'Harry Potter: The Exhibition': Hogwarts, by way of Singapore

For more magically-inclined visitors to the island nation of Singapore, “Harry Potter: The Exhibition” proved to be an irresistible attraction. Housed in the ArtScience Museum of the Marina Bay Sands, the exhibit offered a unique opportunity to—quite literally—get up close and personal with the costumes and props used in the production of the cinematic saga. Based on the bestselling novels by J.K. Rowling, the Harry Potter film franchise encompassed eight feature films that grossed somewhere in the neighborhood of US $7.7 billion worldwide. 

 

As a longtime fan, I couldn’t pass up the chance to take in “Harry Potter: The Exhibition.” 

 

After purchasing a ticket and receiving the customary reminders not to take pictures inside, I and six other visitors were led down through a dimly-lit passage and through a mist curtain with the “Harry Potter” logo projected on it. Once through the mist, we found ourselves in a brightly-lit castle chamber containing a stool, upon which sat a replica of the Sorting Hat, flanked by an attractive young witch. In the stories, it was this sentient, talking hat that sorted students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry into one of four academic houses after evaluating their respective strengths and personalities.

 

“Welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!” proclaimed the young witch (in an appropriately English accent!). “Who wants to be sorted?” 

 

My companions were probably sleepy (it was just past lunch on a Tuesday) or just plain unenthused about having a ratty old talking hat placed upon their heads, so this writer happily stepped up to oblige the young witch. Keeping in character, she asked if I’d arrived by floo powder, apparition or portkey, expressing confusion when I replied, “airplane.”

 

The moment she put the Sorting Hat on my head, I wished I’d brought someone along to surreptitiously take a video, because, true to the films and novels, it started talking, in the actual voice used in the movies! With bated breath, it was all this writer could do to keep from cheering (aloud) when the hat proclaimed me courageous enough to be sorted into Gryffindor house.

-- All photos © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc--    

Inside Hogwarts

 

Following the sorting, we proceeded to a darkened room where eight screens were set up side by side, each showing a montage from one of the films as John Williams’ iconic score played, swelling until the wall on our right revealed itself to be a curtain when it was pulled back to unveil a full-sized replica of a recently-arrived locomotive, the fabled Hogwarts Express, complete with billowing clouds of “steam.”

 

A Hogwarts groundskeeper motioned for us to enter the exhibit proper with one hand, while the other clutched an oil lamp.

 

Once inside, we found that the attraction was divided into themed sections, with the first being the Gryffindor common room where Harry and his friends spent their free time (i.e. when they weren’t fending off the forces of evil). Vignettes were arranged throughout the room, each dedicated to a specific character, whether it was Harry and Ron’s four-poster beds and uniforms in the boys’ dormitory, Hermione’s wand and textbooks, samples of Luna Lovegood’s outlandish (by Wizard standards) attire, or the infamous Marauder’s Map. I took the time to go over each item, aided by the top-notch audio tour that explained each piece’s significance and history, complementing the provided text descriptions with additional detail. 

 

To make the world believable, no effort was spared in the production design of the exhibition itself, with excellent sets, moving portraits on the “castle” walls and sections of the score played to match whatever section you happened to be in at the time.

 

The next section was devoted to Hogwarts classes, with a space of honor reserved for the works of Gilderoy Lockhart, his books and news articles dominated by an oversized self-portrait of the haughty professor painting a self-portrait. Nearby were vignettes dedicated to herbology (where we were allowed to pull shrieking—and I mean shrieking—mandrake plants from their pots!), divination (I tried reading the tea leaves), defense against the dark arts (potions and elixirs and Snape’s robes!) and an entire corner of the room set up to resemble Dolores’ Umbridge’s pink, cat plate-decorated office, her dreaded special quill and the Minister of Magic’s photo visible on the desk.

 

Playing quidditch  

Quidditch and Hagrid’s hut followed, where I admired the detail in the different quidditch team captains’ uniforms (school and national) before throwing a few quaffles through goal posts that sounded whenever someone made a shot. In Hagrid’s hut, I sat in his oversized armchair (if only more exhibits invited people to take a seat) before nearly jumping out of it when the dragon egg on a nearby table shook violently.

 

The Forbidden Forest was next, where a full-scale animatronic Buckbeak used during filming stood, alongside many of the other mystical creatures encountered by Harry and his friends, not the least of which were Dobby the House Elf and the full-sized head of a dragon (a Hungarian Horntail, for those keeping score).

 

The remaining two sections were this writer’s favorites, with the first being devoted to the Dark Arts, where a foreboding Dementor floating overhead, its inhuman gaze overseeing the Riddles’ elaborate tombstone and costumes worn by Voldemort (He Who Must Not Be…never mind.) and his loyal Death Eaters. A glass case contained the Dark Lord’s precious Horcruxes, a Basilisk fang still brutally embedded in the pages of Tom Riddle’s diary. 

 

The final section was a recreation of Hogwarts’ Great Hall. Passing through the large double doors (by which hung Umbridge’s educational decrees!), I entered to find a long dining table with places set and numerous examples of the prop food (looking literally good enough to eat) that had been featured in the series’ many feasts. Also on the table were wizard candy and jokes from Zonko’s Joke Shop and Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes.

 

Toward the exit of the Great Hall, right before a corridor where the portraits cheered and congratulated visitors for completing the tour, was Neville Longbottom’s outfit from the Battle of Hogwarts, as well as the weapon he wielded that day, the Sword of Gryffindor. 

 

By the time I reached the obligatory gift shop at the end (with more books, shirts, Time-Turners and Every-Flavour Beans than you could shake a wand at), it was impossible to hide the grin that had taken over my features from the moment I procured my ticket for the exhibit. So immersive was the experience that gone was the travel-weary writer; in his place was an ecstatic fanboy trying to figure out how to pay for—and subsequently explain—a Nimbus 2000 to curious Customs officials on the trip home.

 

All things considered, it wasn’t a bad problem to have, and a more than satisfying way to wrap up an afternoon well-spent. To encapsulate “Harry Potter: The Exhibition” in a manner far overused—yet entirely appropriate—it was well and truly magical. –KG, GMA News

 

Special thanks to Gayathri Ramasamy and the staff of the ArtScience Museum, Marina Bay Sands. The exhibit ran until September 30, 2012.