The WhatsOnStage Awards were held in London tonight and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child dominated the field with a record-breaking EIGHT wins!
Best Actor in a Play went to Jamie Parker (Harry Potter), Best Supporting Actress in a Play for Noma Dumezweni (Hermione Granger), Best Supporting Actor in a Play for Anthony Boyle (Scorpius Malfoy), Best New Play, Best Set Design by Christine Jones, Best Lighting Design by Neil Austin, Best Video Design by Finn Ross and Ash Woodward and Best Director for John Tiffany.
Our friends at MuggleNet were at the ceremony and shared videos of a few of the acceptance speeches. Enjoy those below:
A new batch of tickets for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child will be released on January 23rd for performances from 7 February 2018 – 29 April 2018. According to the press release:
The producers of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child today announced that a further 75,000 tickets will be released for sale on Monday 23 January 2017, at 11am GMT, for performances from 7 February 2018 – 29 April 2018. Tickets are priced from £15 per part and for every performance there will be over 300 tickets at £20 or less per part. This will be followed by regular ticket releases throughout the year, details of which will be announced via the official Harry Potter and the Cursed Child website, social media channels and the official newsletter.
The regular performance schedule is as follows – Monday – no performance, Tuesday – no performance, Wednesday – 2pm Part One & 7.30pm Part Two, Thursday – 7.30pm Part One, Friday – 7.30pm Part Two, Saturday – 2pm Part One & 7.30pm Part Two, Sunday – 1pm Part One & 6.30pm Part Two.
A further set of access performances are also announced – on Wednesday 28 March 2018 both the matinee (Part One) and the evening performance (Part Two) will be captioned and on Wednesday 4 April 2018 the matinee (Part One) and evening performance (Part Two) will be audio described. For patrons with physical access needs call 0330 333 4410 (please note there are no general ticket sales on this number) or email CursedChildAccess@nimaxtheatres.com
J.K. Rowling revealed a new limited edition tshirt at this weekend’s Lumos Gala performance of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. The ‘Be the Light’ T-shirts feature inspirational words from the author’s Very Good Lives Harvard commencement speech in 2008: “We do not need magic to transform our world; we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already”. They are available to buy now at www.represent.com/lumos. At least 60% of the retail price will go to support Lumos programmes around the world.
The author addressed an audience of Harry Potter fans of all ages prior to the special gala performance to benefit Lumos, the non-profit organisation she founded to help end the institutionalisation of children globally by 2050.
“Children need, deserve and have a right to families,” she said. “Thank you, from everyone at Lumos, for helping us achieve our ambition of bringing eight million children back into the light. It is, to paraphrase Albus Dumbledore, not easy, but it is right.”
Thanks to the generosity of the play’s producers – Sonia Friedman, Colin Callender and Harry Potter Theatrical Productions – and Lumos’ 100% Pledge, all funds raised at the gala performance will go directly to Lumos’ work to transform the lives of some of the world’s most disadvantaged children. The special gala performance today is one of a series of events in the We Are Lumos Worldwide global campaign to raise awareness and urge people to get involved with the non-profit organisation’s work to bring the hidden children to light and get them home to families. The campaign was officially launched with a Facebook Live interview the previous evening (Saturday 17 September) between J.K. Rowling and writer and broadcaster, Lauren Laverne.
Poppy Miller, Paul Thornley, Stuart Ramsey, Sam Clemmett, J.K. Rowling, Anthony Boyle, Noma Dumezweni, and Alex Price. Photo by Dave Benett / Getty Image for Lumos.
Jo also took part in a Facebook Live video to talk about Lumos and their new initiative this past weekend. The interview marks the official launch of We Are Lumos Worldwide; a global campaign to raise awareness of the eight million children living in orphanages around the world, and the work that Lumos is doing to help them return to family life.
J.K. Rowling’s charity, Lumos, and the producers of the stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child announced today that a third and final online auction of tickets to the Lumos gala performance on Sunday 18th September would be released. This is a last chance to bid for tickets to attend the event. This final auction closes at 6pm on Sunday 21st August
Fans eager to see the two-part play will be able to bid on ticket packages for this special performance to benefit Lumos, which will be personally introduced by J.K. Rowling. Over 100 tickets are available in a selection of packages that are combined with extra gifts including signed copies of the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child script book, Hogwarts maps created by graphic designers MinaLima and meals at London restaurants near to the theatre.
Opening bids for the performances of Parts One and Two on Sunday 18th September will start at the box office face value. The auction runs for just four days, from today until 21st August on the online auction website Givergy.
