Registration for tickets to the New York debut of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Cursed Child may as well have been cursed too.
This Sunday, registration opened for tickets to the Broadway debut of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child — but no wizardry could save Ticketmaster from crashing under “unprecedented demand” that wasn’t unprecedented at all.
In an effort to weed out scalpers and bots, the play partnered with Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan program. Would-be buyers had to sign into Ticketmaster and fill out a form for a chance to be randomly chosen for an access code to the general sale on Oct. 18.
Thousands flocked to the official website, only to quickly lose their mind as the website lost its. Fans blamed boggarts, pleaded with a mysterious “internet gremlin”, and took to social media to express their frustration, one Harry Potter GIF at a time.
Some were caught in a maddening cycle, inputting their information again and again when the page inexplicably refused to send them a confirmation email.
Others were met with the dreaded sequel “Harry Potter and the 502 Bad Gateway” when the site suddenly crashed.
The #HarryPotter #CursedChildNYC ticket registration website is down. #reparo please. pic.twitter.com/WZIoZANzyp
— illoydwebber (@illoydwebber) October 1, 2017
Ticketmaster hasn’t been much comfort, begging fans for patience and promising to resolve the issues as fast as possible. It’s surprising considering the ticketing website has experienced these problems before — and so has Cursed Child. The sale for its West End debut was a complete and utter mess.
A chosen few managed to register successfully. For the less lucky, there is still hope. The site is back up, although still experiencing sporadic issues. Fans have until Thursday, Oct. 5 at 10 p.m. ET to sign up. Unfortunately, the stress doesn’t end there. Registration does not mean you automatically get a code, and those that are selected will not know until the morning of the sale.
One thing is for sure — no one is looking forward to the general sale.
If this is how hard the registration for @HPPlayNYC is, I can't even imagine how insane buying the actual tickets will be. #CursedChildNYC pic.twitter.com/K9orB2xQYz
— Haley Lewis🍁 (@HaleyLewis130) October 1, 2017
Next: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone ... animated
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child will premiere at the Lyric Theatre in New York on April 22, 2018.