Harry Potter and the incredible ticket prices

Harry Potter and the incredible ticket prices! Seats at the new theatre production are selling for up to £2,000 EACH

Tickets for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child selling for up to £1,800 online

They were officially sold for between £15 and £130 but demand is surging

New West End play opened to overwhelmingly positive reviews last night

Play is sold-out until May 2017 with first 175,000 tickets selling in 24 hours

It has been sold out for months with the first 175,000 tickets being snapped up in less than 24 hours and now desperate fans are paying up to £2,000 for their chance to see the new Harry Potter play.
Although the West End spectacle is officially sold out until May 2017, tickets are being exchanged for astronomical prices on buying and selling websites – with some touted for as much as £1,800.
The production opened for previews at the Palace Theatre in London last night and was met with rapturous applause and 'whooping and cheering' from fans and journalists who were left spellbound.
And while millions of tickets have been sold for the play, which is set 19 years after the last Potter book, thousands of fans around the world were left disappointed not to get their hands on a pair.

Although the West End spectacle is officially sold out until May 2017, tickets for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child are being exchanged for as much as £1,800 on buying and selling websites such as Viagogo (pictured)

The play, which follows Harry, Hermione and Ron as grown parents sending their children off to school, opened at the Palace Theatre, London for cut-price previews yesterday before being unveiled in a premiere on July 30

It has resulted in a surge in demand on websites such as Viagogo, where tickets for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child are advertised for £1,800 – a 12,000 per cent increase on the face value.
Tickets for the two-part play were originally sold for as little as £30, while better seats fetched £130.
As anticipation for the play grew, tickets quickly began emerging online for between £800 and £950.
But now, following the spellbinding reviews from last night, tickets have reached startling prices – with some fans even giving up their chance to see the latest in the wizardry franchise to cash in.

However, others have bemoaned the fact the show is already sold-out and divided into two-parts, which can be watched in a day or on consecutive nights.
'The Harry Potter cash cow is clearly far from exhausted,' Phil, a theatre blogger on the West End Whinger website, said.
'I do find that doing it in two parts is a deeply cynical move. Fans forced to buy tickets twice? Shame on them.'
Although the play is officially sold-out, fans do have one more chance to snap up last-minute tickets from the official site.

In Harry Potter and The Cursed Child, Harry will be played by Jamie Parker (left), Poppy Miller will play his wife Ginny Weasley (right) and Sam Clemmett will play their son Albus Severus Potter, who is sent off to school

Fans dressed up in their wizardry robes and waved wands as they attended the opening preview last night

Noma Dumezweni, who plays Hermione in the stage production, is pictured leaving the preview show last night

Each week the Cursed Child website will release 40 tickets for some of the best seats in the theatre, in a special late release called 'The Friday Forty'. Tickets will be £30 during previews (£15 per part), and £40 from August 3 (£20 per part), after the play's official opening performances. The promotion began on June 3 and will run every Friday until further notice.
While many will be logging on in the hope of landing a chance to get their magical fix, a 1,500-strong audience were lucky enough to see the opening preview of the hugely anticipated play last night.
The production, by Jack Thorne and authorised by JK Rowling, is set 19 years after the seventh and final book in the popular Hogwarts series and is tipped to be the theatrical event of the year.
The play, which follows Harry, Hermione and Ron as grown parents sending their children off to school, opened in London for cut-price previews yesterday and will be unveiled in a full premiere on July 30.
Speaking ahead of its release, 50-year-old Rowling pleaded with spectators at the previews not to disclose details of the play – as anticipation reached fever-pitch that there may be some cliff-hangers.
'You've been amazing for years at keeping Harry Potter secrets so you didn't spoil the books for readers who came after you,' she said in a heartfelt video message.
'So I'm asking you one more time to keep the secrets and let audiences enjoy Cursed Child with all the surprises that we've got to the story.'

