0:14

Welcome to mini MuggleCast.

0:17

We don't have too many of these. It's a mini

0:19

episode. We're your mini

0:22

ride into the wizarding world

0:24

today. Eric and Micah here. Hi Micah.

0:27

Hey Eric. Happy Sunday. We don't do

0:29

too many of these Sunday recordings either. I

0:32

know. I felt like waking up and I was just like,

0:35

fine day Sunday. No

0:37

post. No post, but MuggleCast.

0:41

No post, just podcast. So tell me

0:43

about this recent journey you went on.

0:44

I know we previewed it on last week's

0:47

MuggleCast, but let's hear it from

0:49

the horse's mouth. So earlier

0:51

this week, I got the opportunity to

0:53

go to Harry Potter, the exhibition

0:55

here in New York City. It is

0:58

being housed in Herald

1:00

Square, which is really the heart of Midtown.

1:03

It's so easy to get to from so many

1:05

different locations. If you're familiar

1:07

with New York, you come in either

1:09

to Penn Station. It's literally a five minute

1:12

walk away. Grand Central Station, probably like 10

1:14

to 15 minutes, depending on your pace.

1:17

So you're really in the

1:19

heart of New York City, a great location

1:21

for them to be at.

1:23

And

1:25

it opened up on Friday, May the

1:27

19th.

1:29

Had to do a little bit of math

1:32

there looking at my calendar. I

1:34

got a chance to go on the 18th. They

1:37

did a media session in

1:39

the morning and then they did a VIP

1:42

session in the evening. And

1:44

so I took the opportunity to check

1:47

out both. I also got the opportunity

1:49

to sit down with Tom Zoller,

1:52

who is the president and CEO of

1:54

Imagine Exhibitions, the

1:56

man responsible. He of course

1:58

has a team working

1:59

with him. but responsible,

2:02

I believe, not just for this exhibition here

2:04

in New York City, but for the one

2:06

that is currently overseas in

2:09

Paris. It was in Milan

2:11

previously. This exhibition

2:14

was in Atlanta,

2:16

and then it started in Philadelphia. So

2:18

it's making its way around

2:20

the US. It's making its way around Europe. And

2:23

we're going to talk a little bit about this later, but he

2:25

told me that they're going to expand. So

2:27

there will be four

2:29

touring exhibitions. They're going to add

2:31

one in Asia, and they're going to add

2:33

one in South America as well. Wow.

2:36

I gave you a lot of information there. Yeah, no, real talk.

2:39

This is good. You're hitting all the bullets. You

2:43

said you've been twice, right? Because you went for the press

2:45

and won earlier in the day?

2:47

And did you walk through the whole exhibition twice? I

2:50

did. Okay. How does this

2:52

differ from the Harry Potter

2:54

exhibition that has been touring the

2:56

world? Obviously, no Phelps twins at this one. Correct.

2:59

There were no Phelps twins that popped up. I was

3:01

expecting it. They're at the opening

3:03

literally of everything Harry Potter these days,

3:05

but it differs,

3:08

I think, in a lot of good ways. And

3:11

the first off is you can take photos, and I

3:13

joked with Tom about that in the interview.

3:16

Going back to the one I want to say, I

3:18

think on the show I said 2008, 2009, but

3:21

it was in New

3:21

York in 2011. Yeah, it

3:23

opened in Chicago. I know Tom in

3:25

his interview says he visited in Chicago when

3:27

it opened. It was at the Museum of Science and Industry,

3:30

and they took over a whole wing of the

3:32

museum for it. In 2010,

3:35

of course, we saw it together,

3:37

I think, at one point in New York, but I remember the

3:39

Fort Anglia coming out the side of the building. Right.

3:42

Yeah. Yeah, it was at a place called Discovery Times

3:44

Square, which I don't think is there

3:46

any longer. Discovery had a place

3:49

where you could do exhibitions,

3:51

and Harry Potter obviously took

3:53

advantage of that. But I will

3:55

say the biggest thing is the interactivity

3:58

aspect of this. expect

4:00

in 2023, much more

4:02

immersive than what it was back

4:05

in, you know, let's say 2011. And

4:08

I think one of the keys and Tom

4:11

mentioned this, this in the interview, and it's one of

4:13

the things that I really like is that there is something

4:15

for every Harry Potter fan,

4:17

which is so important because you're going to have

4:19

those that are coming in who are just your casual

4:22

fan, you're going to have kids, and

4:24

then you're going to have folks like us who are

4:27

more of the diehard fans. And

4:29

I think that everybody will really

4:31

be satisfied

4:33

with this. And the way that they laid it out

4:35

is really well done. It's easy to walk through.

4:37

And I think

4:40

that

4:41

people are going to have a lot of fun. Well, I obviously

4:43

have very specific questions for you, but

4:45

I don't want to delay before hearing this interview.

4:48

This Tom seems like a really good guy. Yes.

4:50

It's

4:51

a good conversation. So we will

4:53

play that now. Also, minor

4:55

disclaimer. If

4:57

you've ever been to a Harry Potter exhibition surrounded

5:00

by other Harry Potter fans, there are gasps

5:02

and aahs and in some cases,

5:04

very small children screaming. We've

5:07

done our best in this audio to remove it. But

5:09

it could not be avoided, I guess,

5:12

when you guys did this interview. The way I would

5:15

position it is you're getting an authentic

5:17

experience. This is what it sounds

5:19

like when you are live at an event. Yes.

5:21

And there's a million different

5:23

things going on around you. I will say they were

5:25

putting the finishing touches on the exhibition

5:28

as well when I was there talking with Tom. And

5:31

it was funny because we were trying

5:33

to find a quiet spot. There really is no quiet

5:35

spot to go to. But we did duck

5:37

into a

5:39

Ministry of Magic phone booth

5:41

to do this interview. So he was joking

5:44

that this is the first interview he's done inside

5:46

of a phone booth.

5:48

So it's very cozy, very casual.

