Broadway Licensing Group Acquires Amateur Licensing Rights for School Productions to Global Phenomenon, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Plus, your weekly round-up of theatre news you may have missed!
Welcome to The Scene, your weekly round-up of theatre news you may have missed. In this week’s email:
BROADWAY BEAT- Back to the Future's Gareth Owen Didn't Go to College For Sound Design; Now He Has a Tony Award | Glory Days to Make New York Return in Off-Broadway Benefit Concert | Merrily We Roll Along Announces Opening-night Date | Lea Michele, Still Out of Funny Girl, Will Perform Revival's Final Weekend | Watch the Cast of The Neil Diamond Musical: A Beautiful Noise Celebrate 300 Performances on Broadway
HOT TOPICS - When You’re 16 and Playing Miranda in The Tempest | Ariana DeBose to Appear in Nationwide AMC Theatres’ Public Service Announcement to Honor Arts Educators | Playwright and Screenwriter Nathan Louis Jackson Dies at 44 | Celebrated Playwright Tina Howe Dies at 85 | Lynn Nottage and Leonard Majzlin to Be Honored at the 2023 Dramatists Guild Foundation Gala
THE BIG IDEA – Broadway Licensing Group Acquires Amateur Licensing Rights for School Productions to Global Phenomenon, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
WEST END & BEYOND - West End Producers Defend Ticket Prices Amid Rising Costs | London Theatregoers Escorted From Grease The Musical By Police | Why Are American Artists Traveling All the Way to Scotland to Do Theatre? | A Big Trend at This Year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe? Murder Mysteries
REGIONAL THEATRE NEWS - Neil Patrick Harris will direct Kennedy Center’s Tick, Tick ... Boom! | Hitting Theater Hard: The Loss of Subscribers Who Went to Everything | Evan Rachel Wood, Leah Lewis, Richard White, More to Headline Premiere Season of the California-based Broadwest Entertainment
PLAYSCRIPTS FREE READS -Check out Santa Claus Might Not be Coming to Town by Don Zolidis and Polar Twilight by Hillary DePiano
The Broadway Beat
BACK TO THE FUTURE'S GARETH OWEN DIDN'T GO TO COLLEGE FOR SOUND DESIGN, NOW HE HAS A TONY AWARD by Andrew Gans, Playbill - The sound designer shares his strategy for getting your foot in the door: meet the right people.
GLORY DAYS TO MAKE NEW YORK RETURN IN OFF-BROADWAY BENEFIT CONCERT by Logan Culwell-Block, Playbill - Part of Keen Company's 2023-2024 season, the concert will be the first major performance in NYC since its short-lived 2008 Broadway run.
MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG ANNOUNCES OPENING-NIGHT DATE by Ruthie Fierberg, Broadway News -The upcoming musical revival will begin previews on September 19, 2023.
LEA MICHELE, STILL OUT OF FUNNY GIRL, WILL PERFORM REVIVAL'S FINAL WEEKEND by Logan Culwell-Block, Playbill. The ‘Glee’ star is "under the weather" and missing weekday performances in the musical's last week at the August Wilson Theatre.
WATCH THE CAST OF THE NEIL DIAMOND MUSICAL: A BEAUTIFUL NOISE CELEBRATE 300 PERFORMANCES ON BROADWAY -
Hot Topics
WHEN YOU’RE 16 AND PLAYING MIRANDA IN THE TEMPEST by James Barron, The New York Times - Naomi Pierre will appear in Shakespeare in the Park this weekend and thinks of the character she plays as a teenager like herself.
ARIANA DEBOSE TO APPEAR IN NATIONWIDE AMC THEATRES’ PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT TO HONOR ARTS EDUCATORS by Caitlin Hornik, Broadway News - The commercial is part of a partnership between AMC Theatres and the Kennedy Center.
PLAYWRIGHT AND SCREENWRITER NATHAN LOUIS JACKSON DIES AT 44 by Molly Higgins, Playbill - Mr. Jackson's works included ‘Broke-ology,’ ‘Sticky Traps,’ and ‘The Last Black Play.’
CELEBRATED PLAYWRIGHT TINA HOWE DIES AT 85 by Margaret Hall, Playbill - Ms. Howe was twice a Pulitzer Prize finalist and Tony Award nominee.
LYNN NOTTAGE AND LEONARD MAJZLIN TO BE HONORED AT THE 2023 DRAMATISTS GUILD FOUNDATION GALA by Meg Masseron, Playbill - Comedian Amber Ruffin will host the annual gala at the Ziegfeld Ballroom.
