The Harry Potter movies are wildly popular to this day, with fans regularly re-watching them with an HBO Max subscription. This means that the Potter cast has remained synonymous with their roles, including Daniel Radcliffe and Tom Felton. The latter actor has returned to Draco Malfoy in The Cursed Child on Broadway, and got some advice from Radcliffe about treading the boards on the Great White Way.
Felton and Radcliffe recently reunited in person, warming the hearts of their generations of fans. But the two actors had been in contact prior, and since the Now You See Me 2 actor has six Broadway credits under his belt, he had some valuable advice to impart. Radcliffe spoke to Us Weekly about the wisdom he shared with his co-star, saying:
The only thing I said to him – ‘cause it’s a thing we don’t have in the UK, so I was like not sure if he was gonna have experienced it – is entrance applause. I was like, ‘They are going to go insane when you get out on that stage for the first time.’
He’s not wrong. Entrance applause is definitely a thing for big stars on Broadway, with fans cheering before they can even get out their first line of dialogue. Radcliffe has likely experienced this in all of his roles on the stage, given just how many fans love his work as Harry Potter. And he wanted to make sure the Draco Malfoy actor didn’t allow this to mess with his performance in The Cursed Child.
It turns out that his advice was spot-on. A video of Tom Felton’s Broadway debut shows that the audience went absolutely crazy the first time he appeared as his signature character. And I have to assume this is still happening weeks into his run in the Harry Potter stage play.
This message was an important one for Daniel Radcliffe to give to his Harry Potter co-star, even if their busy schedules prevented them from meeting up in person prior to Felton’s Broadway debut in mid-November. In the same interview, The Boy Who Lived revealed how important his wisdom was, saying:
So, I just – because we’ve been trying to meet up for a little while, and we haven’t been able to do it – so I was like ‘You know what? I’m just gonna send him a voice note to be like ‘Dude, in case no one has mentioned this.’ Because I could also see it being the kind of thing people hadn’t thought to tell him. I was like ‘Just so you know, don’t let it throw you when the audience erupts when you go out there for the first time.’
Points were made. While the audience erupted during Felton’s first entrance as Draco, I have to assume that some entrance applause is happening during every performance. Luckily, he got the heads up, and was prepared to stay in character despite the cheers and screams that occurred.
The Wizarding World is streaming in its entirety on HBO Max, and Tom Felton can be seen in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on Broadway until May 10th. Additionally, the Harry Potter TV show is filming and expected to arrive sometime in 2027.