5:51

And as you said, Tom was

5:53

great. He's definitely a Harry

5:56

Potter fan. And he cares a lot about his

5:58

work he's done. exhibitions

6:00

across the board. We're talking Hunger

6:02

Games, Titanic, Jurassic World,

6:05

Angry Birds, he's done it all.

6:07

And he's done it all over the world. And

6:09

you can tell he really, really cares about this.

6:11

This is something he was really looking forward

6:14

to working on and did an amazing

6:17

job bringing it to life. Okay, we'll hear from him

6:19

and then we'll be back so I can press

6:21

you on all the rooms and all the experiences.

6:25

Looking forward to it. Awesome, here we go. Interview

6:27

with Tom Zoller.

6:30

All right, well, I'm now joined by Tom

6:32

Zoller who is the CEO

6:34

of Imagine Exhibitions who has put on

6:37

the Harry Potter exhibition here in New

6:39

York City. Tom, thanks so much for

6:41

joining us. Yeah, my pleasure. Happy to have

6:44

you. And one of the fun things that we do

6:46

on the show is we get our

6:48

guest fan of mine, you need to start.

6:50

So curious if you can just give me

6:52

your favorite book, favorite

6:54

movie, your Hogwarts house and your

6:57

Patronus. I think I might

6:59

be a little boring, but I mean, I fell

7:02

in love with it all from the first book and

7:04

the first movie.

7:06

Probably because I read it to

7:08

my son and watched it with my son and that was

7:10

my intro and probably

7:13

still boring that I'm a Harry Potter

7:15

fan. And my house, I

7:18

have been sorted twice. Okay. And

7:21

I have been sorted both in Ravenclaw and Gryffindor.

7:24

So I'm one of those. You're hat stalled.

7:26

Yeah. And I am wearing

7:28

a Gryffindor coat. Yeah, it's really nice. Yeah, we

7:30

actually make 90% of the merchandise

7:32

in our store here

7:34

is all bespoke from us. So you can't get anywhere

7:36

else in the world. So this is

7:38

Gryffindor, what do

7:40

they call this? Like a leatherman jacket

7:43

sort of thing with our golden snitch on it. Yes. And

7:47

yeah, so I go both ways. But yeah.

7:50

I was a hat stall between Ravenclaw and

7:52

Slytherin. But I default

7:54

to Ravenclaw. I was disappointed when I got to the

7:56

end. The house points for Ravenclaw

7:59

were pretty long. It's almost always

8:02

Gryffindor and Slytherin who are in the lead. And

8:04

then it varies between which day

8:07

of the week it is, if it's Hufflepuff or whatever. Okay.

8:09

I don't know why that is, but I guess,

8:11

you know, it is. And do you

8:13

have a favorite character?

8:15

Harry Potter's my favorite. Okay. I know.

8:18

It's, I mean, there are so many great

8:20

characters. It's like people ask me what my favorite room

8:22

in this exhibition is. It's like, it's my favorite. You

8:24

know, it's like asking me who my favorite child is. I

8:27

love all the, I mean, there's the

8:29

stories. We're so rich and so awesome

8:31

that

8:32

I could go on about each and

8:34

many different characters. Right? There's

8:36

my guy. All right. So how

8:39

did the exhibition come to life? I saw

8:41

on LinkedIn you have a lot of exhibition

8:44

experience. You've done a lot of cool things in different

8:46

fandoms. How did this one in particular

8:48

come to life? And I say that because you know, there was

8:50

an exhibition going back probably about 10 years

8:53

or so.

8:54

But this one is just amazingly

8:56

immersive. It's a lot of fun. So

8:58

I'm curious how the idea came

9:01

back to do it again. Well, thank you for that.

9:04

I, so first of all, my company,

9:06

we, the Hadget Exhibitions, we create immersive

9:09

experiences,

9:10

museum shows, attractions. This

9:12

is what I've been doing all my life. Well, I've been doing

9:15

it for 25 years.

9:16

So, you know, I cut my teeth on

9:18

the Titanic exhibition. Also super

9:20

immersive, recreating rooms and telling

9:23

stories. And that's what we

9:25

do. We tell a story in a three-dimensional

9:27

room, right? So I've had, I've done

9:29

lots of different exhibitions from, you know,

9:32

as the source in franchises,

9:34

whether it's I built the Jurassic

9:36

World exhibition, I built the Hunger Games exhibition

9:39

and Angry Birds exhibition, a Downton

9:41

Abbey exhibition, a Titanic exhibition,

9:43

and like hundreds of other different,

9:46

you know, exhibitions of science and natural history

9:48

and dinosaurs and whatever. But

9:51

so Warner Brothers called me after

9:54

that exhibition. You're talking about that a lot of your fans

9:56

probably are aware of

9:58

was called Harry Potter, the exhibition. tour

10:00

for 10 years. I know the people very, very well who did

10:02

it. And I actually was

10:04

one of the hosts. I was the

10:07

I built a museum in Singapore called the Science

10:09

Museum and I was the director and

10:11

I hosted the exhibition and I saw

10:13

it in New York both times and I saw I saw

10:15

it in Chicago in a first Oakland. I know the

10:18

people really well. And

10:20

so I'm very familiar with what that was. And so

10:22

when Warner Brothers called and said they wanted to do

10:24

a different exhibition, I was like, absolutely.

10:27

Because to me, this

10:28

is like in my little

10:30

world, which there's not a lot of people

10:32

in my world. This is like the

10:35

holy grail to me was to get the opportunity to

10:37

work with the brand like Harry Potter and

10:39

to tell these stories in this

10:41

immersive way.

10:42

And so I've got 25, 30 years of success and mistakes.