The Big Idea
Broadway Licensing Group Acquires Amateur Licensing Rights for School Productions to Global Phenomenon, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
NEW YORK, Sept. l, 2023 – The Broadway Licensing Group, Sonia Friedman Productions, Colin Callender, and Harry Potter Theatrical Productions are thrilled to announce an exciting partnership to bring Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the award-winning record breaking hit play, to high school and secondary school theatre programs worldwide starting in 2024.
Producers Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender said "We are delighted to be working with Broadway Licensing Group so that schools around the world can stage their own productions of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. We're very proud that over half of the play's audiences worldwide have been first time theatregoers. With this schools version, we hope to broaden that audience even further by introducing younger generations to the magic of live theatre. We can't wait to see how students embrace their creativity and bring the magic of the wizarding world to life on their school stages. It's extremely exciting for us all."
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the first Harry Potter story to be presented on stage, has sold over 6 million tickets worldwide and holds a record 60 major honors, with nine Laurence Olivier Awards including Best New Play and six Tony® Awards including Best New Play.
Based on an original story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a play by Jack Thorne. When Harry Potter's head-strong son Albus befriends Scorpius, the son of his fiercest rival, Draco Malfoy, it sparks an unbelievable new journey for them all-with the power to change the past and future forever.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has cast its spell worldwide with productions currently running in London, New York, Hamburg, and Tokyo, and has completed runs in Melbourne, Toronto, and San Francisco. The original two-part production in London's West End recently celebrated its 7th anniversary, while the reimagined Broadway production celebrated its 5th anniversary.
A Bespoke Version for Educational Theatre Productions
"Over twenty-five years ago, the Harry Potter book series inspired a generation of new readers," said producer Neil Blair, J.K. Rowling's agent and Founding Partner of The Blair Partnership. "Making Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the eighth story in the Harry Potter series, available for school productions around the world will inspire that same creativity, imagination, play, and storytelling through the medium of theatre, and we couldn't be more thrilled."
Broadway Licensing Group is in development with the show's original creative team, including playwright Jack Thorne, director John Tiffany, producers Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender, and with sign-off by J.K. Rowling, to adapt the script for high school and secondary school theatres, including a new, shorter runtime, as well as new creative techniques to convert the highly technical wizardry of the original production into magic and spells that schools can achieve with no matter their budget sizes and socioeconomic backgrounds.
"When I was developing Harry Potter and the Cursed Child with the creative team, one of our founding principles was that the magic, illusions and special effects should have their roots in storytelling techniques that could be achieved when playing at home or in school. This might involve borrowing your teacher's winter coat to act out the effects of taking Polyjuice Potion, or raiding the loft for suitcases to create the Hogwarts Express." said director John Tiffany. He continues "So opening the world of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child up to schools is thrilling and feels like the natural next step in our journey."
Pilot Productions & How Schools Can Stage Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Pilot productions of the school edition will take place in the UK and US in Spring 2024, with worldwide release for schools shortly after. Amateur productions will roll out later. Theatre educators can get more details and express their interest in staging the production by visiting LicenseCursedChild.com.
"We are honored to be the worldwide Amateur licensing home of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and prioritizing the release of the title to the educational theatre market," says Sean Cercone, Founder and CEO of Broadway Licensing Group. "We hope the impact of bringing this beloved world to life on school stages will drive a renewed commitment to nurturing the arts in our schools ensuring every student has the opportunity to experience the transformative power of theatre. Providing students with the once in a lifetime opportunity to not only see characters like Harry and his son Albus, but to be them."
ABOUT WIZARDING WORLD
In the years since Harry Potter was whisked from King's Cross Station onto Platform nine and three quarters, his incredible adventures have left a unique and lasting mark on popular culture. Eight blockbuster films based on the original stories by J.K. Rowling have brought the magical stories to life and today, the Wizarding World is recognized as one of the world's best loved brands. Representing a vast interconnected universe, it also includes three epic Fantastic Beasts films, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - the multi-award-winning stage-play, state-of the-art video and mobile games from Portkey Games, innovative consumer products, thrilling live entertainment (including four theme park lands) and insightful exhibitions, as well as a forthcoming Harry Potter TV series.
This expanding portfolio of Warner Bros. Discovery owned Wizarding World tours and retail also includes the flagship Harry Potter New York, Warner Bros. Studio Tour London - the Making of Harry Potter, Warner Bros. Studio Tour Tokyo, and the Platform 9 ¾ retail shops.
The Wizarding World continues to evolve to provide Harry Potter fans with fresh and exciting ways to engage. For the worldwide fan community, and for generations to come, it welcomes everyone in to explore and discover the magic for themselves.