She later wrote on Twitter: 'Potter fans have always had each other's backs. Today I'm asking you to #KeepTheSecrets of #CursedChild. This isn't about ticket sales: we've been sold out for ages.'
Fans arriving for the previews can expect high security measures, with checks in place to ensure audience members do not smuggle any recording equipment into the theatre.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is set 19 years after the seventh and final book in the series by Rowling, which have sold more than 450 million copies since 1997 and been adapted into eight films.
Like many of his fans, Harry has now grown up and has three children with his wife Ginny Weasley, the sister of his friend Ron, and is working at the Ministry of Magic.
He still has his trademark round-rimmed glasses and the scar on his head, a permanent reminder of his nemesis Lord Voldemort, but must now help his youngest son Albus confront the family's dark past.
While Harry is occupied with his job at the Ministry, the government of Britain's Magical community in the saga, he cannot escape his past and neither can his children.
'As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places,' the play synopsis says.
Director John Tiffany added that the play would follow on from the world famous novels but also welcome fresh characters.
'We wanted to develop the characters that are already known and keep that consistency but also introduce new ones,' he said. He added that the first play would open with the famous railway station scene and end with a 'spectacular cliff-hanger'.

There was hysteria outside the Palace Theater last night as Harry Potter and the Cursed Child play opened

FANS AND CRITICS 'SPELLBOUND' AFTER HARRY POTTER OPENING NIGHT

She released a heartfelt video message yesterday pleading with fans to 'keep the secrets' of the plot twists so as not to ruin the excitement for others, but JK Rowling can breathe a sigh of relief today after fans and journalists alike kept their word as they heaped praise on Harry Potter And The Cursed Child.
Although the show does not officially open at the Palace Theatre in London until July 30, fans have already had their first look at the latest instalment in the Potter franchise, which picks up the story 19 years after the last novel.
Rowling appeared in a short video clip before the opening preview last night, urging fans to keep plot details under wraps. Audience members were also issued with #KeepTheSecrets badges as a reminder.
And while no major plot twist secrets have been leaked from the two-part stage play, fans and journalists who saw the first instalment made it clear they were spellbound.

Author JK Rowling (pictured) had sent out a heartfelt video message to fans of the wizardry franchise, begging them to not spoil the plot of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child for others once the previews opened

Clare Fitzsimons wrote in The Mirror: 'Spells and hexes combined with laughs and drama mean Harry Potter And The Cursed Child will be every bit the hit everyone expects.'
She added: 'Judging by the whooping and cheering, nobody was disappointed.'
Fitzsimons said the play will appeal to super-fans and Potter novices alike.
Hannah Furness wrote in the Daily Telegraph: 'The storyline, a hymn to friendship and teenage misfits, contains enough twists to please the most knowledgeable of fans, who remained resolutely tight-lipped about the plot as they spilled on to the pavement in raptures afterwards.
'Any fears that the world of Hogwarts on stage would struggle to compete with the multimillion-dollar special effects of film were quickly kicked into touch. Objects seemed to disappear before our eyes and characters appeared as if from nowhere.'
She added: 'The script, written by Jack Thorne and John Tiffany around an original new story by JK Rowling, is fast moving and, most importantly, funny. But for all the laughs and tricks, this story also promises to be a thriller.
'Has Rowling done it again? The audience was in no doubt.'
Meanwhile, the New York Times also heaped praise upon the play. It said: 'The three main characters remained true to their younger selves... The audience cannot be more thrilled or more appreciative or more ready to be caught up in the spirit of the undertaking.'

Anticipation is building for the new stage play which is set 19 years after the last Harry Potter book finished

Actor Paul Thornley, actress Noma Dumezweni and actor Jamie Parker, who play Harry, Hermione and Ron in the Harry Potter And The Cursed Child, were all met with rapturous applause and praise after the preview.

There was also praise for actors Jamie Parker (Harry Potter), Noma Dumezweni (Hermione Granger) and Paul Thornley (Ron Weasley).
Fans agreed, with Ollie Grainger teasing on Twitter: 'Interval. IT'S MAGICAL. That's all I'm saying.'
Shama Hussain wrote: 'The only disappointment about @HPPlayLDN #CursedChild is that I can't reread it over & over like a book. Stunning performances.'
Maddie Campion said: '#CursedChild is fantastic - really funny, impressive, magic is perfectly executed. Doesn't feel restricted as a play. Cast is perfect.'
The script is set to be published as a book on July 31, which is Rowling's and Harry Potter's birthday - allowing fans who cannot afford to see the play, or who missed out on tickets, to find out what happens to Harry and his friends.
The plot for the play reads: 'While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted.
'As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places.'



source: dailymail