Harry Potter and the Cursed Child to Reopen on Broadway, Even Shorter This Time

The producers of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child have announced that a new version of the play, which will have a total runtime under three hours (including intermission), will debut at Broadway’s Lyric Theatre on November 12. This condensed revamp made its world premiere last month at Chicago’s James M. Nederlander Theatre, where it is slated to play through February 1.

A dramatic follow-up to J.K. Rowling’s wildly popular series about a boy wizard at magic school, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is about the time-traveling adventures of Harry’s son Albus, a misfit who is sorted into House Slytherin when he arrives at Hogwarts. The script is by Jack Thorne, with direction by John Tiffany.

The unabridged version that originally opened on Broadway in 2018 came in two parts, each running over 2 hours, 30 minutes. Audiences had the option to come back to the theater on consecutive nights, or take the whole thing in as one long two-performance day (it is still presented that way at London’s Palace Theatre). In 2021, the New York show reemerged from the pandemic as a single 3-hour, 30-minute evening. TheaterMania’s review of that slimmer cut observed, “The leaner, meaner version onstage at the Lyric is actually a better play that has lost nothing in terms of production value,” while also noting that the pace of the exposition in the first 20 minutes of the play was “disorienting.”

“From the very beginning, we and the creative team have challenged ourselves to find new and innovative ways to bring the extraordinary storytelling and stagecraft of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child to life,” said producers Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender in a press statement. “We are thrilled that John Tiffany, Jack Thorne, and the entire original creative team were able to reunite over the last few months to revisit and explore the original material, creating this new version of the show, which now runs under three hours, especially for Broadway.”

The new Broadway company will be led by Matthew James Thomas as Harry Potter, Sarah Killough as Ginny Potter, and Alex Serino as their son Albus Potter. The show also features Daniel Fredrick as Ron Weasley, Rachel Christopher as Hermione Granger, and Ayanna Nicole Thomas as their daughter Rose Granger-Weasley. Aaron Bartz and Erik Christopher Peterson will play Draco and Scorpius Malfoy. Kristen Martin will play Delphi Diggory.

The company includes Chadd Alexander, John Alix, Megan Byrne, Maxim Chlumecky, James Cribbins, Ted Deasy, Kira Fath, Gary-Kayi Fletcher, Eleasha Gamble, Logan James Hall, Janae Hammond, Abbi Hawk, Sophie Hearn, Chance Marshaun Hill, Zachary Lindberg, Jay Mack, Bradley Patchett, Alexandra Peter, Kira Player, Dan Plehal, Gabrielle Reid, Isaac Phaman Reynolds, Allie Re, Stephen Spinella, Tom Stephens, Khadija Tariyan, Baylen Thomas, Julius Williams, and Riley Thad Young.