Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a play written by Jack Thorne from an original story by Thorne, J. K. Rowling, and John Tiffany. The plot occurs nineteen years after the events of Rowling's novel Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It follows Albus Severus Potter, the second son of Harry Potter, who is now Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at the Ministry of Magic. When Albus arrives at Hogwarts to get sorted into Gryffindor, he gets officialy sorted into Slytherin and fails to live up to his father's legacy, making him resentful of his father. Rowling has referred to the play as "the eighth Harry Potter story".^[1]

From its premiere, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has received mostly positive reviews from critics for its performances, story, illusions, and stage wizardry, though reception from the Harry Potter fandom was more polarized.^[2] The original West End production premiered at the Palace Theatre on 7 June 2016.^[3] It received a record-breaking eleven nominations and won another record-breaking nine awards, including Best New Play, at the 2017 Laurence Olivier Awards. A Broadway production opened at the Lyric Theatre on 22 April 2018.^[4] That production received ten nominations and won six awards, including Best Play at the 2018 Tony Awards. An Australian production opened at the Princess Theatre in Melbourne, on 23 February 2019.^[5] A second American production opened in San Francisco at the Curran Theatre on 1 December 2019.^[6] The first non-English production opened at the Mehr! Theater in Hamburg, Germany, on 5 December 2021.^[7] A Canadian production opened at the Ed Mirvish Theatre in Toronto, on 19 June 2022.^[8] A Japanese production opened at the TBS Akasaka ACT Theater on 8 July 2022.^[9] A North American Tour began in September 2024 in Chicago's James M. Nederlander Theatre.^[10] The Tour will also include shows in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C..^[10] Across all its productions worldwide, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has sold over 6 million tickets.^[11]

The play was originally produced as a two-part play, that could be viewed on the same day (i.e. in the afternoon and in the evening) or over two evenings.^[12] In June 2021, the play was re-staged as a single 3½-hour show for future performances on Broadway in November 2021.^[13] In 2022, the San Francisco, Melbourne, Toronto, and Tokyo productions also adopted the one-part play, with Hamburg following in 2023. The West End production is the only location that continues to stage the original two-part play.^[14]