10:49

And so I kind of when I

10:51

thought about what could we do, I felt like

10:53

we

10:53

could do this so well

10:56

because the root of the

10:59

story and the media

11:02

and visuals in it and

11:05

the story is just awesome. So

11:07

we went about it, you know, step by step and

11:10

worked with Warner Brothers and picked props

11:12

and costumes and and

11:14

then picked out the different rooms and added

11:17

that

11:18

layer of technology in there that really

11:20

I

11:21

think really also helps to bring it to life. Yeah,

11:23

I would say the interactive component of it

11:25

is really cool. The wristband scanning at

11:27

different places, getting the opportunity when you

11:30

come in, you get to choose your house, your

11:32

lawn, your Patronus, but just

11:34

the thought process behind, I think thinking

11:37

out of from the perspective of a Harry Potter

11:39

fan. And that's what it seems like you

11:41

did here. And just there's so many

11:44

cool stops along the way that

11:46

I was really blown away by it. So hopefully

11:49

you as a

11:51

more than the average fan, let's say we

11:54

had to do something. This is a mass

11:56

appeal experience, right? We're in New

11:58

York City. We're also

11:59

open in Paris, like we're in big

12:02

cities around the world.

12:03

So you're going to have your entry

12:05

level fan, you're going to have your middle

12:09

of the road fan, and you have your super fan.

12:10

So you have to satisfy everybody. So it's

12:13

the little subtle things that other people won't notice

12:15

that the super fan will that make, that

12:18

satisfy the super fan. And we have

12:20

to think about all the other things in the world that have been done,

12:22

but what can we do differently?

12:24

And so I think the technology layer

12:26

that we added that's underneath

12:30

all of this with the risk of the tech, the risk

12:32

fan you're talking about, where like you see your

12:34

face pop up and we know you're a Ravenclaw. And

12:36

it's like, that's pretty cool. Like that they know that.

12:39

And then later, what you don't know is

12:41

you'll get an email and all your memories

12:43

that you created today will be shared with you. And

12:45

that's a takeaway that doesn't cost

12:47

you anything. It's like, now I can share my

12:50

moments and I

12:51

want it to be great.

12:53

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

12:55

And one of the things I really like too is the

12:58

note cards that are there.

13:00

It's not just describing what a

13:02

costume is or a prop

13:05

is. It gives you even a little bit more of background

13:07

information. I think that's what you're talking about. We say sort

13:09

of the super fan,

13:10

you get even deeper insights to how something

13:12

was created or, you know, something

13:15

along those lines. And that's what we sort of bill

13:17

ourselves. And that's right. We are what

13:19

makes us special and unique is that we have

13:22

original props and costumes from all of the films

13:25

from fantastic beast films from Chris

13:27

child.

13:28

We have all of it here. It's all represented.

13:30

And then we also have this behind the

13:32

scenes content. And we talk about what

13:35

choices were made,

13:36

why costumes are done the way they were

13:38

to represent what part in

13:41

the fandom. Right? So it's, it's not just

13:43

a, you know, so-and-so design

13:45

this thing. It's like, you know, did you know

13:47

that the layers of Voldemort's robes

13:51

changed movie by movie and

13:53

layer by layer and what's the deeper

13:56

story is for those who want that, right? We

13:58

have, we want to give it to everybody. We want to like. let

14:00

the new fan take a picture of the cover under

14:02

the stairs. We also want to

14:04

satisfy everybody. And I think we've

14:06

struck a really nice balance and have

14:09

been able to use all kinds of new

14:11

technology and old, you

14:14

know, tried and true technology

14:17

that can deliver the show.

14:20

Yeah, it's funny you mentioned the photos

14:22

because that's something we often joke about when we talk about the

14:24

prior exhibitions. They didn't let us take

14:27

photos. It's crazy.

14:29

But I don't remember if that was maybe because the last

14:31

movie hadn't been out yet. So

14:33

they were showing us things that maybe weren't

14:35

too public, but we've got

14:37

a lot of great photos and videos in here.

14:40

You talked about Fantastic Beasts and Cursed Child.

14:43

How important was that to add to

14:45

the exhibition? Well,

14:47

particularly for, again, we keep talking

14:49

about the super fan and obviously the program we're

14:51

talking about,

14:52

you're not just a casual fan if you're listening,

14:55

right? So, I

14:56

mean, what I was surprised at was the number

14:58

of people who didn't know about Cursed Child because

15:01

also it's an expensive ticket to Broadway show,

15:04

but it's a part of the world, right?

15:07

And a lot of people haven't seen all the Fantastic Beasts

15:09

films, right? So we wanna also make sure

15:11

they know about this continuing story. And

15:14

as we know from recent news, the story's gonna

15:16

continue. And so I think

15:18

we wanna incorporate the complete

15:20

story. We bill ourselves as the most

15:23

comprehensive

15:24

touring exhibition about Harry Potter that's ever been done.

15:26

We have to live up to that. We

15:29

couldn't leave it out. And luckily for

15:31

us,

15:32

the Cursed Child people

15:34

have been incredible to work with

15:36

and really great supporters, particularly here in New York. And

15:38

it's their anniversary now, this year, two,

15:40

five years. So we're

15:42

collaborating with them and we wanna tell

15:44

the whole story.

15:46

Has them condensing down to

15:48

one show or one

15:50

show allowed them to provide more

15:52

maybe than they otherwise would from a proper

15:54

costume standpoint? I don't know the answer

15:56

to that. I don't think,

15:59

I don't know. I don't know,

16:01

but the new show is amazing. I saw it last year.

16:03

It's fantastic. Yeah, who

16:05

decides Rob's Costumes

16:09

sets like is there a team

16:11

behind for sure that decision? Yeah, we

16:13

have a great team You know, I am the

16:16

the owner of the company and I'm the I

16:18

think the dreamer and the visionary

16:20

for a lot of things But I have you

16:23

know hundreds of people worked on

16:25

this, right? And both at Warner Brothers

16:28

and in my team and third-party, you

16:30

know designers and AV producers

16:32

and audio engineers and scenic

16:34

painters and you know carpenters

16:37

and you know, there's a massive team of

16:39

really talented important people

16:41

That that made

16:43

this all happen But like when we do a

16:45

final choice about you know, do we do

16:48

this remember that room?

