Harry Potter Vinyl Soundtrack
via Warner Music

Harry Potter's 20th Anniversary: Broadway tickets on sale, vinyl box set & more

Harry Potter and The Cursed Child makes its NYC debut at Broadway’s Lyric Theatre this spring, with previews beginning on March 16. Two sets of ticket presales have already taken place through Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan program, and today (2/8) more tickets will be released that don’t require an access code. For this general release, you can join a Virtual Waiting Room between 10:30 AM and 11 AM, where you’ll be assigned a random queue number to purchase tickets. After 11 AM, queue numbers will be assigned on a first come, first served basis. Felix Felicis is, of course, banned from use at competitive events, but if you can brew up a batch it might come in handy for this.

In some music-related Harry Potter news, you can now get the soundtrack to the first five films on vinyl. While the films themselves are somewhat divisive among fans, the scores from John Williams, Patrick Doyle, and Nicholas Hooper are a fantastic backdrop to the wizarding world; the sinister lullaby of Williams’ “Hedwig’s Theme” has achieved iconic status. The Goblet of Fire soundtrack also includes “Do the Hippogriff,” “This is the Night,” and “Magic Works,” the three songs Jarvis Cocker and Steve Mackey of Pulp, Jonny Greenwood and Phil Selway of Radiohead, Jason Buckle and Steve Claydon contributed in their portrayal of The Weird Sisters. A limited edition vinyl box set collects dual picture discs for each of the first five films (along with a download code so you can listen digitally, too). The records themselves are beautifully illustrated, and the insides of their die-cut, gatefold sleeves also contain iconography from the series, including a golden snitch and the Weasley’s former flying Ford Anglia. That box set is on sale now.

The 20th anniversary of the US publication of Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone is this year, and that means even more Potter-related stuff is on the horizon, including a new paperback version of the series to be released in July, and a collectible box set in September. Brian Selznick, the Caldecott Medal-winning artist behind The Invention of Hugo Cabret, is designing new covers for the anniversary editions. There are also two new mobile games based on the series due to come out this year. Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery will be released under Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment’s new Portkey Games label, and The Guardian reports on the plot:

The game casts players as Hogwarts students, during the time between Harry’s birth and his admission to the wizarding school. Players can “create a personalised student avatar, attend classes, learn magical skills, form friendships or rivalries with other students, and make pivotal decisions that will influence their character’s story arc as they traverse their years at Hogwarts and grow as a witch or wizard”.

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery is due out on iOS and Android this spring, and you can watch a trailer for it below. Another mobile game, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is due out this year from Niantic, the creators of Pokemon Go. Wizards Unite will use augmented reality technology similar to the hit mobile Pokemon game, so I expect to see people casting spells and finding portkeys and other magical artifacts all over the place upon its release.

If you don’t want to wait until spring to celebrate Harry’s 20th anniversary, there’s a bottomless Harry Potter themed brunch at NYC’s 5th & MAD on February 17. Tickets to the first sitting are now sold out, but the second sitting, from 2:30 PM-4:30 PM, go on sale day of. Tickets include a main dish, dessert and bottomless prosecco, as well as a sorting hat, trivia, and snacks reminiscent of feasts in the Great Hall at Hogwarts.