From Grange Hill to the West End, via Eurovision and the Brit awards, the star has built multiple careers. She talks about stage-school pressure, TV diversity and playing Hermione in Harry Potter and the Cursed ChildMichelle Gayle was 10 months into her role as Hermione Granger in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child last March – and in such full swing that she was in “total denial” of the pandemic – when the West End closed its doors. Sitting in a chintzy backroom of the Palace theatre now, she talks in athletic terms about 12-hour rehearsal days and re-building her stamina. The whole cast is ecstatic to be back, she says, but they are also whispering about how tired they feel.Exhaustion aside, she speaks of her debt to Noma Dumezweni, whose casting in 2016 sparked online outrage from some at the prospect of a Black Hermione. JK Rowling piled in to the furore to defend the casting and call out the complaints as racist. Dumezweni won an Olivier award for the part. “I owe her a lot of gratitude – I’m standing on her shoulders,” says Gayle. “She got through that [time] with incredible grace and proved she was there on merit because she’s a bloody good actress but she had to take a big hit online to do that. When someone of the quality of Noma steps up, no one’s got anything more to say and then the conversation’s dead. It’s a shame that you have to be brilliant to end that conversation, but there are enough brilliant black actors out there.” Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2021-10-13 08:41:05 UTC ]
The Big Green Bookshop is to donate all profits from the sales of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Little, Brown) to local schools to enable them to buy books for their libraries. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-05-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Grammy Award–winning rock-and-roll musician Kenny Loggins isn’t nervous about performing today, at 1 p.m., at the Quarto Publishing Group’s booth (2300, 2301), where the company’s 40th anniversary party will be in full swing. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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British surveillance agency GCHQ intervened with the launch of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the sixth book in J K Rowling’s Harry Potter series. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-04-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A chair that author JK Rowling sat on while writing the first two Harry Potter books is sold at a New York auction for nearly $400,000 (£283,000). Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2016-04-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The opening of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Hollywood on Thursday is likely to draw huge crowds, including adults who grew up reading the books by J.K. Rowling and teens who watched the eight movies that followed. If you plan to brave the Potterfest, here are some... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2016-04-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In hero-quest terms, the recovery of the Sorcerer's Stone was Harry Potter's first big win, even though he didn't get to keep it. By the time Harry woke up after his first battle with You Know Who, the stone, with all its life-extending and gold-producing properties, had, in fact, been destroyed.... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2016-04-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Hollywood is about to debut. After 2 1/2 years of construction, Wizarding World is set for its grand opening Thursday morning. Leading up to that, a red carpet event tonight will include several stars from the "Harry Potter" films, and more... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2016-04-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The upcoming movie 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,' based in the world of 'Harry Potter,' is set in America. Upcoming stories published on the site Pottermore will reveal more about the magical culture in the US. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2016-03-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The upcoming movie 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,' based in the world of 'Harry Potter,' is set in America. Upcoming stories published on the site Pottermore will reveal more about the magical culture in the US. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2016-03-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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J .K. Rowling has some good news for fans of her "Harry Potter" universe, especially ones on this side of the Atlantic. The author's website, Pottermore, will publish a four-part story this week called "History of Magic in North America." The story will provide the background for "Fantastic... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2016-03-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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New research from Booklist shows page counts have grown 173% over 40 years, and suggests that JK Rowling’s boy hero may be responsible for large increase in early 2000sChildren’s novels have almost doubled in length over the last 40 years, according to research from US review journal Booklist,... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2016-03-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The script from the forthcoming Harry Potter play leaps to the top of the book bestseller list, a day after its July release was announced. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2016-02-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Author JK Rowling has announced a new book which will follow the next generation as they set off for Hogwarts. Continue reading at The Sydney Morning Herald
[ The Sydney Morning Herald | 2016-02-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child' comes out in book form on July 31, after debuting on the London stage on July 30. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2016-02-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts I & II will be published the day after the play begins in London, picking up the wizard’s story 19 years after the final novel in the seriesHarry Potter author JK Rowling’s script of the stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is going to be... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2016-02-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A movie based on a book inside a Harry Potter book is here, and this is our first glimpse.During a week where many people have reached critical levels of Star Wars overload, Warner Bros. has released the first look at an entire movie based around a book that was listed on Harry Potter's freshman... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2015-12-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has received his share of celebrity endorsements, with stars such as Mike Tyson and Dennis Rodman backing the controversial billionaire. "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling, however, is decidedly not a member of Trump's fan club. The Scottish writer... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2015-12-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Katniss Everdeen may have come out on top of the weekend box office with an estimated $101 million in domestic ticket sales, but the new "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay -- Part 2" fell short of industry expectations and, unlike the "Twilight" and "Harry Potter" young-adult juggernauts, her "Hunger... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2015-11-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hungry for wands, stuffy spell books and elaborate magical alleys with complicated villain back stories? Never fear, the Harry Potter universe has returned with the new prequel film "Fantastic Beasts." Entertainment Weekly has debuted a collection of stills for the "Harry Potter" prequel,... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2015-11-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A new play will pick up the story of Harry Potter where the seventh and final volume of JK Rowling's saga left off, with a plot involving a grown-up Harry and his youngest son, Albus. Continue reading at Stuff
[ Stuff | 2015-10-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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