Last night, I took my third visit to the theater this season to see a Broadway show. Unless I decide to spring for a ticket to Hamilton or otherwise decide to watch something else, it will be my last trip to DPAC for a while.

This show was Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, nostalgia bait for my generation. And fair enough, I read the series twice and am familiar enough with the story that I listened to and read much of the first book in Spanish as I made a concerted effort to improve in that language. There were plenty of children wearing Gryffindor attire. There were plenty of adults wearing Gryffindor attire too. There were not as many people wearing colors of the other houses, but there were a few who acknowledged openly that the Sorting Hat would have placed them in Slytherin. I didn’t have it on my 2026 bingo card that I would hear a gentleman of about sixty tell his wife to be careful with her wand as they made their way to their seats, much less that statement would be literal and that both of them were carrying wands to go along with their wizarding robes. Not that I had a problem with any of this, but I would have had I gotten poked in the head.

Since I expected that the production value and special effects would be such a large part of the entertainment on offer, I decided that this show would be my first foray into the lowest level of seating in the triple-deck venue. I don’t know that I’ll want to be where I was at every show, but it certainly made this one better. The flames, sparks, smoke, and swooping people filled up more of my field of vision and the sound effects were more visceral being closer to the speakers. It really added to the spectacle. I won’t dwell on the plot at all as I have a no-spoilers policy, but I splurged on dinner beforehand too. Steak frites at a French bistro downtown. It was very good, though on balance I wish I hadn’t ordered any dessert as it didn’t uphold the same standard. I was also several years younger than any of the other patrons and the wait staff seemed a little confused as to why I was there at all. Had I told them that I was going to the theater, I expect it would have made much more sense to them. Regardless, it was nice to have an evening of activities that I chose at the start of this new year.