Based on the Miramax motion picture by David Magee and the play The Man Who Was Peter Pan by Allan Knee, Finding Neverland follows the relationship between playwright J. M. Barrie and the family that inspired Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, one of the most beloved stories of all time.
Final Broadway performance August 21.
Here, unfortunately, Paulus is saddled with a lackluster score -- by pop veterans Gary Barlow and Eliot Kennedy, who provide mostly syrupy ballads and vaguely peppy production numbers. The book, by rising playwright James Graham, is better -- hokey at points, but offering enough playful wit and compassion to make this story about the creation of Peter Pan fly...Glee alum Matthew Morrison...is predictably likable, and credible, as a man who rediscovers the boy inside himself...Gemme convincingly shows us how Peter's skepticism toward Barrie turns into affection and trust. His moments with Morrison are some of the truest and most poignant in the show...Special effects are on hand, as you might expect, to make these sequences more vivid...In the end, though, this Neverland is most charming in subdued moments, when the emphasis is on human connection and, eventually, loss.
Clap if you believe in brand names...Neither Mr. Grammer nor the show's leading man, Matthew Morrison...appear wholly invested in their performances. But that's O.K. Their mere presences do most of the work for them...The stage version of 'Finding Neverland' is no replica of the film, though it might have been better if it were. Instead, it heightens the screenplay's sentimentality, tidy psychologizing and life-affirming messages by thickening their syrup and corn quotients in ways presumably deemed palatable to theatergoing children and their parents...Every song...vaguely reminds you of some recording you have heard in the background of your life...I'm assuming the theory is that high volume will obliterate our awareness that this music is fatally ersatz. But there's no disguising the feeling that almost every element of the production has a secondhand, synthetic quality: the dialogue, the jerky choreography (by Mia Michaels), the jokes, the anachronistic depiction of the show people who put on Barrie's plays.
2015 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
2016 | US Tour |
First US National Tour US Tour |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2015 | BroadwayWorld Awards | Best Leading Actor in a Musical | Matthew Morrison |
2015 | BroadwayWorld Awards | Best Lighting Design | Kenneth Posner |
2015 | BroadwayWorld Awards | Best Orchestrations | Simon Hale |
2015 | BroadwayWorld Awards | Best Scenic Design | Scott Pask |
2015 | BroadwayWorld Awards | Best Score | Gary Barlow |
2015 | BroadwayWorld Awards | Best Sound Design of a Musical | Jonathan Deans |
2015 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Musical | Matthew Morrison |
2015 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical | Carolee Carmello |
2015 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Kelsey Grammer |
2015 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Matthew Morrison |
2015 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Production of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Musical | Finding Neverland |
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