A fan from Bangalore dresses up like the boy wizard on the day of the release of the published version of the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child stage play. [Photo/Agencies]

London is under Harry Potter's spell once more－and J.K. Rowling hopes the rest of the world will eventually follow.

The stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child had its gala opening last Saturday in London's West End and is already the theater event of the year.

Rowling joined director John Tiffany, playwright Jack Thorne and the cast onstage to receive a raucous standing ovation at the end of the two-part show at London's Palace Theater, where it's scheduled to run at least until December 2017.

If the boy wizard's creator has her way, that will only be the beginning.

"I'd like as many Potter fans to see it as possible," Rowling said on the red carpet before the show, as fans cheered and poked camera phones over crowd barriers in hope of getting a picture.

There's already talk of a Broadway run, and Rowling said: "I'd like it to go wider than that."