Happy homecoming: Theater veteran returns to Chicago in highly anticipated ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ tour
Theater veteran Matt Mueller saw a lot of plays growing up. And he has his parents — actors Roger Mueller and Jill Shellabarger — to thank.
“It was what we did,” said the Evanston native whose parents have deep roots in the Chicago theater community. “Either my dad or my mom were in shows.”
Acting was and remains the Mueller family business. And although his folks never pressured Matt, twin sister Abby, younger sister Jessie or younger brother Andrew to follow in their footsteps, each of them did.
“We found our ways to (acting) at different times and in different ways,” said Mueller, who, like his siblings, appears regularly on Chicago and suburban stages.
He returns home in the role of the adult Ron Weasley (which he played on Broadway) in “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” whose national tour commences next month at Chicago’s James M. Nederlander Theatre and runs through January.
Mueller’s initial, one-year contract with Broadway’s production ended in March 2020, around the time the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered theaters.
When they reopened in 2021 after more than a year, he found himself co-starring in Broadway in Chicago’s extended run of the farcical “The Play That Goes Wrong.” He followed that with Writers Theatre’s exquisite 2023 revival of “Once.” When producers invited him to join the “Cursed Child” tour, he was “over the moon” to revisit the play.
“It was really lovely when ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ popped up again in my life,” Mueller said. “It was a privilege to do it in New York … I’m grateful it has come around again.”
Preparing for the tour has been “an exciting, heartfelt experience,” he said of the production, which reunites most of the original creative team.
“I love this character. I love this story,” said Mueller, who has read all seven books in J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” series. “I’m excited to get to be a part of it again.”
Set 19 years after Harry, Ron and Hermione saved the wizarding world, the play (reportedly the highest grossing nonmusical play in Broadway history) opens with Harry and Ginny’s son Albus and Ron and Hermione’s daughter Rose heading off for Hogwarts, where Albus becomes friends with Scorpius Malfoy, son of Harry’s nemesis, Draco Malfoy.
When Mueller was in the show, “Cursed Child” consisted of two parts and four acts that ran more than five hours. The current version is shorter.
“I’m excited for Chicago to experience this story,” he said. “I loved the two-part version. It was a wonderful experience, but I think this is a brilliant way of telling the story, too.”
Writer Jack Thorne, director John Tiffany and the rest of the creative team have “done an amazing job of laser-focusing the story and really getting to the heart, the essence of what it’s about.”
“It really does feel like we’re working on a new play,” Mueller said, adding that the production’s “amazing magic” still makes him gasp.
But the play isn’t all special effects and illusions. It’s a story about family and the importance of love.
In fact, he predicts audience members will leave the theater hugging their loved ones.
“It’s a very heartfelt story,” he said. “It’s beautiful.”
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“Harry Potter and the Cursed Child”
When: Sept. 10 through Feb. 1, 2025
Where: James M. Nederlander Theatre, 24 W. Randolph St., Chicago
Tickets: $49-$193 at broadwayinchicago.com