Stage Door News

Toronto: “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” will have its Canadian premiere in autumn 2020

Wednesday, May 22, 2019

Originating producers Sonia Friedman, Colin Callender and Harry Potter Theatrical Productions with Canadian producer David Mirvish will bring the record-breaking, multiple-award-winning production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child to Canada. This Canadian premiere will begin performances autumn 2020 exclusively at the Ed Mirvish Theatre in Toronto.

Exact performance dates and ticketing details will be announced at a later date.  Visit HarryPotteronStage.com/ca to sign up and be the first to receive ticketing information and news updates.

In a joint statement Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender said:

“Each new production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is magical in its own unique way. With each city we open our show in, and with each company of actors, we uncover something new and exciting. We can’t wait to see what surprises the Toronto production will bring. 

"Toronto, with its rich history of culture and the arts, is the perfect city in which to stage our magical production in Canada. We’re especially thrilled to be producing the Canadian premiere with David Mirvish and his company and that the historic Ed Mirvish Theatre -  which will be specially refurbished for our show - will be Cursed Child’s Canadian home.” 

David Mirvish said:

“Since it first opened in London in 2016, only three years ago, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has established itself as one of the most accomplished and remarkable productions in theatre history. In fact, it is more than a play: it is an event that has already galvanized audiences in London, New York and Melbourne.

“The show will soon do the same in upcoming productions in Hamburg and San Francisco. I can’t express strongly enough how honoured we are that Sonia and Colin have chosen Toronto to be the next location for their magnificent production.

“The Harry Potter stories have already touched the lives of millions and millions of people through the books and movies. I’m very excited about how this play has managed to continue the story on the theatre stage. Furthermore, because it has been brilliantly created by some of the world’s top theatre artists, the play has brought more and more people to live theatre, giving them an experience of pure theatricality that cannot be replicated in any other medium."

  

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is the eighth story in the Harry Potter series and the first official Harry Potter story to be presented on stage.

It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn’t much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband, and father of three school-age children. 

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.

Based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a new play by Jack Thorne, directed by John Tiffany.

Receiving universal acclaim for its breathtaking magic and stage wizardry, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is the most awarded new play in theatre history, winning 25 major U.S. awards, including six Tony Awards, one of those for Best Play. It also won 24 major theatre awards in the U.K. and is the most awarded play in the history of the Olivier Awards in London, winning a record-breaking nine awards including Best New Play.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is now playing at the Palace Theatre in London, where it received its world premiere in July 2016; at the Lyric Theatre in New York, where it opened on Broadway in April 2018; and at the Princess Theatre in Melbourne, where it opened February 2019. Its exclusive U.S. West Coast premiere will begin in October 2019 at the Curran in San Francisco. The German premiere, the first foreign language production, will begin in spring 2020 at the Mehr! Theater am Großmarkt in Hamburg. The Canadian premiere will be the play’s sixth production.

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 & magic by Jamie Harrison, music supervision & arrangements by Martin Lowe.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is produced in Toronto by originating producers Sonia Friedman Productions, Colin Callender and Harry Potter Theatrical Productions, with Canadian producer David Mirvish.

  

ABOUT THE CREATORS

J.K. Rowling is the author of the seven Harry Potter novels and three companion books, which have sold over 500 million copies, been translated into over 80 languages, and been made into eight blockbuster films. Her other books include The Casual Vacancy, a novel for adults, and, written under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, the Cormoran Strike crime novels, which have been adapted for BBC television. J.K. Rowling is also a screenwriter, making her debut in 2016 with the film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. The second in this five-film series, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, was released in 2018. 

Jack Thorne writes for theatre, film, television and radio. His theatre credits include Hope and Let the Right One In, both directed by John Tiffany, A Christmas Carol and Woyzeck at the Old Vic, Junkyard, a Headlong, Rose Theatre Kingston, Bristol Old Vic & Theatr Clwyd co-production, The Solid Life of Sugar Water for the Graeae Theatre Company and the National Theatre, Bunny for Nabokov/UK tour, Stacy for the Tron, Arcola and Trafalgar Studios, and 2nd May 1997 and When You Cure Me for the Bush. His adaptations include The Physicists for the Donmar Warehouse and Stuart: A Life Backwards for HighTide. On film his credits include Wonder, War Book, A Long Way Down and The Scouting Book for Boys. For television his credits include Kiri, an episode of Electric Dreams, The Last Panthers, Don’t Take My Baby, This Is England, The Fades, Glue, Cast-Offs and National Treasure. In 2017 he won a BAFTA and an RTS Television award for Best Mini-Series (National Treasure). He won BAFTAs in 2016 for Best Mini-Series (This Is England ’90) and Best Single Drama (Don’t Take My Baby), and in 2012 for Best Drama Series (The Fades) and Best Mini-Series (This Is England ’88).

John Tiffany’s recent credits include Pinocchio for the National Theatre and Road for the Royal Court. He directed the musical Once for which he was the recipient of multiple awards both in the West End and on Broadway. As Associate Director of the Royal Court, his work also includes The Twits, Hope and The Pass. He was the director of Let The Right One In for the National Theatre of Scotland, which transferred to the Royal Court, West End and St. Ann’s Warehouse. His other work for the National Theatre of Scotland includes Macbeth (also Broadway), Enquirer, The Missing, Peter Pan, The House of Bernarda Alba, Transform Caithness: Hunter, Be Near Me, Nobody Will Ever Forgive Us, The Bacchae, Black Watch, for which he won the Olivier and Critics’ Circle Best Director Awards, Elizabeth Gordon Quinn and Home: Glasgow. Other recent credits include The Glass Menagerie at A.R.T, on Broadway, EIF and in the West End, and The Ambassador at BAM. Tiffany was Associate Director of the National Theatre of Scotland from 2005 to 2012, and was a Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard University in the 2010-2011 academic year. For his work on Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, he received the Olivier Award for Best Director, one of a record-breaking nine Olivier’s received by the production. 

Harry Potter Theatrical Productions was founded by J.K. Rowling and Neil Blair in 2013 to develop and produce the stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the original new story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany. The team from Harry Potter Theatrical Productions Ltd have worked closely with Sonia Friedman Productions and Colin Callender to produce the play, and also in controlling the international rights for the production.

www.HarryPotteronStage.ca

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