Lumos! Harry Potter & The Cursed Child Will Light Up Broadway Next Year

For American Harry Potter stans thirsting for a new iteration of the beloved fantasy series, look no further than spring 2018, when Harry Potter and The Cursed Child Parts One and Two will make its way to Broadway. According to a press release, the play will open at the Lyric Theater on April 22, 2018. Casting decisions and preview details will be announced sometime in the next few months.

The play, which opened on the West End in London in July 2016, is "based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling." It follows the titular protagonist in his elder years, as he navigates fatherhood and work week drudgery at the Ministry of Magic.

The official synopsis reads: "While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places."

The production is comprised of two full-length plays, which are meant to be seen consecutively. (As in, you see one at 2:00 p.m. and the next at 8:00 p.m. Or you see the two plays on contiguous evenings.) Though it may seem like a bizarre arrangement, this isn't unprecedented. Tony Kushner's Angels in America, for example, is structured the same way.

For those who were dying to unlock yet another Harry Potter, Scholastic published a manuscript of the play last summer as well. Michiko Kakutani of The New York Times said of the book: "the suspense here is electric and nonstop, and it has been cleverly constructed around developments recalling events in the original Potter novels." Variety called the West End production "quite simply, spellbinding: The Show That Lived Up To Expectations — and Then Some." To boot, the show earned nine Olivier Awards — Britain's version of the Tony Awards — this year. Suffice to say, the play is both culturally popular — because duh, Harry Potter — and critically acclaimed. That's a lethal duo, so we expect tickets will be in high demand.

Good news is, the show will be in the Lyric Theater, one of Broadway's biggest houses. Currently under renovation, the place has a seating capacity of 1,930, second only to the elephantine Gershwin Theater (which currently houses Wicked). The Lyric last played home to the Cirque Du Soleil show Paramour. Let that sink in: The Harry Potter play will be in the same theater as a circus. That's very telling.

Now, on to speculating about those casting choices...