With popularity and ticket-buying difficulty that rivals the likes of Hamilton, the first ever on-stage Harry Potter production, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, has already announced it will head to Melbourne, Australia in 2019.
The show- based on a screenplay that marks the eighth story in J.K. Rowling’s series- premiered in July of last year on London’s West End, where it still runs, and will hit Broadway in April of 2018. The New York shows went on sale last week, and Ticketmaster could not handle the demand. As of right now, all the currently scheduled shows are sold out.
Though performance dates and ticketing information for the Australian production have yet to be released, Premier Daniel Andrews and Creative Victoria officially announced the show’s arrival at the Princess Theatre in early 2019.
I have big news.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is coming exclusively to Melbourne, Victoria, Australia in early 2019. @HPPlayAUS pic.twitter.com/7SA40xfikV
— Dan Andrews (@DanielAndrewsMP) October 23, 2017
Huge news! @HPPlayAUS, the record breaking Harry Potter production is bound for Melbourne in 2019. https://t.co/hwRwLfYGTd pic.twitter.com/19v3G18ZhZ
— Creative_Vic (@Creative_Vic) October 24, 2017
Anticipating just as much demand as the NY on-sale saw, Victorian Premier Andrews soon after announced his commitment to keeping ‘scalpers’ from Australian Cursed Child tickets, he told the Herald Sun.
“We are very keen to protect the integrity of the ticketing offer. We are prepared to take the steps necessary to ensure that we don’t see some of that behaviour,” Andrews said.
“This show is one that is properly jealously guarded by the author and by those who put on the show in New York and in London. They have got the right values and they want to see people who might not necessarily be able to attend in the theatre often because of their economic circumstances, their personal affairs, they want to be an inclusive show and we embrace that.”
Mr. Andrews did not specify how exactly he would guard these tickets. Victoria’s bordering state, New South Wales, just recently passed several ticket resale laws that both outlaw the use of bot software to purchase tickets in bulk and cap resale prices at 10 percent above face value, so it’s possible that similar legislation is on Andrew’s agenda.
For more information on Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in Australia, visit their website and sign up for the mailing list here.
