PROVIDENCE – Sonia Friedman, the British theater producer extraordinaire, loves Providence.
So said J.L. “Lynn” Singleton, president and CEO of the Providence Performing Arts Center, on Tuesday, as he told a crowd how the theater lured “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” to town.
Friedman produced “Harry Potter,” the highest-grossing non-musical play in Broadway history that’s now set to be the inaugural show in PPAC’s 2025-26 Broadway season in September, as Singleton announced.
And a visit by Friedman herself to Rhode Island’s capital city helped seal the deal in bringing the production to a local audience, Singleton explained.
“She’d never been here. She thought we were in Long Island, which happens to me all the time,” Singleton said, drawing a few laughs. “And [she] loved Providence. I thought she was going to buy a place here.”
“So that was one of the reasons ‘Harry Potter’ landed here: Because she loved it so much and everybody showed her such a good time,” he added.
Now, PPAC has big hopes for the play, which after years in New York, has hit the road.
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Following stops in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington D.C., “Harry Potter” will arrive in Rhode Island for an 18-show run starting Sept. 19, Singleton said Tuesday, as he revealed PPAC’s upcoming season schedule.
“Right after those three major markets, we will be … the first market north of New York to play ‘Harry Potter,’” he said. “It will be a forest fire.”
The production will also be presented at Boston’s Emerson Colonial Theatre from Nov. 9 to Dec. 20.
With an entire generation having grown up on the Harry Potter books, Singleton believes the production will introduce “a whole new audience” to PPAC. And while he doesn’t think demands for PPAC subscriptions will hit quite the levels spurred by the fervor around “Hamilton,” it will surely be a hot ticket, he said.
“I would expect it will bump our subscription base, which is presently about 13,000 plus, probably another 3,000 to 4,000,” he said.
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In all, six critically-acclaimed and award-winning shows will be featured in the upcoming PPAC “Broadway Series,” including “Water For Elephants,” “Suffs,” “Wicked,” “The Outsiders,” and “Kimberly Akimbo,” PPAC officials said Tuesday.
“Six,” “Hadestown,” “Clue,” and “The Lion King” will make up PPAC’s “Encore Series” as returning productions.
In total, PPAC will put on about 120 shows next season, according to Singleton.
“The commercial theater business has never been better in this building,” he said.
Here is the schedule for the upcoming 2025-26 Broadway season at PPAC:
‘Broadway Series’
- “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child:” Sept. 19 – Oct. 4, 2025
- “Water For Elephants:” Dec. 2 – 7, 2025
- “Suffs:” Jan. 20 – 25, 2026
- “Wicked:” March 4 – 22, 2026
- “The Outsiders:” April 14 – 19, 2026
- “Kimberly Akimbo:” May 5 – 10, 2026
‘Encore Series’
- “Six:” Oct. 22 – 26, 2025
- “Hadestown:” Nov. 7 – 9, 2025
- “Clue:” Jan. 16 – 18, 2026
- “The Lion King:” May 20 – June 7, 2026
Other performances
- Jo Koy: Oct. 17, 2025
- Louis C.K.: Oct. 19, 2025
- America: Oct. 18, 2025
- Boston Pops Holiday Concert: Dec. 13, 2025
- Cirque Dreams Holidaze: Dec. 19 – 21, 2025
- Bill Bragg’s Family Magic: May 16, 2026
More information is online at www.ppacri.org.
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