Later this month, Joel Meyers ’17 will make his Broadway debut playing Albus Potter in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. This play follows the lives of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger and their families 19 years after they defeat Lord Voldemort. Joel took time out of his busy rehearsal schedule to chat with me about his Broadway experience and his time at UPrep.

What is it like to make it to Broadway?

I haven’t really wrapped my head around it. There are moments—I call them Harry Potter moments—when I’m standing on the stage and I think, what is happening? I’m in a play about Harry Potter on Broadway! It’s both shocking and humbling. I’m very grateful to have made it to Broadway so early in my career. I hoped it would happen, but it’s one of those things that you really can’t count on. I’m also making my debut in the same theatre where I saw my first Broadway play, which gives it all a very full circle feeling.

What has surprised you about this role so far?

I hadn’t seen the show before auditioning for it. It’s three and a half hours of high energy and Albus is there from start to finish. It is a very physically demanding role—running, jumping, falling to the ground. It’s been a process of getting ready to do that every night; kind of like all those years of playing soccer at UPrep! There’s flying. There’s water. There’s fire. All the things you dream of doing in a big production; It’s all of that wrapped into one show! It’s definitely a bucket list item, in terms of theater fun, and it’s a lot harder than it looks. We suffer for art!

It’s an interesting role, too. Albus is the son of Harry Potter, and he lives in his dad’s shadow. He’s got a hot head, is unapologetically ambitious, and makes a lot of mistakes because of that. Scorpius is his best friend—he’s really good hearted, and it’s easy to like him. So, it’s been interesting to figure out why Albus is the main character and why the audience must ultimately root for him. It reminds me a lot of being a young aspiring actor. I think Albus would be a lawyer if he wasn’t a wizard, but I also think he’d do well as an aspiring actor … you need that fire underneath you and you need to learn how to channel it.

Another surprising and cool aspect is that people have reached out to me who really love this show, love this character, and who find themselves in the characters in this show. I’m sure this is true of any Broadway show, but it’s especially true because it’s Harry Potter.

How did fine arts at UPrep prepare you for theatre beyond UPrep?

I was at UPrep from 6th through 12th grade. It’s cliché to say, but I do truly believe it is the foundation of who I am today and who I am still becoming. Participating in the musicals was obviously a good experience and set me on my path. But what has really kept me going is that I was always encouraged and challenged to put my hat into a lot of different boxes while at UPrep. I participated in the musical, played soccer, took quantitative physics—and at every turn UPrep helped me find balance rather than conflict between those interests! Coming from UPrep and going to Columbia, my mindset was that it’s not either/or, it’s and. I like doing different things at the same time; it changes the way you think throughout the day, and you start to look for connections rather than differences. That’s the mindset that helped me graduate from Columbia with degrees in astrophysics and drama and theatre arts, and which also led me to co-found my own tutoring company, Hyperspace Tutors, in 2021.

Above: Joel and the cast of the show sent this message to the UPrep orchestra in advance of their Harry Potter Night performance in late October. Joel’s younger brother, junior Leo G., is part of the orchestra.

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