16:49

I have a good a strong saying Was

16:52

there one in particular that like was

16:55

yours and you said I I really want

16:57

to see this come to life There's two

17:01

That I really fought for one

17:05

In the two different stories the one that I really wanted

17:07

to do on the drawing that I was most

17:10

excited about

17:11

Was the Great Hall

17:13

And the way that we did the Great Hall

17:15

nobody's done before

17:17

And I'd never done anything quite that way where

17:19

you're layering together the physical world And

17:22

then a double scream to create

17:24

this feeling as if I wanted the Great Hall to

17:26

transform between floating

17:29

candles and pumpkins and

17:31

owls and Yule

17:33

ball and feast and

17:35

we were able to do that with media in a way

17:37

that never been done before that I thought was really

17:40

so that was very exciting for me The other one is

17:42

really really simple

17:44

and I think it's one of my favorite moments in the whole

17:46

experience and you don't expect it It's

17:48

when you

17:49

So we started an introductory theater

17:51

I'm gonna leave the theater and you walk

17:54

into the next room There's the whole all the walls

17:56

and the floors and our outer map and

17:59

you you don't know it then you have your wristband

18:01

out you go and tap your thing on the side

18:03

and your name popped up on the wall. Yeah, it's like

18:05

that was the coolest moment. Oh my

18:08

God. It's like because you don't expect it. It's

18:10

not complicated. It's

18:13

that I think those are some of the best things in life I've

18:15

ever had. The simple things

18:17

that are

18:18

gizmos and widgets but it was just

18:21

cool. Yeah, and those diehard

18:23

fans are going to really appreciate

18:25

it whether it's that whether it's like

18:27

seeing your face in one of the

18:29

divination, the crystal balls

18:32

or the pensive. Yeah, I just think

18:34

overall it's just such

18:36

an amazing job that you all did. Oh, thank you.

18:39

Well, we're very proud of it. So just kind

18:41

of a closing question. We're here in New York.

18:43

I know it's been in Atlanta and Philly and

18:46

then there's an international version currently

18:48

in Paris. Yeah. Is

18:51

the plans you continue on beyond and

18:53

how long do we anticipate it'll be in New York as I'm

18:55

sure a lot of fans listening to

18:58

the show and travel plans upcoming

19:00

over the summer will be in New York and

19:03

I think it's definitely on it should

19:05

be on the list of go to Harry Potter things

19:07

in addition to the store which

19:09

isn't too far away either.

19:11

So, yeah, so we have a North

19:13

American version which is here in New York. It's

19:16

a limited engagement. I'll tell you it is here through

19:18

summer.

19:19

I don't know exactly how long it'll be here. I'd

19:21

love for it to stay there forever. I know it's not

19:23

going to. I mean, but I know I'm

19:25

here through the summer. So I would say if you

19:28

got some of the travel plans and they're involved in New York,

19:30

go now because the store is going to be

19:32

here forever. So

19:34

I think that is important. So this will

19:36

continue to tour the show

19:38

that's in Paris now opened in Vienna. It

19:42

did extremely well in Vienna is doing

19:44

incredibly well in Paris. It'll be in

19:46

Paris until October and then it goes

19:48

on a European

19:49

tour. We're building another

19:51

set for Asia and another set for

19:53

South America. So those

19:56

will there'll be four total touring

19:58

versions of this show. And

20:00

all will be similar in nature, but of course

20:03

they'll all have their own unique props and costumes

20:05

So technically if you're really a superfan,

20:08

you're gonna need to go to all yeah I'm just saying

20:10

so what that means is you know good travel

20:13

for people that get to go all over the world Why not

20:15

let Harry Potter be your muse to

20:17

travel? No,

20:18

absolutely that was actually gonna be one of my other questions

20:20

Is there things that are unique to the different

20:23

cities that yeah and

20:25

like here in New York? We added a little moment

20:27

for the the ministry. I'm sorry for Fantastic

20:30

beasts as you saw those subway tiles

20:32

coming in after you left by the time Turner

20:36

That's a cool moment And as

20:38

we you know as we evolve you know we plan

20:40

to do this for many years There'll be other things that

20:42

happen in the franchise and we hope that

20:44

we can continue to incorporate because we want to be

20:46

the go-to comprehensive

20:48

Touring exhibition.

20:50

That's it's the biggest touring exhibition ever done on Harry

20:53

Potter. It's it's cool, right? If

20:55

you if you can't get to London

20:58

is its own thing

20:59

Orlando is its own thing like each we

21:01

all have our own space But

21:04

I think this kind of incorporates it all really

21:06

proud

21:07

of it. Well, thanks so much for joining us and

21:10

We're definitely going to be telling our listeners to

21:13

come out here and check it out. Come on.

21:15

Let's get out of here Thanks

21:20

And we're back what a nice time Yeah,

21:22

if for being in a phone booth It

21:26

was a great time and Like

21:29

I said earlier you could just tell

21:32

how passionate he is about this project

21:34

how much he cares about it and I'm

21:37

excited to also just see where this goes

21:39

beyond New York City I he had

21:42

me when he said his favorite character was Harry

21:44

honestly that it's such a bold

21:47

choice It is it's a bold

21:49

choice And I think a lot of people shy

21:51

away from it because they feel like it is

21:54

too easy of an answer

21:56

To give yeah, but he backed

21:59

it up did So tell

22:01

me

22:02

what this place looks like. Now I

22:04

heard of the Great Hall. I actually see the Great

22:06

Hall because as we're doing this, you've shared

22:08

some of the promo photos, kind

22:11

of a hybrid between room size

22:14

and screens. What did that feel like

22:16

going into, obviously do you start off in the Great Hall?

22:18

No, so you actually start off,

22:21

you're given a little wristband, which

22:23

I assume is probably some kind of RFID

22:26

technology. And when you get

22:28

in, you scan it at

22:30

a little kiosk and

22:32

you choose your wand,

22:34

your Patronus,

22:36

and of course your Hogwarts

22:38

house. And these are important as

22:40

you go throughout the experience, having

22:42

that little RFID bracelet is important

22:45

throughout the experience because

22:47

at different points,

22:49

you do different activities

22:52

that earn your house points, which

22:54

you will see at the end of the experience.

