The upcoming Australian production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has found its stars who will bring the Wizarding World to the Melbourne stage in 2019. As previously reported, performances will begin January 16 at the Princess Theatre.
Leading the new cast of the Tony- and Olivier Award-winning play will be Gareth Reeves as Harry Potter, Paula Arundell as Hermione Granger, Gyton Grantley as Ron Weasley, Lucy Goleby as Ginny Potter, Sean Rees-Wemyss as Albus Potter, Tom Wren as Draco Malfoy, and William McKenna as Scorpius Malfoy.
Rounding out the company in a variety of new and familiar roles will be Iopu Auva’a, Damien Avery, Mike Bishop, Simon Chandler, Clare Chihambakwe, Louis Corbett, Gillian Cosgriff, Manali Datar, Mark Dickinson, Lyndall Grant, George Henare, Soren Jensen, Hamish Johnston, Madeleine Jones, Amanda LaBonté, Debra Lawrance, Kuda Mapeza, Kirsty Marillier, Cle Morgan, James O’Connell, David Paterson, John Shearman, David Simes, Hayden Spencer, Slone Sudiro, Connor Sweeney, Jessica Vickers, and Hannah Waterman, as well as seven young actors who will alternate in two tracks.
The two-part play, written by Jack Thorne (who created the story with J. K. Rowling and director John Tiffany), picks up at the start of the seventh novel’s epilogue, in which Harry Potter’s youngest son Albus sets off for his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. While struggling to follow in the footsteps of his father's legacy, Albus sets off on a complicated mission to live up to the Potter name.
The London premiere won nine Olivier Awards, with the subsequent Broadway transfer earning six Tonys including Best Play. Additional engagements are planned for San Francisco and Hamburg, the latter marking the first non-English mounting of the play.
The staging, presented by Sonia Friedman Productions, Colin Callender, and Harry Potter Theatrical Productions (and executive produced in Australia by Michael Cassel), features movement by Steven Hoggett, set design by Christine Jones, costumes by Katrina Lindsay, music and arrangements by Imogen Heap, lighting design by Neil Austin, sound design by Gareth Fry, and illusions and magic effects by Jamie Harrison.
