{"id":780890,"date":"2026-09-24T09:02:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T09:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/780890\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T09:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T09:02:09","slug":"harry-potter-play-producer-says-cost-of-living-made-two-part-show-impossible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/780890\/","title":{"rendered":"Harry Potter play producer says cost of living made two-part show ‘impossible’"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Harry Potter And The Cursed Child producer has said the rising cost of living made it “literally impossible” to retain the play’s original format in two parts.<\/p>\n

The production has been cut down to a single three-hour show and is set to re-open in the West End next month.<\/p>\n

“The cost of living has gone up 30-40% since the pandemic, including running shows,” producer Sonia Friedman said in comments reported by media at a launch event. “The only way we could continue to run it as a two-parter would be by charging an amount for the tickets that would be unaffordable and inaccessible.” <\/p>\n

The two-part play, a sequel to JK Rowling’s books, premiered in the West End in 2016 and closed on 20 September.<\/p>\n

The changes to the West End production follow the 2021 relaunch of the play as a single show on Broadway in New York City. <\/p>\n

“The pandemic, the cost of living and the wars going on around the world accelerated that decision in New York, and that’s where we are now with London,” Friedman said.<\/p>\n

“Of course we’ll miss it but it was absolutely the right call and we’ve got a beautiful alternate version that we’re very proud of.”<\/p>\n

Director John Tiffany said at the launch event that he and writer Jack Thorne – who also wrote acclaimed Netflix series Adolescence<\/a> – had to be “dragged, kicking and screaming to make the one-parter” due to the success of their original script, the Times reported.<\/p>\n

However, Tiffany said the new version meant “more people are going to get to see this show and not have to pay a fortune for it”, according to The Stage.<\/p>\n

The play takes place 19 years after the final book and follows Harry’s son Albus Severus as he arrives at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.<\/p>\n

The production has been seen by more than 14 million people around the world, including over 2.5 million in London.<\/p>\n

The reimagined one-part production will retain some of its original cast, including David Ricardo-Pearce as Harry Potter, Thomas Aldridge as Ron Weasley and Naana Agyei Ampadu as Hermione Granger. <\/p>\n

New actors have been cast in the roles of Albus Potter, Ginny Potter, Rose Granger-Weasley, Draco Malfoy and Scorpius Malfoy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Harry Potter And The Cursed Child producer has said the rising cost of living made it “literally…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":780891,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[96,59,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-780890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-gb","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=780890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780890\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/780891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=780890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=780890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=780890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}