22:56

So for myself being in Ravenclaw,

22:59

I felt a little bit lonely because when I

23:01

got to the end of the experience, I felt like I was

23:03

the only one that was earning Ravenclaw

23:05

points. And

23:07

I think

23:07

Tom alluded to this, like Gryffindor

23:10

and Slytherin are very heavy in

23:13

this experience for the

23:15

most part, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw

23:18

straggled behind a little bit, which isn't unexpected,

23:21

but I'm curious when it really

23:23

opens up

23:24

to the public, if we'll get a little

23:26

bit more balance there. But yeah, that's your first

23:29

essential stop. And then you go in,

23:32

there's a green screen, you can take some photos.

23:35

And then after that, it's

23:37

just room after room of

23:39

immersive experience. There's

23:42

a house room, so you can go

23:44

to different houses and

23:47

you can walk through and they have costumes

23:50

from the characters that were in

23:53

each of those houses.

23:54

So that

23:56

was very cool. And then it's really by class.

24:00

So herbology, defense against the dark

24:02

arts, divination. And then

24:05

as you kind of work your way through to the end, there's

24:08

more of the dark arts experience.

24:14

And it's also worth calling out, Cursed

24:16

Child is represented, Fantastic

24:18

Beasts is represented. So. Yeah,

24:21

that's my biggest wish

24:23

for, because it's in New York and

24:26

Fantastic Beasts is very in New York. I mean,

24:28

what percentage would you say of the exhibition

24:31

was Fantastic Beasts? And what was it?

24:33

What was there to see?

24:35

I would say

24:37

more than I expected. Somebody

24:39

asked me this question before we went through

24:41

the VIP reception. And

24:43

I actually had to think the percentage of Cursed

24:46

Child and the percentage of Fantastic

24:48

Beasts. Fantastic Beasts actually

24:51

probably works out to

24:54

maybe between 15 to 20% of the exhibition. Cursed

24:58

Child is probably somewhere around 5%. And

25:01

then I would say

25:02

Harry Potter is 75%. Yeah,

25:05

I mean, given eight films, that makes sense, right?

25:09

Yeah. Across eight movies. And the exhibition

25:11

did a really nice job with Fantastic

25:13

Beasts.

25:14

When you're walking through

25:17

and I am blanking on the name

25:19

of the beast, it's kind of popping

25:22

its head outside of a subway

25:24

wall.

25:25

And the subway was a nice nod to

25:27

the fact that this exhibition is taking

25:30

place in New York City. But of course, the first Fantastic

25:32

Beasts film was in New

25:34

York City as well.

25:37

There are costumes from

25:40

Credence, Queenie, Newt.

25:42

And there's actually a section

25:45

too where you feel as if

25:47

you're inside of Newt's suitcase because

25:49

it's all dedicated to the different

25:52

beasts. There's a MACUSA

25:54

reference. And one of the

25:57

ones that you can choose is Grindelwald's.

26:00

Oh. Though I did find it interesting,

26:02

there was no representation

26:05

of Grindelwald at all in

26:07

the experience,

26:09

nor the Jude Law version of

26:12

Dumbledore. That's interesting. I also

26:14

think, I mean, maybe those rights are being

26:16

reserved. Maybe

26:18

there's something building between Jude Law's Dumbledore

26:21

and Grindelwald. Let's start the rumor here because what

26:23

is a mini-Muggle cast without rumors? For

26:27

me, I would love to see Graves'

26:30

costume. I remember from

26:32

the first Fantastic Beasts film that being very

26:35

awesome, long flowing kind of suit

26:37

looking thing that Colin

26:38

Farrell wore. But okay,

26:41

so then as far as the room dedicated

26:43

to beasts, were there actual animatronics?

26:49

Here's another thing I guess, overview question.

26:51

Again, percentage

26:54

is the easiest way to do this. But what percentage is

26:57

costumes versus props

26:59

versus photo stations

27:02

and the interactive elements? Wow,

27:05

okay. No, I only asked because going

27:07

back, the exhibition when it

27:10

originally came out, and I remember being so shocked

27:12

by No Photos Please, but

27:14

it was largely costumes with very,

27:17

very, very few. The

27:19

props that you would see were maybe empty Mina

27:21

Lima boxes and

27:24

the jewelry, the diadem, and

27:26

some of the Horcruxes were in a corner

27:29

somewhere. So I remember being very costume

27:31

heavy. Yeah, I will say it

27:33

is fairly costume heavy from

27:35

the standpoint of the houses

27:38

that I mentioned earlier. So when you're able to

27:40

walk through Gryffindor, Ravenclaw,

27:43

Hufflepuff, Slytherin, a lot of what

27:45

you see is in fact

27:48

costume

27:50

specific. There are

27:52

props that are included alongside

27:55

those costumes. And I think one of the

27:57

other really neat things that they did at

27:59

these particular

27:59

exhibition is these note cards.

28:02

And these note cards aren't just descriptions

28:05

of what you're seeing. It goes into

28:07

a lot more detail. So it gives you a sense

28:10

of how something was created versus

28:13

just saying, this is the costume of Bellatrix

28:16

Lestrange. Yeah, are you talking about like materials

28:19

or what kind of other information is on these cards? Yeah,

28:22

so

28:23

one example, if I pull up

28:25

my phone real fast, I was taking

28:28

a photo of the Quibbler.

