Auditions for ‘Cursed Child’ Broadway Begin This Month

The Potterverse is abuzz on the Cursed Child front lately. According to Playbill.com and Broadwayworld.com, an Equity casting notice was posted this week indicating that auditions for the Broadway run of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child are scheduled for later this month.

The notice states that rehearsals for the play, which is scheduled to run at the Lyric Theater, will begin in winter of 2018 with a spring 2018 opening as reported here by Leaky last December.

According to an interview with Cursed Child director, John Tiffany from a recent article on Timeout.com here, he anticipates that the Broadway cast will be a combination of American and British actors. Also, recasting for the West End production is almost complete as the contracts for the original stars expire this spring. Tiffany said this about the process,

‘It’s almost done. Has it been hard? We’ve put a lot of work into it, but at the same time good actors want to do it because they know it needs good actors, they know their skill will be necessary to make it a success.’

Click here to see the actual casting notice for Cursed Child on Broadway!

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’s new home on Broadway is the soon to be renovated, Lyric Theater, a property of The Ambassador Theater Group of which Cursed Child producer’s Sonia Friedman Productions is a subsidiary. ATG plans a multi-million dollar renovation to entirely remodel the 1,900 seat theater and transform it into a more intimate 1500 seat venue, which will be more conducive to the specific needs of the unique Harry Potter stage production. Producers Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender said this about the venue,

“We are thrilled about ATG’s ambitious plans which will provide a once in a lifetime opportunity to create a unique theatre space tailored to the specific needs of the production over the play’s two parts. The remodeled Lyric will include a smaller auditorium redesigned to the specifications of the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child team, as well as an adapted proscenium and stage that can house designer Christine Jones‘ glorious set without swamping or compromising director John Tiffany‘s brilliant staging. The spacious front of house environment will also be transformed to optimize the atmosphere and audience experience.”  

As a result of the all of the recent news regarding the play, J.K. Rowling said,

“I’m delighted we are one step closer in bringing Harry Potter and the Cursed Child to Broadway and very excited by the proposed plans.”

Along with the recent casting news, there was a flurry of excitement at London’s Palace Theater, when actor Tom Cruise attended Cursed Child recently:

.@TomCruise met members of the #CursedChild cast this weekend! pic.twitter.com/nmeSllIpau

— Harry Potter Play (@HPPlayLDN) February 6, 2017

In addition to all of the activity surrounding the play, there was news of purported ticket sales fraud, which may be a possible testament to the popularity of the London show and the high anticipation of its Broadway counterpart. According to a recent article from Broadwayworld, Joseph Meli and Advanced Entertainment LLC, who have been accused of fraud in a case involving tickets for the hit Broadway musical Hamilton, were also discovered to be involved in a similar pyramid scheme to take $7.9 millions from investors for the upcoming Broadway run of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Click here for the Broadwayworld article.

Stay tuned for more interesting news and exciting updates as Cursed Child heads to Broadway!