‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ Preparing to Apparate Onto Broadway
As limey wizard Newt Scamander continues to traipse about America’s magical underground at the cinema with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, another enchanted British import prepares to cross the Atlantic. Just because mega-selling novels have long since ended, the Harry Potter business hasn’t stopped booming, and its latest gold mine is the stage show Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. The production has routinely sold out showings at the Palace Theatre in London’s storied West End, and the producers are now gearing up to bring the play stateside in the hopes that their fabulous success will follow them to the Great White Way.
The New York Times reported last night that The Cursed Child may have very well found a Broadway home, though Harry and Co. sort of had to elbow their way in. It’s looking like the massive Lyric Theatre will house the hopeful blockbuster, but not until the producers have reformatted the space to their liking. The 1,900-seat Lyric felt a little roomy to the Cursed Child team, fighting their intention to create a more intimate experience, so they’ll rip out 400 seats to bring that number down to a more manageable 1,500. And then there’s the matter of the current tenants; Cirque du Soleil’s first Broadway show Paramour currently operates out of the Lyric, so venue owners Ambassador Theater Group cut the bendable gang of circus performers a hefty check to scram.
If all goes well and everyone signs on the correct dotted lines, The Cursed Child will open on our fair shores in 2018, bringing American audiences the story of Harry’s life as he acclimates to adult British wizarding society and advises his own son on his path. (The Paramour crew is expected to vacate the premises by April, so renovations may get up and running in May.) The only question left now: will the production come to America via the Floo network, or will they ride thestral-drawn carriages?