28:31

Let me find it. The

28:34

Quibbler published by Xenophilius Lovegood, 5,000

28:38

copies were printed on newsprint paper

28:40

for a tabloid style feel. So

28:43

it goes a layer deeper than just

28:46

saying, hey,

28:48

this is the Quibbler. Right. And they

28:50

do that a lot. And I think to Tom's

28:52

point in the interview, this is what the

28:54

diehard fan will appreciate

28:57

beyond just being able to see Luna

28:59

Lovegood's costume, which of course the Quibbler

29:02

is positioned next to. I will

29:04

say, I did have to laugh

29:06

because in the Hufflepuff section,

29:09

there's Cedric Diggory, Tonks,

29:13

and then in the middle, just Hufflepuff

29:15

student, which the photo

29:17

is of Ernie McMillan. Yeah, but it just

29:20

says Hufflepuff student. There's

29:23

always an opportunity for Mugglecast hosts

29:26

to be consultants on

29:28

these things. That's just a mention

29:31

I'm going to throw out there. We could have pointed out

29:33

Ernie McMillan. But yeah,

29:36

that's hilarious, actually. But I'm

29:38

glad to see or to hear you say

29:40

that it is still very costume heavy

29:42

because that to me is

29:45

what justified the first exhibition

29:47

because of the level of detail

29:50

that you otherwise would not see on some

29:52

of these costumes.

29:54

In particular, the one I always

29:56

go back to from the original exhibition was

29:59

the Bloody Barret. The Bloody Baron's

30:01

overcoat was so layered and beautiful,

30:04

but

30:08

you only ever see him, first of all, transparent.

30:11

Second of all, from a distance, maybe

30:13

in one of the film's background shots.

30:16

But when you look at it and you're a foot

30:19

in front of it,

30:20

you can see just the insane

30:22

amounts of texture and pattern

30:25

and

30:25

all of that that's been worked into it.

30:28

And

30:28

it really is astounding to see how

30:31

much work

30:32

goes into each of these costumes

30:34

and props. And so the exhibition was

30:36

literally like this expose

30:39

for me of the level of how

30:41

deep the creativity runs in the

30:43

film franchise that we all know. Yeah, you

30:45

definitely get a sense for that.

30:48

And in the interview with Tom, I think he

30:50

references just how

30:52

Voldemort's costume changed over

30:54

the course of the films that

30:57

he was in. And you do see

31:00

one of his costumes, I believe

31:02

it's from Deathly Hallows,

31:03

as well as, and this is just calling

31:06

out some of the other costumes that are there, Bellatrix,

31:09

Lupin, Snape, Slughorn,

31:12

McGonagall, Dumbledore,

31:15

from King's Cross, as well as Harry from

31:17

King's Cross. All of the

31:20

Triwizard champions from,

31:22

I believe it's the first task. So you

31:24

get Cedric, Crumb, Fleur,

31:27

and Harry. I mentioned

31:30

the

31:31

costumes from the

31:33

Fantastic Beasts series. There's also

31:36

Albus and Scorpius from

31:38

Cursed Child, as

31:41

well as Hermeliany from Cursed Child. So

31:44

you do get a really nice kind

31:47

of diverse cross section of costumes

31:50

in this exhibition.

31:53

The interactive experience, probably

31:56

my favorite, is one

31:58

of the first rooms that you go into.

31:59

and it's really the first opportunity you get

32:02

to scan that RFID bracelet, and

32:05

that is the Marauder's Map,

32:07

and having your name pop up on

32:10

the Marauder's Map, as if you're at Hogwarts.

32:13

I think that was a really, really

32:15

nice touch on the part of

32:17

this exhibition. You

32:19

can also use it for brewing a

32:22

potion.

32:23

And

32:25

I believe I went with

32:28

the draft of living death,

32:30

but you can do Felix Felicis, love

32:32

potion, and I think there's

32:34

one other. You can

32:37

fight a boggart inside

32:39

of a wardrobe. And you didn't do that or

32:41

you did do that? I did that. Yeah, of course.

32:44

Because we just did that on, of course, our chapter

32:46

by chapter. So. Yeah,

32:49

you can cast your patronus, which again,

32:52

you choose at the start of

32:54

the exhibition. There is a crystal

32:56

ball within the divination

32:59

space.

33:00

And if you scan your bracelet, you can

33:02

see your face in the crystal

33:04

ball and then it whispers to you some

33:07

sort of

33:08

prophecy. So

33:10

I did not hear that, but

33:12

I was told that that is what happens.

33:15

And then at the very end, you get

33:17

to do a really cool dueling sequence

33:20

like Harry and Voldemort in Deathly

33:22

Hallows Part Two. So

33:24

a

33:25

lot of interactive, very fun

33:28

things to do. There's photo ops along

33:30

the way, too. There's a really big armchair

33:34

in Hagrid's Hut. Right. Which,

33:37

by the way, Hagrid's Hut is

33:39

most likely outside of the Marauders

33:42

map, my favorite area, because

33:44

it just smells like

33:46

firewood. And they

33:48

did a cool job just

33:50

making you feel like you're you're literally

33:53

standing inside of his hut. That's really cool.

33:56

Yeah. How does this experience for

33:58

you compare to the much more.

33:59

you were in like the Forbidden

34:02

Forest experience that was in New York?

34:04

Yeah,

34:06

it's different because you're outdoors.

34:08

And so I think that

34:11

for that experience, it

34:13

was a totally different one.

34:16

And so I would say

34:18

that temperature control is definitely

34:20

a positive. Because it was cold

34:23

when I went. Oh, right, yeah.

34:25

But it's just, it's two totally

34:27

different types of experiences. And I

34:29

think that they did a great job with the

34:31

Forbidden Forest as well as

34:33

this one. Well, because Chicago has a

34:35

Harry Potter exhibition-ish sort of experience,

34:38

immersive Harry Potter experience,

34:40

I think I'll call it, called Harry Potter Magic

34:42

at Play. And it's set up where you go through

34:45

various rooms and environments from the films,

34:48

loosely films. And then

34:51

also there's tons of photo ops.

34:53

And it's so funny to see how

34:55

Harry Potter touring has

34:57

changed from no photos please,

35:00

to here's a photo of-

35:02

Oh, to get it up on social. Get up on a broom. As fast

35:04

as you can, Tavis. On a broom in front of a green

35:06

screen. Was there any Quidditch feature

35:10

at this thing? There is a Quidditch feature.

35:12

You can throw the Quaffle

35:14

through the rings. Yes.

