The nine-year wait is over-Harry Potter is back and early reviews of the stage production in London's West End suggest its story, characters, and special effects hold their own against the multi-million dollar blockbuster films.

"The Cursed Child" picks up with the same characters millions followed through childhood and adolescence, but now, nineteen years later, as adults with their own children facing new adventures and dangers at Hogwarts.

Early reviews say the nearly four-and-a-half hour play zips by, Designed to be seen in two parts-either in an afternoon and evening, or two consecutive nights-it possesses the same magic that made the books and films so popular. There are plenty of laughs and the emphasis remains on the children who are attending Hogwarts at the time.

Press reporters were not allowed into the fan-exclusive preview performance and J.K. Rowling asked theatergoers to keep silent about the plot. So far, there have been no leaks, which makes us wonder if some spell was cast over the audience.

"The child may be cursed but this show most definitely isn't," The Mirror wrote in its newspaper, in response to fans who reported almost unanimously with two thumbs up.

"It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn't much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband and father of three school-age children.

While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places."

(Photos: The Cursed Child; and lizo mzimba, Twitter)

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