Thanks to the generosity of the play’s producers and Lumos’ 100% Pledge, every penny donated and raised in the auction will go directly to Lumos’ Families Not Orphanages Fund, which will support children in the countries where Lumos works to leave orphanages and return to a family life. Donations do not go towards administration, fundraising or overhead costs.
The Lumos gala performance of both parts of the play is the start of a worldwide campaign for Lumos this Autumn called We Are Lumos Worldwide which aims to enhance awareness of the harm caused to children placed in orphanages, and raise funds for the Families Not Orphanages Fund. The campaign culminates with an advance screening of the new film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them in New York on 12th November, with a chance to see J.K. Rowling in conversation on stage at Carnegie Hall, with the film’s main star and Academy Award® winner Eddie Redmayne.
To celebrate the publishing of the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Rehearsal Edition Script, Books-A-Million and 2nd & Charles are hosting a Harry Potter Midnight Release Party on Saturday, July 30 at all store locations! Festivities begin at 2 p.m. and include Harry Potter trivia contests, Marauder’s Map scavenger hunts, wand crafts and more before the official countdown event starts at 9 p.m. with Sorting Hat ceremonies, costume contests and other Potter-themed activities.
The Harry Potter Midnight Release Party at Books-A-Million and 2nd & Charles is free to attend and open to the public. Only customers who have secured a pre-order voucher for “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” will have first access to their copy at midnight. Vouchers will be available during the countdown event in Books-A-Million and 2nd & Charles stores. More from the press release:
“With an extensive community of multi-generation followers since the series’ start in 1998, the ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ release is undoubtedly the biggest book launch of the year,” said Sandra Wilson, Senior Book Buyer and Vice President of Merchandising at Books-A-Million. “We’re looking forward to celebrating the monumental debut with devoted fans of all ages, and to once again revel in the literary magic of Harry Potter!”
Fans who are eager to get their hands on the anticipated eighth installment can reserve a copy by purchasing a pre-order voucher at any Books-A-Million or 2nd & Charles store location now through July 30 or online at www.booksamillion.com for home delivery. 2nd & Charles customers who purchase a voucher before July 31 will also receive a $10 reward card for 2nd & Charles.
Starting at 2 p.m. on July 30, shoppers can take part in magical festivities throughout the day in honor of the epic book release, including Harry Potter-themed story time activities, coloring stations, trivia contests, Marauder’s Map scavenger hunts and wand crafts. The official countdown party will begin at 9 p.m., with various interactive activity stations to enjoy leading up to the midnight release of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.” The event will feature Sorting Hat ceremonies and costume contests, so fans are encouraged to don their best Hogwarts robes with brooms and wands in tow. Attendees will even receive an exclusive swag bag filled with spellbinding goodies.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which is currently in previews, will premiere in London’s West End at the Palace Theatre on July 30th. If you want to buy tickets visit the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child website. You can also see detailed interactive seat plan for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child here at SeatPlan.
Lumos and the producers of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child have released more tickets to the gala performance of the play, which will be held on Sunday September 18th, in an online auction to benefit Lumos. J.K. Rowling will attend and introduce the play at the gala which will show Part One and Two consecutively. The tickets are available through the online auction website Givergy with opening bids starting at £100 for two tickets for both Part One and Part Two of the play.
Tickets are combined with special prizes and collectable items, including signed copies of the script book and VIP tickets to Warner Bros Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter.
Thanks to the generosity of the play’s producers and Lumos’ 100% Pledge, every penny donated and raised in the auction will go directly to Lumos’ Families Not Orphanages Fund that will help children in the countries where Lumos works to leave orphanages and return to a family life. Donations do not go towards administration, fundraising or overhead costs.
The gala performance of the play is one of a series of exciting events for Lumos this Autumn in the We Are Lumos Worldwide campaign aimed at enhancing awareness of the harm caused to children placed in orphanages and raising funds for Lumos’ Families Not Orphanages Fund. Other events include an advance screening of the new film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them in New York City on 12 November, with a chance to see J.K. Rowling in conversation with the film’s main star and Academy Award-winner Eddie Redmayne.
An estimated eight million children around the world live in orphanages and institutions, despite 80% having at least one living parent that could care for them with some support.
A new, two minute film, showing how Lumos helps individual families and children, has also been released today. It tells the story of Lumos’ work to reunite one mother with her baby, who had been sent to an institution as soon he was born, due to a disability diagnosis at birth – just one of the 2,376 children supported by the organisation in the last year to leave orphanages.
Over the past decade, Lumos has helped thousands of other children – from infants to older children – return to family life in Central and Eastern Europe and more recently in Haiti. Now, in its second decade, Lumos is expanding its work in Latin America and the Caribbean, and other regions around the world with the aim to end institutionalisation of children globally by 2050.
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