35:16

See, that's what Harry Potter fans want. That

35:19

and their name on the Marauders map is

35:21

enough to please me. Oh,

35:23

yeah. I think you would thoroughly enjoy

35:26

this. And you

35:28

mentioned the Great Hall, which is positioned

35:30

behind me here. There

35:32

is a screen, as you can tell,

35:34

but then they also did a really nice job setting

35:37

up a couple of tables with some silverware,

35:40

some dining ware, they have the floating candles

35:43

above. And one of the things I

35:45

did not notice,

35:47

and you can maybe tell me this,

35:49

because I know you've been to the studio

35:51

tour in London, is the gargoyles

35:54

are actually the house sigils.

35:56

Now, I'm not sure if this was done just

35:59

for the purposes.

35:59

of this exhibition or that's how it

36:02

is in the films and I just never noticed, but that

36:04

was something that I picked up on. That's

36:07

amazing. So they just have a shield that has a

36:09

specific crest or? No, so

36:11

the, and maybe I'll show you a photo, but

36:13

the actual, imagine a gargoyle, but

36:15

the gargoyle is in the shape of a badger or a

36:17

snake. Oh, no, wow.

36:21

And they're holding the lanterns. You can kind of see one

36:23

behind me over here, but it's

36:25

a little dark. So I can send you a photo, but again.

36:28

Yeah, I'd have to take a closer look. A really

36:29

nice touch that Harry

36:32

Potter fans will appreciate. And as

36:35

I'm talking, I'm remembering things. Going into Umbridge's

36:38

office,

36:39

they have, I must not tell lies

36:42

kind of scrawled into the wall. And

36:45

then a really cool surprise for

36:47

people. Well, maybe cool is not the

36:49

right word. I posted this video

36:52

on Instagram story,

36:54

but as you're going through Umbridge's office,

36:57

you can turn around and you'll see the door

36:59

with Mad Eye's eye in

37:02

the door. Too soon. So again, the level

37:04

of detail is

37:06

really, really cool. Interactive

37:09

wise, there's also a port key experience where

37:11

you touch the port key and it takes you

37:14

to a

37:16

new and different area, presumably. I'm sure they

37:18

have maybe like five or 10 that they cycle through.

37:21

But

37:22

yeah, I'd say, and

37:24

all it probably takes about,

37:27

if you're really pacing yourself, maybe

37:29

like an hour to go through. Okay.

37:31

And I think the big key here,

37:33

two word phrase that'll attract

37:36

a lot of people, exclusive merchandise.

37:38

Yeah. I was actually surprised

37:41

by the level of merchandise. Now I

37:43

haven't seen the jacket that Tom was wearing, but I kind

37:45

of want to. Yeah, so the jacket he was wearing

37:47

was very cool. It was a Quidditch

37:50

Letterman's jacket, which I

37:52

would assume is part of that exclusive merchandise

37:54

to this exhibition. And

37:57

he told me, I think somewhere

37:59

between 80

37:59

90% of the merchandise

38:01

at this

38:03

exhibition is exclusive to this

38:05

location. So you can only get

38:07

it there. And the great thing is that store

38:09

is open regardless

38:11

of whether or not you're going to the exhibition

38:14

itself. So you can go in just

38:16

to get that Letterman's

38:18

jacket or any of the other merchandise

38:21

that's there. One of the things that was

38:23

unique was that they

38:26

used a lot of kind of stained glass type

38:28

of artwork for the house sigils.

38:31

And they leaned into that a lot in the merchandise.

38:34

So I think that's part of what made it unique

38:37

from anything else that you could get. And

38:39

I got a chance to meet

38:41

at the reception, the

38:44

man responsible for creating

38:46

a lot of the merchandise. And I guess he

38:48

had worked on a lot of the other experiences.

38:51

So yeah, if you're a fan

38:53

of the Harry Potter

38:55

series, from the standpoint of merchandise,

38:58

you're

38:59

going to want to go here and check

39:01

it out. Because there's a lot of cool

39:04

stuff there. I know Chloe,

39:06

our social media manager is going in

39:08

a couple of weeks. So maybe she can

39:11

do a merchandise exclusive

39:14

for us. Yeah, maybe. So

39:16

just wrapping up what how do people where

39:19

do people go to get tickets? And you said

39:21

this is in Herald Square in New York, Manhattan.

39:23

Yeah. So as far as tickets,

39:25

there is

39:27

the website that I've

39:30

seen is new

39:31

dash York

39:34

dot Harry Potter exhibition dot com. We'll

39:36

link to it in the show notes make it super easy

39:38

for people to find. They're

39:40

also on

39:42

all of your social media

39:44

channels that you would expect.

39:47

So very easy to find.

39:50

And I would say to from a price point perspective,

39:53

it is very affordable. I was

39:55

looking through the prices, especially

39:57

during the week. And we saw this too with the Forbidden

40:00

Forest exhibition that you mentioned earlier.

40:03

During the week is a much easier time,

40:06

I think for most folks

40:08

to be able to get affordable tickets.

40:10

Once you get towards the weekend, those prices

40:12

are going to scale and I think that's just normal.

40:15

Yeah. But it starts

40:17

at $30. For

40:20

everything that I was talking about, and

40:23

if you're looking for something to do, that's

40:25

Harry Potter related in New York City and it's not

40:27

going to price you out. Because you think

40:29

about

40:29

Cursed Child and by no means am I discouraging

40:32

people from going to see it, but that

40:34

can be a pricey ticket. I

40:37

know that there are other discount

40:39

methods available for that as well, but

40:41

certainly affordable

40:44

to go to this exhibition. I

40:48

would highly recommend it. Yeah, it's really

40:50

in the Midtown area, it's

40:54

accessible, which I think is

40:56

obviously very important for something like this. We

40:58

were joking about how

41:01

it's very close to the Empire State Building, so they

41:03

get a lot of spillover tourists that

41:06

will just come right in. As

41:09

Tom mentioned, the store

41:12

that's in the Flatiron will be there

41:15

forever, but this exhibition

41:17

will not. It's worth

41:19

coming by and checking it out and

41:22

it'll be there.

