everything that has changed in the extra shortened broadway version of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child:
i went for a friend's birthday last night and got to see the now newly shortened (again) cursed child play and there were a lot of differences. it was super fast paced and didn't leave the actors a lot of time to breathe or live in their characters as much. it was still so lovely but it's definitely more of a shell than it once was. that being said! my friend and i have compiled a list of all the things that have been altered (that we can remember)
i tried to put everything as in order as possible but my brain isn’t always very good at that!
ACT 1
The whole bit about Hermione thinking Ron confunded the driving examiner is cut
“People always look when you three are together” bit is cut
Albus and Rose happen upon Scorpius much quicker in his compartment
Rose doesn’t say anything when Albus is sorted into Slytherin
There’s been a rumor about Voldemort having a child every year Scorpius isn’t the first to be accused was cut from Draco and Harry’s interaction on the platform.
Albus doesn't ask "What's the counter-curse?" in the potions scene; significantly cut down
Wandlore dance is extended slightly (I think??)
When Albus casts “Incendio” on his Hogsmeade slip, he doesn’t follow it up with his “The ironic thing is I didn’t expect it to work. I’m terrible at that spell.” bit, just leaves after Harry speaks
Harry and Hermione walk into Harry’s office at the same time for the time turner reveal scene instead of Hermione walking in and Harry already being there
The time turner reveal scene is much quicker
When Albus meets Delphi at the stairs, his dialogue of "Who are you? Because this is my house…" is cut and she just skips into the "You must be Albus Potter." lines after popping in with her first few lines
Rose pulls Albus into the compartment this time to speak to him instead of just walking in front of him to speak with him
Dialogue between Albus and Rose is cut down a bit before he goes to get Scorpius off the train
I think the “You really are an enormous geek.” bit was taken out
When Albus asks Scorpius “Did Cedric need to be killed?, instead of saying “Easy question, easy answer: No.”, Scorpius quietly responds “No” before Albus continues on with his ramble
Draco doesn’t say “Voldemort is dead. Voldemort is gone”, his first line in this scene is after the Dark Mark mention
Amos doesn’t say “Of COURSE they do!” when Albus tells him that the ministry has a time turner
Albus, Scorpius, and Delphi (all transfigured into their counterparts at this point) don’t go into the telephone booth to go to the ministry; instead, Delphi/Hermione and Scorpius/Harry wander off one way while Albus/Ron goes the other way (the wrong way) and they have to call him back
No fishfinger sandwiches remark from Hermione to Albus/Ron :(
Bane is completely cut
They have Harry, Draco, Ginny and Ron all searching in the forest instead of just Harry then they split off only Harry being there.
Harry searches the forest instead of encountering Bane; Ginny has to come get him
Albus isn’t in his pajamas in the hospital ward when he wakes up, just his uniform
Harry comes to the realization somehow on his own that Scorpius is the issue “It isn’t a what that’s wounding him, it’s a who” (or something along those lines) and then bans Albus from seeing Scorpius
Ron and Hermione's encounter atop the stairs is MUCH shorter
The entire scene where Harry gives McGonagall the Marauders Map and instructs her to watch Albus and Scorpius is cut
No Bane mention in the Draco and Harry fight scene
If I recall, the lines “I don’t want to hurt you, Draco.” and “How interesting, because I do want to hurt you,” were said earlier in the scene because of cut dialogue
Ginny says “It’s been one minute. What did I miss?” instead of “I only left the room three minutes ago. What did I miss?”
When Harry, Ginny, and Draco go to McGonagall’s office, some dialogue is cut
ACT 2
The act starts with Scorpius on stage in this scene; he’s surrounded by the death eaters as they do the Voldemort Day dance around him instead of him being absent in this scene (only really good change in my opinion, it looked super neat and added to the story)
Scorpius is a lot more intimidating towards Craig when asking where Snape is (trying to take on this counterpart of Scorpion King)
Scorpius doesn’t hug Albus in the water when he reappears (very well could have just been a this showing thing)
Ron and Hermione’s “marriage renewal” scene is cut and changed to just them almost making out (big loss because that scene was amazing)
When Scorpius tells Albus he thought of him to fought off the dementors, Albus goes “Oh.” pauses and then goes , “I mean… Good,” softly
Dialogue is cut from the Owlery scene, including the “it’s time that time-turning became a thing of the past!“ silly bit
Ron doesn’t ramble too long at all about having drinks with Neville, it’s just one short sentence; added in that Delphi is an “older girl” (from the five hour cut originally) and Ron is all like “but go get ‘em I guess”
Ron says “specialis-draco-is-stupido” or something along the lines of that instead of directly repeating "specialis revelio" to mock him
Hermione unscrews the bulb instead of Ginny
No “Still, if I had to choose a companion to be at the return of eternal darkness with, I’d choose you.” bit, that whole scene is considerably shorter :(
Harry and Ginny have a bit of a longer chat in the church; Ginny goes “You're lucky to have me, aren't you?” and Harry responds with “Extremely.” (derived from the original 5-hour play but swapped with who says it)
Ginny and Albus don’t have their heart-to-heart in the church
Delphi's magic show (the fight at the end) is shorter and happens more rapidly than before
it's quite a lot looking at it all on paper. truthfully, i miss the old version. if anyone has seen this shortened version and can remember anything else and/or i'm misremembering anything, let me know! i know i was searching for this when the play was first shortened again so i hope this reaches others who might be curious!
