Revamped FINDING NEVERLAND to Receive 2014 Workshop in New York City

FINDING NEVERLAND will soon be flying back to New York City.

According to an equity casting notice posted today, a workshop for the revamped production, set to be directed by PIPPIN's Diane Paulus, is set for Manhattan in 2014, featuring new songs by Gary Barlow and Eliot Kennedy. NEVERLAND previously held a workshop on August 26th, featuring Laura Michelle Kelly, Jason Alexander, Brian d'Arcy James and Kathleen Chalfant.

As previously reported, producers brought on Barlow and Kennedy in August to write a new score for the show. Three of Scott Frankel and Michael Korie's original songs are still intact, including "He Makes Me Smile" and "Neverland" - though Frankel, Korie, and book writer Allan Knee are no longer credited according to the notice. James Graham is now being billed as the sole writer after signing on to update NEVERLAND for the West End.

With the updates, the musical appears to still be aiming for a late Spring 2014 run at A.R.T. in Boston before heading back to the West End, and on to Broadway.

The creative team will congregate in London to review the changes and talk details for a Finding Neverland concept album, to be recorded in the fall for a Christmas release. The leads of the Leicester cast -- Julian Ovenden and Rosalie Craig -- are being considered for the West End transfer.

The new musical FINDING NEVERLAND premiered in Leicester on September 22, and lead producer Harvey Weinstein is looking to bring the show to Broadway in the 2013-14 season.

The Leicester cast also Liz Robertson as Mrs DuMaurier, and Clare Foster as Mary Barrie.

Adapted from the much-loved Oscar-winning Miramax film, FINDING NEVERLAND, this exquisite new production was brought to the Leicester stage by celebrated Oscar and Tony Award-winner Harvey Weinstein, with direction and choreography by Olivier and Tony Award-winner Rob Ashford (Anna Christie at Donmar Warehouse), a book by Allan Knee (Little Women on Broadway), and music and lyrics by Tony Award nominees Scott Frankel and Michael Korie.

Escape to a wonderful world of enchantment with this musical tale of the life of playwright J.M. Barrie, and the inspiration behind his classic book, The Adventures of Peter Pan. With his last play a failure, James Barrie is crippled by writer's block and success seems like a far-away land. But then a chance encounter with widow Sylvia Llewellyn Davies and her four young sons sends his heart and imagination soaring, and their friendship gives birth to a magical tale that will live forever.