"But all the wonderful magical effects — flying broomsticks, levitating wizards, green jets of fire — might seem puny from the rafters."
I understand the Palace Theatre in London has capacity of 1400 people, but I had no idea it also has FOUR floors (stalls, dress circle, grand circle, and balcony) when I went there. I saw the play in London from the balcony thinking it would be similar to the Schubert theatre when I saw Matilda from the balcony but boy that view up there in London is definitely the 'rafters.'
I actually think the Lyric would be great for Harry Potter given it can house 2000 people per performance. Remember this play is in 2 parts so 8 performances a week is really 4 shows (does that make sense?) Hmmm... in a week, instead of 16,000 distinct people watching the show, only 8,000 people would watch the show since the same audience (2,000 people) would watch 2 performances (part 1 and 2) that week. Given how popular Hamilton is and that only has 1 part, imagine how long this show would be sold out for?!?
Ok true the Lyric is huge and if you're in the cheap seats like I was in London, you wouldn't get the same experience but that's true of most Broadway shows nowadays, to be honest. Ultimately what I like about the Lyric is more people can see the show per performance.
Regardless of which theater they choose, I'd be curious to see how they do the pricing. In London's West End, the premium tickets cost 95GBP each, or 190GBP for both parts (roughly $232 given today's exchange rate.) Having seen Hamilton and Book of Mormon charge over $450 per performance for their premium seats, that means people on Broadway may possibly pay over $900 each to see both parts of Harry Potter!?!?!?!?!? EGADS!