Rowling didn’t want her beloved characters on stage
Australians and Kiwis prepared to cross the ditch will be treated to the eighth instalment of the Harry Potter franchise at Melbourne’s Princess Theatre in just a few weeks when Harry Potter and the Cursed Child kicks off.
But despite enormous hype around the play, JK Rowling has admitted she never wanted her beloved children’s books to be transformed for the stage – so much so that she resisted for almost a decade.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is the highest-selling play in Australian pre-sale history. The two-part production debuted in London in 2016 and opened on Broadway earlier this year.
When it opens in Melbourne in January, it will be the first time the play has been shown outside England or the United States.
In a video released in conjunction with a fresh round of Australian tickets, Rowling let slip that she had rejected stage proposal after stage proposal for nine years before Cursed Child became a reality.
‘‘People kept saying I’d like to do something with Harry Potter for the stage,’’ she said. ‘‘It was usually a musical and I don’t like musicals. And I never really heard an interesting idea, so I thought it would probably never
‘‘I’ve had ludicrous proposals – Harry Potter on ice, Harry Potter the light operetta. You name it, I’ve heard it.’’ JK Rowling, right
be on stage. I had always been quite resistant, if I’m being honest. I’ve had ludicrous proposals – Harry Potter on ice, Harry Potter the light operetta. You think I’m kidding? You name it, I’ve heard it.’’
Rowling, who is the world’s richest author despite giving a sizeable chunk of her fortune to charity and other causes, also revealed that the stakes were ‘‘really high’’ when she did decide to proceed with the stage adaptation.
‘‘We knew people would be waiting for us to fail,’’ Rowling said. ‘‘Was this a cynical exercise? This [series] had been so popular, how could a play possibly match up to the phenomenon that Potter became? It was scary being at the heart of that.
‘‘[But] there’s something about live theatre that you cannot replicate in any other artform. There were a thousand people – or however many we had – who were completely fixated on the ritual that was happening in front of them. Something huge and emotional to all of them, me included.
‘‘We were all united in this experience. It was remarkable.’’
The Australian version of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child will star Underbelly’s Gyton Grantley as Ron Weasley, All Saints actress Paula Arundell as Hermione Granger and New Zealand actor Gareth Reeves as Harry Potter.
– Sydney Morning Herald