Months of anticipation, weeks of preparation, and days of hyper-enthusiasm finally culminated on Thursday in the Event of the Decade for Harry Potter fans: The Opening Night of Harry Potter VII.ii.
Ever since the date for this final cinematic installment of the series was announced, Megan considered its serendipitously scheduled opening night to be the obvious choice for a celebration of her 15th birthday (which falls on the 16th). Thus, the planning has been feverish for quite some time. There were several ups and downs with scheduling since many of her friends are participating in the summer MoezArt production of Annie, performances of which are this week. However, she was able to find some good friends who were going to the midnight show, and one (Alyx, the actress who played her same role in one of the other casts of Robin Hood) was able to come over and spend the night as well, so it worked out spiffingly.
Then, as if that weren’t enough fun, the Ss. Simon and Jude youth group got a special deal from Warner Bros. to preview the movie at 7pm on Thursday, as a fundraiser. The tickets sold for $25 apiece, and between us all we managed to buy four of them, so Laurent, Jacob, Paul and I got to go to the early show. The theater was nearly full, so it was clearly an excellent choice for raising money to help the youth group with their retreats this winter. Our favorite part of the evening was coming into the theater and being greeted by Father Matt in his clerics and a Severus Snape wig — it looked fantastic, and now I’m going to have a lot of trouble remembering to NOT call him “Father Snape”! 😀
Anyway, as it worked out, Jeff (who originally was going to attend the 7pm show) was able to come to the midnight show instead, so he, Megan, Geneva, and Alyx attended with the Shrader clan (Thanks, Shraders!!) and they had MORE FUN than a barrel of monkeys, from what I heard…. the theater opened at 7:30, so by the time our crew got there at nearly 11pm, there were basically only front row seats left. That meant they were front and center, and you just don’t put theatrical people front and center without consequences. I’m told there were duels, a choral performance of of the Hogwarts Song, a young man who had memorized every single spell and charm in all the books, and just a lot of general Hogwartish hooliganism before the show finally got underway. And then the projector broke, and apparently half the auditorium yelled “Reparo!” Good times.
Since I had to come back for the kids (and Jeff) anyway, Laurent stayed up and came with me. When we got to the theater at 2:10am, it was eerie approaching the overflowing parking lot via empty streets, then walking up to the building in complete stillness… shortly, one couple came walking out, and as they passed us, the girl could be heard humming the opening theme music. Laurent and I just looked at each other and grinned. Within moments, the happy hoards came pouring forth, their faces glowing with the same satisfaction we had experienced earlier. This final chapter of an epic story of good and evil, love and heroic sacrifice was so well done, and certainly met and surpassed our expectations. The Dvds will long hold a cherished spot on our shelf, and long will we ponder the Story behind the story.
I gave a little hint in my last post but was restrained from posting any pics of the girls in their actual costumes until after the evening. Here I am finally able to show you the fun they had dressing up as Bellatrix Lestrange (Megan), Luna Lovegood (Laurent), Prof. Dolores Umbridge (Geneva) and Rubeus Hagrid (Jeff) (shown below with his famous pink umbrella/wand).
The gallery shows pics from before the movie, at home and at the theater, as well as afterward back at home, where no sleeping took place at all, and apple pie was eaten for breakfast. The final pic from earlier in the evening, of Laurent with Fr. Snape, is the pièce de résistance. 🙂
Harry Potter 7.2
Photos of the girls in their costumes on the opening night of Harry Potter 7.2
Pauline Holston
16 Jul 2011Fantastic pics…!!!! Love the one with Fr. Matt!!!! What fun….glad all were able to enjoy it!
nettie
16 Jul 2011Yes I’m really glad we could all go, even if it was in two shifts.