It seems those summoning spells from local Harry Potter fans have paid off – hit stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is coming to Australia.
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The show's producers announced on Tuesday the play will run exclusively at Melbourne's Princess Theatre in early 2019.
"You can't ever assume a new play is going to have a further life, but we knew that if Harry Potter and the Cursed Child did have a life beyond London and Broadway, that the next stop would be [Australia]," producers Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender said in a statement.
Australian producer Michael Cassel, who has had hits locally with the tour of Kinky Boots and the production of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical currently playing in Sydney, will executive produce the show locally.
The play – based on an original story by JK Rowling, playwright Jack Thorne and director John Tiffany, and featuring music by Grammy winner Imogen Heap – had its premiere on London's West End in July 2016, selling out in hours. It's had a sold-out run ever since.
It also broke records at this year's Laurence Olivier Awards, scooping up nine awards amongst its cast, as well as Best New Play and Best Director.
A Broadway adaptation is set to open in New York in April 2018.
The eighth instalment in Rowling's Harry Potter saga, the play is set 19 years after the end of the last novel Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and follows Potter as a married husband of three.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews described the announcement as a coup for Melbourne.
"To secure a production of this calibre is a testament to Melbourne's standing as an arts and cultural capital and leading global city for theatre," he said.
Performance dates are set to be announced soon, the producers said.
The play will be the latest stage hit to open in Melbourne, following this year's successful run of Tony-winning musical The Book of Mormon (it opens in Sydney in February), and ongoing tour rumours over Broadway hit Hamilton.