41:24

Right now, the plan is through summer.

41:28

Probably into the early fall window.

41:32

I'm assuming it could

41:34

get extended depending on how it

41:36

does, but we know that a lot of listeners

41:39

make travel plans for the

41:41

summer. If you're planning to go

41:43

to New York,

41:44

it'll be there, so definitely check it

41:46

out.

41:47

Well, cool. Yeah, I'm glad you went,

41:49

I'm glad you liked it. Yeah,

41:52

I wasn't sure what to expect. I still

41:54

had a little bit of trauma, I guess, from

41:57

the original exhibition. Don't take any photos.

41:59

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But there

42:02

were Horcruxes there to your

42:05

point earlier, because the reason

42:07

I mentioned that is that is what I believe

42:09

I tried to take a photo of and was

42:11

told not to. But the

42:13

diary is there, the locket is there.

42:16

The Deathly Hallows has a very cool setup.

42:19

They did a really nice

42:21

kind of rendering with

42:24

the resurrection stone, the

42:26

Elder Wand and the Invisibility

42:28

Cloak, which, you know,

42:31

there's a joke about that, but I'll let people

42:34

see it for themselves when they go. And

42:37

speaking of wands, the last thing I'll mention

42:40

is there is a wand room where they have

42:43

many of the wands from the

42:45

Harry Potter series, also

42:47

the ones that you yourself chose.

42:49

So as I mentioned, I chose

42:51

Grindelwald's wand. They

42:55

created next to the actual

42:57

wand itself

42:59

probably like a 12-foot replica

43:02

of the actual wand. So you

43:04

get this for every character that's

43:07

in the room, and it's really, really cool. That's

43:10

something I don't think they necessarily needed

43:12

to do, but it's- What do you

43:14

mean 12-foot replica?

43:16

So imagine a case

43:20

with Grindelwald's wand in it or Voldemort's

43:22

wand in it, which is

43:24

the actual wand from the movies,

43:27

but then to the left or to the right of it, there's actually

43:29

a 12-foot standing replica

43:32

of that person's wand. A

43:34

12-foot

43:35

wand? I'm just trying to like physically-

43:38

I'm trying to imagine this, like,

43:40

so they have that with multiple- there's like six

43:42

12-foot wands in the room? It's

43:44

probably more than that, yeah.

43:47

Okay. Yeah, I would almost say it's almost like floor

43:49

to ceiling, so it might even be bigger than

43:51

that, but- Giant wands! Well,

43:54

it's gonna have to be something that you have to see for yourself,

43:57

I guess. Yeah. But yeah, that sounds good. If

43:59

I make a-

43:59

to New York this summer, I'll hit you

44:02

up. Is there Butterbeer, by

44:04

the way, or any kind of refreshments? I

44:06

know,

44:07

yeah. There is not

44:10

any refreshments. So that was the one thing

44:12

that I was looking

44:15

to see if they did. I mean, there were refreshments at the

44:17

VIP reception. Right, right, right.

44:19

I actually heard a drink called the Basilisk.

44:22

Oh. Yeah. I

44:24

have no clue what was it. So

44:27

it was green, that's all I know. Any

44:30

horcrux inside you would have shriveled up. Yeah,

44:32

it might've been absent for all I know, but,

44:35

and I had some Dragon Balls too. They

44:38

were very creative with what they were serving.

44:41

But yeah, there's

44:43

no food and drink

44:45

available, at least for right now on

44:47

location that I saw. All the merch was

44:51

mostly clothing and other little

44:54

trinkets, so. Always good

44:56

to know. I'd say families with kids, bring some snacks.

44:59

Yeah.

45:01

Keep your kid happy so there's not any screaming

45:03

that interrupts other interviews. The future

45:06

that may be going on there. But

45:09

honestly, thanks Micah for putting

45:11

this all together and going

45:14

and providing this footage. It's nice to have

45:16

this mini Mugglecast. We

45:19

will be back with regular Mugglecast

45:21

next week as planned

45:24

where we're going through chapter 10 of Prisoner

45:26

of Azkaban, chapter by chapter, the Marauders

45:29

map. So your favorite part of the exhibition.

45:31

Very appropriate, yeah. Yeah,

45:34

no, it's cool. You sent a video of your name

45:36

on the wall and I thought that was really cool. It's

45:38

like they knew exactly what we would've wanted.

45:41

Yeah, they did a great job.

45:43

And thanks to Tom for taking

45:45

a couple minutes of his time, which I'm

45:48

sure was a very busy time for him,

45:50

but you could tell just super excited

45:52

and very passionate about the project.

45:55

And we're glad that he was able to join us for this

45:58

mini cast. Definitely.

45:59

the listener want new material, more

46:02

new material this week from MuggleCast, check out

46:04

our Patreon,

46:05

patreon.com slash MuggleCast, where

46:08

there's a brand new bonus MuggleCast episode

46:10

talking about the latest updates of the Harry

46:13

Potter theme park in Florida and

46:16

what it might mean that Disney had to close

46:18

their overpriced Star Wars experience.

46:21

So will there be a Hogwarts hotel

46:23

one day? I don't know. We talk about

46:25

all that and more on Patreon, as well as

46:28

many, many, many, many other things historically,

46:31

which are all available to our subscribers.

46:33

And very shortly, I think Mike and I can tease.

46:36

We're

46:36

going to be announcing this year's physical gift. Yeah,

46:38

very, very soon.

46:39

It's coming. Available to our

46:41

slug club patrons. I think

46:43

it might actually be on this next episode.

46:46

Or am I making that up? Oh,

46:48

maybe. I think it is. I'm not sure it hasn't

46:50

happened yet, so we can't tease it. But

46:52

we can tease it. But I don't know for sure. But

46:55

yes, it's coming soon. I think we think you'll be

46:58

very happy with that and be

47:00

very excited. So

47:02

thank you all for listening. I'm

47:04

Eric and I'm Micah, and we'll

47:06

catch you next week. Bye. Choo choo.