

Come next year. Find a time. Come into the city. My partner, we're in Detroit now

And he's always like, I need to come see a Broadway show. Oh, my God. Come back in business

it. This is the, we'll be there this week. This is the show to see. We need to take you to see

you got to see, Darius, you have to come, and he's a, he's a potterhead. So. Oh, is he? Oh, good, good

We love the newbies and we love the potter heads. We love the ones that come and are like

I got this inside, inside behind the street joke. I laughed. That was me in the back. That was me

laughing. All the Easter eggs are hidden throughout this show no matter what, so you've got to check it out

We're going to follow you and your journey, because this is just the beginning, everybody at Rachel underscore E, Rachel, score, Christopher on the Instagram

to grant. Because you just, you have a lot left to do. We have so much work to do, Rachel, we're here for it

I, I consider this project the beginning of a really beautiful journey. The journey has already

been momentous. I cannot believe that I have gone from for colored girls working with

Camille Brown to Harry Potter and the Curse Child. Those two plays have taught me, you know

and the many plays in between have taught me so much about this work

And I am happy that that type of range is something that is possible to do in this city

And so I just, I am waiting and I am so excited to see where all of us leads

Well, Camille works her tail off. And Jocelyn works. Jocelyn works her tail off. Yes

Yeah. So you're worked with, before you got here, you've only worked with people who know how to work

I have, I've been blessed with some amazing collaborators, truly incredible collaborators

Well, the best is yet to come. Congratulations, we're so excited to see what's next

Thank you so much, Robert. Thank you for having me. I'm honored. An honor