Wiz, bang! It’s a double helping of Harry Potter

THE Harry Potter stage play is so epic that it’s going to be shown in two parts, as a boy wizard extravaganza. ‘It can be seen on consecutive days in the same week or in some instances on the same day,’ confirmed Sonia Friedman, who is producing the new Harry Potter And The Cursed Child with Colin Callender, along with Harry Potter Theatrical Productions.

Friedman explained that the story is ‘too long to be told in a traditional length and it became inevitable that it had to be in two parts’.

Schedules for The Cursed Child, which will open at the Palace Theatre next summer, are still being worked out.

But my understanding is that parts one and two will be performed on consecutive weekday evenings, while at weekends, audiences will be able to watch both parts in one day.

Callender, however, stressed that dates and times are still being discussed. ‘Access is important to us and certainly we want audiences to see the plays in the same week,’ he said.

The last two Harry Potter films, Deathly Hallows Parts I and II, were filmed back-to-back, but shown a year apart.

This was frustrating for the legions of Potter fans who were forced to wait patiently for the final instalment. It was like being subjected to a 12-month-long freezing charm! The two-part Cursed Child points to the sheer scale and ambition of the theatrical spectacle that will be directed by award- winning director John Tiffany.

He developed the original story with Harry Potter creator J. K. Rowl in g and play wright Jack Thorne.

Thorne then turned The Cursed Child into a play.

Even though it has movement by Steven Hoggett, music by Imogen Heap, orchestration by Martin Lowe and special effects by Jeremy Chernick, it is certainly not a musical.

Instead, it’s very much a play, but one with a lot of wiz, bang and magic.

Information about how to buy tickets, dates, times — and some tantalising details about The Cursed Child — will emerge later next month.

By next summer, I’m sure that the Palace Theatre will be just about the hottest address in the theatrical world.