A New, Even Shorter Version of ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ Is Headed to Broadway

A revised, shortened version of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child will come to Broadway in November. 

The new version of the play clocks in at under three hours, including intermission, compared to the current running time of three-and-a-half hours. The new version will premiere on Broadway when new cast members take over and begin performances at Lyric Theatre on Nov. 12, 2024.

This marks the second time the play has been shortened while on Broadway. The original production, which opened on Broadway in April 2018, was shown in two parts which ran five hours and 15 minutes in total. 

When the play returned to Broadway, following the shutdown of all theaters due to the pandemic, it returned as a one-part play running at three-and-a-half hours. At the time, producers Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender cited the difficulty of bringing back such a large-scale show, as well as the commercial challenges and reduced tourism numbers coming out of the pandemic. With audiences slow to return, a two-part show may have been a tough proposition. The West End version of the show remains as two parts.

The play, which is based on an original story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany, is written by Thorne and directed by Tiffany. Set 19 years after the events of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the play follows Potter’s son, Albus Severus Potter, as he enters Hogwarts and befriends Scorpius Malfoy, the son of his father’s former rival. 

The original Broadway production won six Tony Awards, including best play and the show has been particularly renowned for its stagecraft and special effects. Grosses have been bumpy since 2022, but the production often nears or exceeds $1 million a week.

The new version of the show had its world premiere in Chicago last month.

“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. This innovative process has continued since the original production first opened in London in 2016, with the show evolving creatively as it has expanded across the globe. 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. We are incredibly excited to announce that it will soon land at the Lyric Theatre. We were delighted by the ecstatic reception of this new version of our spectacular show when we premiered it in Chicago last month, and we can’t wait to see our extraordinary new cast bring it to life on stage in New York starting in November,” Friedman and Callender said. 

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child features movement by Steven Hoggett, set by Christine Jones, costumes by Katrina Lindsay, music & arrangements by Imogen Heap, lighting by Neil Austin, sound by Gareth Fry, illusions and magic by Jamie Harrison, music supervision and arrangements by Martin Lowe.