Based on the 2004 Miramax film about Peter Pan playwright J.M. Barrie and the play The Man Who Was Peter Pan by Allan Knee, the musical has a score by Barlow and Kennedy, with a book by James Graham (This House).
The new staging of Finding Neverland, which Tony Award-winning director Diane Paulus (Pippin, Porgy and Bess, Hair) has been developing over the past year, features choreography by Emmy Award winner Mia Michaels.
Previews began at A.R.T. July 23. A.R.T. executives announced Aug. 27 that the world-premiere engagement of Finding Neverland has become the "highest grossing and highest attended production to date." Read critics reviews of the Boston try-out here.
Harvey Weinstein will produce the Broadway run of Finding Neverland, which will arrive in March 2015 at a Nederlander theatre-to-be-announced. The Lunt-Fontanne, which will be vacated by Motown in early January, is thought to be Neverland's future home.
Casting for the Broadway production has not been announced. Tony nominee Jordan (Bonnie & Clyde, Newsies, "Smash") plays Barrie opposite Olivier Award winner Kelly (Mary Poppins) as Sylvia Llewelyn Davies in the A.R.T. premiere.
The A.R.T. cast also features Tony Award nominee Carolee Carmello as Madame du Maurier, Jeanna de Waal as Mary Barrie, Tony winner Michael McGrath as Charles Frohman/Captain Cook, along with Aidan Gemme as Peter, Alex Dreier as Michael, Sawyer Nunes as George and Hayden Signoretti as Jack.
The Finding Neverland ensemble includes Courtney Balan, Dana Costello, Rory Donovan, Gaelen Gilliland, Thayne Jasperson, Josh Lamon, Melanie Moore, Mary Page Nance, Stuart Neal, Emma Pfaeffle, Jonathan Ritter, Tyley Ross, JC Schuster, Paul Slade Smith, Ron Todorowski, Julius Anthony Rubio and Jaime Lynn Verazin.
According to A.R.T., "When a playwright meets a widow and her four boys in Kensington Gardens, he embarks on a friendship that inspires one of the most beloved stories of all time. Based on the Miramax film by David Magee, Finding Neverland follows the real-life relationship between James Matthew Barrie and the Llewelyn Davies family that inspired the revolutionary 1904 play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, one of the most beloved stories of all time."
The creative team includes scenic designer Scott Pask, costume designer Suttirat Anne Larlarb, lighting designer Philip Rosenberg, sound designer Jonathan Deans, projection designer Gilles Papain, air sculptor Daniel Wurtzel, illusions by Paul Kieve, music supervisor David Chase, music director Mary-Mitchell Campbell, vocal designer AnnMarie Milazzo and orchestrator Simon Hale.
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