Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
John Skelly can’t escape the charm of Harry Potter. It seems as if something magical keeps them together.
The stage actor was appointed to become the disciple of the first great magician broadway“Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.” Then they took the artists in san francisco Before the pandemic arrived. He returned to Potter on a year-long national tour and now finds himself back on Broadway, the role officially his.
“It’s something that keeps coming back to my life over and over again,” says Skelley. “There have been times when I thought, ‘Okay, maybe this will be the last time I do this.’ And then the opportunities keep coming back again and again.”
This is all from someone who wasn’t a huge fan of Potter and his gang to begin with. hogwartsHe had neither read the books nor seen the stage show before auditioning, although he had seen the films when he was in graduate school to meet his wife, when she was in class,
Once he landed the program, Skelly listened to the “Harry Potter” books — one per week for seven weeks — and two different audiobooks. Harry Potter is now front and center.
“It’s definitely become a big part of my professional and personal life,” he says. “I mean, the amount of Harry Potter memorabilia I have sitting in front of me right now is crazy.”
‘Do you want to go to Hogwarts?’
Born in Minneapolis, Skelly has been acting since the age of 8, when he starred in “It’s a Jungle Out There”, his second feature film musical. He graduated from the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater BFA Actor Training Program and has been a professional actor since 2007.
He and his wife, actor Maren Searle, moved new york in 2014 and worked for four years in commercial voice work, off-Broadway gigs, and narrated audiobooks.
He received the rite of passage of a New York actor when he played a legal aid attorney in an episode of “Law & Order: SVU.” “I had like two lines, but I felt like I made it up: ‘I’m a New York actor now. ‘Law & Order,’ baby!'”
He then received a call from his agent asking if he would be interested in auditioning as an understudy for Potter if the lead actor was ill or unavailable. He naturally said yes.
The play picks up 19 years after the end of the final novel, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.” An adult Potter is married to Ginny Weasley, the sister of his best friend Ron, who was married to the brainy Hermione. Both couples have children and everyone is in danger again.
Skelly participated in an hour-long movement call – at one point dancing with a stick – and was then asked to perform two scenes from the play. He tried to keep smiling.
“When I was a kid, I was trying out for the freshman football team, and I wasn’t the greatest athlete ever. But my philosophy was, ‘Run to the end of the drill, run to the end of the line, make sure you’re the kid who doesn’t give up early.’ And that got me a spot on the football team. So, I tried to adopt the same attitude.
He received a call-back for another agitation call two days later. He left thinking that it did not go well and that he had lost his chance. The next day her agent called with a question: “Do you want to go to Hogwarts?”
“My wife and I are both actors and we were in New York for about four years struggling and trying to make ends meet,” he says. “And then, all of a sudden, this job came up, and it felt like a lifesaver.”
taking the potter across the country
The day after making his Broadway debut as Potter, he received a call-back and the same role for the upcoming San Francisco production, which opened in December 2019. It closed in March 2020 as the pandemic hit the country.
The San Francisco show reopened in December 2021 and closed the following September. Skelly and his wife moved back to New York and within a few weeks he received an offer to take “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” on tour to Chicago for six months, Los Angeles for four months, and Washington, DC for two months. Searle got a job with the group, so they toured together. Then he got the call to make the role of Potter his own this winter on Broadway.
One of Skelly’s fans is John Tiffany, who directs “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” and calls the actor an important member of the show’s extended family.
Tiffany says, “He brings so much truth and vulnerability to the role of Harry. It has been a joy to watch his performance deepen over the last seven years as he explores this iconic character.” “An outstanding professional and company leader, we are thrilled to have John back on Broadway for this full-circle moment.”
Skelly’s wife also got a role in the company, and she read for Ginny, among other parts, which meant that occasionally, they got the chance to play husband and wife on stage. And these days he’s acting just the opposite Tom FeltonWho reprises the role of Draco Malfoy.
“It’s amazing to see people my age who grew up with books who have their own kids who are bringing them to the theater,” says Skelley. “Many times, it’s the first time they see a play.”
Skelley hopes people who come to see “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” will want to see more live theater in their communities.
“I’ve built my career in theater, and it’s certainly not easy for a lot of theaters, especially now. So I just hope that in some small part this can reenergize and get people excited about going to theater again.”