Original cast of "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" on Broadway is now performing in... [+] November. Matthew MurphyAfter surviving the pandemic, The Boy Who Lived will be returning to Broadway. Hell will be sporting new scars.The two-part play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child will be performed at the Lyric Theatre on November 16. During the industry shutdown, however, major surgery was performed by the creative team: Cursed Child will now only be one play and not two.We are thrilled to announce a new version that allows the audience to experience the entire Cursed Child adventure in just eight sittings.There is no word on what content has been removed, and if this will affect casting or availability, or the final runtime of the new version. Tickets go on sale July 12.Industry circles have been buzzing about rumors of a rewrite for months. Even before the pandemic began, there was talk of it. The capitalization of the play was $35.5 million making it the most expensive Broadway production. This is in addition to the $33 million spent on refurbishing the Lyric Theatre. It opened to huge box office receipts and became the most successful Broadway play ever. However, the Lyric Theatre was renovated for $33 million in 2018. The Lyric Theatre's ticket prices plummeted by more than half a year later.This tacit admission is that two-part plays are not viable on Broadway. There are not enough buyers willing to buy two tickets for one experience, especially when the premium price points in the industry exceed $200 per ticket. Data now covers a broad range of ventures. None of them have sold enough to cover their costs.The prestige revival. Angels in America is undoubtedly the most important multi-part play in theatre and its 2018 remount won a host of Tony Awards. However, investors claim that it lost much its capitalization.Next is the prestige-new play. The Inheritance won the most Best Play awards in British history for its London debut, and is currently nominated to 11 Tony Awards. However, it also failed to recover its capital during its Broadway run.The global megabrand. Cursed Child still operates a two-part structure, in Australia, London and Germany. However, the company needed to be able to make it work in America where labor and production costs are significantly higher. It will also reopen in San Francisco and Toronto as a single-ticket event.Similar attempts were made in previous decades to support this conclusion. The box office struggled in 2009 for three-parter The Norman Conquests, and 2015 for two-parter Wolf Hall. The 2007 smash hit Coast of Utopia trilogy by Tom Stoppard was a non-profit production at Lincoln Center and not a commercial venture.All this happened before the viral pandemic decimated the entertainment and tourism industries and shook the entire world. The prospect of selling double tickets to a Broadway show is impossible with tourism still in decline. Cursed Childs' update is not only smart, it is also necessary.Beyond economic difficulties, the production is facing another question: the legacy of its founder. J.K. Rowling received more goodwill than any other living author and seemed determined to burn through it last year with a series transphobic essays and tweets. Many of her fans were LGBTQ+ and the backlash was swift and persistent. She was also met with rebukes by civil rights groups and actors who embody her creations.Daniel Radcliffe, a Potter actor, stated that transgender women are not women. Any statements to the contrary are a blatant attempt to erase the dignity and identity of transgender individuals and go against the advice of professional health care organizations, who have more knowledge on the subject than Jo and I.Cursed Childs' operational management is not the responsibility of the billionaire author. He did not create it. According to the playbill, Jack Thorne is only the credited author. The material is based upon a story written by Rowling, Thorne and John Tiffany. Rowling is listed under Harry Potter Theatrical Productions LLC as one of the show producers.Rowling stated in a statement that working on Harry Potter and The Cursed Child was one of the greatest joys of her professional career. I am so proud to have been associated with this new, reimagined version.It is now a question of whether her fans will feel the same pride.Lee Seymour, in addition to his Forbes work, is also a co-producer for The Inheritance.
