Having officially opened Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two on April 22, the three actors playing Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley appeared on NBC’s Today Show April 26. Jamie Parker, Noma Dumezwni, and Paul Thornley—Harry, Hermione, and Ron, respectively—spoke to hosts Carson Daly and Savannah Guthrie about making their Broadway debuts.

“It's the Holy Grail, isn't it, for actors,” said Parker. And Broadway audiences are more vocal than those in the U.K. “It felt like a 20-year reunion concert when we first turned up. It's settling now but there's still this anticipation and excitement.”

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child marks a brand new story in the Harry Potter series, written specifically for the stage. “That's the joy,” said Dumezweni. “This is the eighth story in theatre form, a totally different version.” The story picks up 19 years after the trio of friends leave Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry—technically the epilogue of J.K. Rowling’s seventh book in the magical series. But the story is as much about being a parent as it is about battling dark forces, since Harry, Ron, and Hermione are now parents sending their own children off to Hogwarts.

“J.K. Rowling puts into her stories these messages to kids sometimes don't believe everything you read in the newspapers, sometimes parents make mistakes tough lessons,” said Parker. “That original generation of Potterheads they're our audience mostly 25 to 35 but now they're parents and they're carrying on their journey with Harry, Ron, Ginny and Hermione.”

”And they're getting it wrong as well,” said Thornley with a laugh.

Both parts of the new play by Jack Thorne based on an original story by Thorne, Rowling, and John Tiffany (who also directs) currently plays the Lyric Theatre on Broadway.