Audiences at Broadway's Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Can Soon See Showbill Cover Come Alive

The New York mounting of the Tony-winning Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which continues at the Lyric Theatre, has unveiled an augmented reality Showbill cover, the first for a Broadway production.

Inside every Showbill, audiences will find a QR code printed that can be scanned with a smart phone. It will then prompt their phones to download an application: With the app initiated, theatregoers can wave their phones over their Showbills and see the cover come alive with a vibrant animation. The Chicago-based Preferred Marketing Group partnered with the Broadway production on the reality experience.

Showbill is a registered trademark of Playbill, and is provided to theatres who want custom editorial and advertising in their programs.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child first opened on Broadway as a two-part experience April 22, 2018. The production would go on to be nominated for 10 Tony Awards, winning five, including Best Play.

The condensed, one-part production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child opened December 7, 2021, at the Lyric Theatre following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Based on a new story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne, and John Tiffany, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a play by Thorne, directed by Tiffany. It is set 11 years after the end of the Harry Potter books, as Harry's son goes to Hogwarts.

The production also features movement by Steven Hoggett, set by Christine Jones, costumes by Katrina Lindsay, music and arrangements by Imogen Heap, lighting by Neil Austin, sound by Gareth Fry, illusions and magic by Jamie Harrison, and music supervision and arrangements by Martin Lowe. U.S. casting is by Jim Carnahan.