WIZARDING WORLD and all related trademarks, characters, names, and indicia are© & TM Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. Publishing Rights© JKR. (s23)
ABOUT BROADWAY LICENSING GROUP
Broadway Licensing Group and its family of imprints (Dramatists Play Service, Playscripts, and Stage Rights) is the global leader in theatrical licensing and distribution. The iconic works represented epitomize the greatest collection of authors, composers, lyricists, and underlying rights holders across the globe, including Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, Lynn Nottage, Alan Menken, Stephen King, Elvis, the Bee-Gees, and the Beatles.
The Broadway Licensing Group collection of titles represents an astonishing 38 Tony Awards® and 49 Pulitzer Prize-winning works. The company leverages its team's expertise in licensing, theatrical production, theatre education, and content creation to diversify, strengthen, and rapidly expand its portfolio into new sectors and markets. Founded in 2017, Broadway Licensing Group has quickly scaled, and, as of 2022, the company represents 8 of the Top 10 most produced plays in professional theatres and 9 of the Top 10 most produced plays in High Schools.
In 2020, Broadway Licensing Group launched the Emmy® Award-nominated streaming platform Broadway On Demand, offering exclusive theatrical content, interactive events, and original programming projected to reach well over 200 million households by 2023.
Additionally, Stageworks Productions, the original live stage content creation arm dedicated to the development of innovative, theatrical intellectual properties, has developed several world premiere musicals which have been produced in over 90 countries. In all, the combined force of the Broadway Licensing Group family of imprints continues to grow, with a singular goal to make everyone in the world a theatre person.
Visit LicenseCursedChild.com
West End Watch
WEST END PRODUCERS DEFEND TICKET PRICES AMID RISING COSTS by Giverny Masso, The Stage – The producers argue that the costs of putting on a show have risen "more than [they] could ever have imagined" and that the highest-priced seats subsidize the cheaper ones.
LONDON THEATERGOERS ESCORTED FROM GREASE THE MUSICAL BY POLICE by Charlie Moloney, The Guardian - The rest of the audience applauded after the people causing the ‘disturbance’ were removed from Dominion Theatre last Saturday.
WHY ARE AMERICAN ARTISTS TRAVELING ALL THE WAY TO SCOTLAND TO DO THEATRE? by Diep Tran, Playbill - For many artists, if you can make it in Edinburgh, you can make it anywhere
A BIG TREND AT THIS YEAR'S EDINBURGH FESTIVAL FRINGE? MURDER MYSTERIES by Dylan Parent, Playbill - The creator behind ‘Edgar Allen Poe: Murder in the Rue Morgue’ explains why people love murder stories.
Regional Theatre News
NEIL PATRICK HARRIS WILL DIRECT KENNEDY CENTER’S TICK, TICK ... BOOM! by Peter Marks, The Washington Post - The Jonathan Larson autobiographical musical launches the Broadway Center Stage season on January 26, 2024.
HITTING THEATER HARD: THE LOSS OF SUBSCRIBERS WHO WENT TO EVERYTHING by Michael Paulson, The New York Times - The subscription model, in which theatergoers buy a season’s worth of shows at a time, had long been waning, but it fell off a cliff during the pandemic.
EVAN RACHEL WOOD, LEAH LEWIS, RICHARD WHITE, MORE TO HEADLINE PREMIERE SEASON OF BROADWEST ENTERTAINMENT by Meg Masseron, Playbill - The new Los Angeles-based production collective will stage four productions for its inaugural season.
FREE READS
Read entire plays for free! These titles are perfect for your theatre, school, and competition performances. Scroll over the title, click the "READ NOW" button, and enjoy!
Santa Claus Might Not be Coming to Town
by Don Zolidis
THE STORY: Dipsy the Elf is fed up with the way Santa’s Workshop is run. And she’s not the only one—tired of an increasingly long Christmas season and the demand for more complicated toys, Santa Claus leaves the North Pole, escaping to a glacier with a legion of penguins who worship him. Now, it’s up to Dipsy and her misfit friends to find Santa and teach him the true meaning of Christmas: good working conditions for all.
One act | 35 - 45 minutes | 20 Any (16-24 actors possible) | Set: Flexible
Polar Twilight
THE STORY: When three candidates are called to interview for a PR position at the North Pole, they expect to find a dream job gift-wrapped for them. But all that changes once they meet Big Red himself -- suddenly, everything they thought they knew about him is proven terrifyingly wrong. Even if this revelation has sucked all the life out of the legend for them, the alternative is worse: what would happen if everyone knew? Can they help Santa maintain his jolly public image, or could this be the end of Christmas as we know it?
Comedy | 20 - 25 minutes | 3 W, 3 M, (6 actors possible: 0-5 W, 1-6 M) | Set: Simple staging.