'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child' Will End Its Four-Year Australian Run This Winter
Playing since 2019, currently as a one-part production, the magical hit will put away its wands in July 2023.
If you still have a trip over the ditch to see one of your favourite book series come to life on stage on your 2023 bucket list, you'd better act fast. Until winter, it's every Australasian muggle's final opportunity to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child pick up its wands. Currently running as a condensed single-night play rather than the original two-part version, this onstage follow-up to the page and screen Harry Potter franchise has announced that it'll wrap up its Melbourne season on Sunday, July 9 — and then leave Aussie shores.
Unlike other big shows such as Hamilton, Moulin Rouge! The Musical and The Book of Mormon in recent years, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child isn't jumping elsewhere around the nation after its stint in the Victorian capital. So, when the curtain falls on its lengthy stay at Melbourne's Princess Theatre after four years, that'll be the end of its magic Down Under.
That gives theatregoers five months to book in a date with the hit wizarding production, which picks up 19 years after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and its abominably cheery epilogue on Platform 9 3/4. Here, Harry is now an overworked Ministry of Magic employee, with the play focusing on both him and his youngest son Albus Severus Potter as they grapple with the past and future.
Since debuting in London in July 2016, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has won a swathe of awards (including nine Olivier Awards and six Tonys) and proven a repeated sellout — in the West End, on Broadway and in San Francisco, too. In its Melbourne run, it has become the most successful play in Australian history, including attracting 326,500 people in its first year. Four years on from first opening in Australia in February 2019, and after navigating the pandemic during that time, the local season has sold more than a million tickets and hosted over 1300 performances.
"We are extremely proud of our Melbourne production and to be the longest-running play in the history of Australia is an extraordinary achievement," said producer Sonia Friedman CBE, announcing Harry Potter and the Cursed Child's Aussie end date.
"Opening our production here has been one of the highlights in the life of our groundbreaking, astonishing show and we look forward to an amazing final five months in this glorious city."
Muggles, if you want to see The Cursed Child, you'll need to accio yourself over the ditch before July — more tickets have been released this week.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child plays Melbourne's Princess Theatre until Sunday, July 9. For more information and to buy tickets, head to the play's website.
Images: Michelle Grace Hunder.
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