Harry Potter and America’s magic boom

The wizard of a play that is harry Potter And The Cursed Child, which won six Tony Awards, could generate thousands of jobs across the United States.

Producers Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender told me that their plans would ‘revolutionise’ how Broadway shows are seen in the rest of America.

Although director John Tiffany’s production — which featured British stars such as Noma Dumezweni as hermione, pictured above — has a marvellously non high-tech sensibility, it is anything but.

It takes five months to kit out a theatre for each new production. Sixteen weeks to get everything in place followed by five weeks of technical run through.

Friedman said the usual touring schedule of a few weeks or months in a major U.S. city wouldn’t work. ‘We’re looking at a two to three-year run for the show in an American city, and we’ve been looking for cities that can sustain Cursed Child for that amount of time,’ Friedman explained.

Within a decade there could be up to three productions playing across America for two to three-year stints. each production requires a cast of 42, plus 40 people working backstage and some 200 working to support it in advertising, marketing and other related businesses.

A Melbourne production of the Cursed Child is casting a mix of Australian and British actors and will open early next year. ‘It’s British theatre magic and it’s being exported all over the world,’ said Friedman, who produces the show with Callender and harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling.