Performances of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” have resumed after an almost year-long suspension due to Covid-19. The award-winning story follows Harry, Hermoine, and Ron on a brand-new journey with a new generation of wizards and witches, set 19 years after the events of the popular book series. Before returning to Broadway this autumn, the enormous stage play that imagines Harry and his pals as grown-ups and their children as wizards-in-training will be significantly redesigned. The drama, which had been performed in two parts before the epidemic, will be remounted on November 16 as a single performance so there will be no requirement for buying two tickets for the theatre which the general public will be able to purchase by the beginning of July 12, 2021.
Jack Thorne wrote the play, which is directed by John Tiffany and is based on J.K. Rowling’s original narrative. During the pandemic, the producers were working on a new version of the show, which they claimed: “has given us a wonderful opportunity to look at the play with fresh eyes.”The writers did not specify what modifications would be made, but the production guaranteed that the new version will retain all of the incredible magic, illusions, stagecraft, and storytelling centered on the same dramatic story. The show’s return to North America includes productions in San Francisco and Toronto, Canada, which will switch to the new one-part format, while productions in Melbourne, Australia, London’s West End, and Hamburg, Germany, which are currently running or soon to return, will stick to the original two-part format.
The performance, which was essentially a stage adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s seven immensely successful “Harry Potter” novels, was the most costly nonmusical play ever to open on Broadway, costing $35.5 million to produce and another $33 million to renovate Broadway’s Lyric Theater. Prior to the epidemic, the production was consistently making approximately $1 million per week on Broadway — a respectable figure for most plays, but not enough for this one, given its huge cast and pricey technical aspects. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child premiered in London in the summer of 2016 and went on to win nine Olivier Awards in 2017, the most of any production. It premiered on Broadway in 2018, won six Tony Awards, and quickly became a hit, making about $2 million each week.
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