West End Wednesday: FINDING NEVERLAND
Finding Neverland is a 2012 musical based on the film of the same name and its original play version ‘The Man Who Was Peter Pan’ by Allan Knee. The musical recounts the story of how writer J.M Barrie was inspired to create and pen the infamous character of Peter Pan.
La Jolla Playhouse announced in 2011 that they would be producing a musical adaptation of Finding Neverland, written by the original play’s writer Allan Knee and with a score by Grey Gardens writers, Scott Frankel and Michael Korie. The production was to be directed and choreographed by Rob Ashford and an industry reading was held in New York including Julian Ovenden, Kelli O’Hara and Mary Beth Peil. The planned production at La Jolla never came to fruition. They instead decided to premiere the production the other side of the Atlantic at the Curve in Leicester, England. The production played September/October 2012 at Curve starring Julian Ovenden as J.M Barrie and Rosalie Craig as Sylvia Lewellyn Davies.
The production in England received mixed reviews and thus the producers, still keen to musicalise the matter, artistically overhauled the production, hiring Diane Paulus to directed alongside Mia Michaels choreographing, a new book writer in James Graham and new songs by British musician Gary Barlow and Eliot Kennedy. The production originally claimed that they would be retaining a few of the original songs by Frankel and Korie, however, by the time the production was set in stone, this was not the case.
The revised production had its premiere at the ART in Cambridge, Massachusetts from July through September 2014. The production featured Jeremy Jordan as J.M Barrie, Laura Michelle Kelly as Sylvia Lewellyn Davies, Michael McGrath as Charles Frohman/James Hook and Carolee Carmello as Madame du Maurier. This production received mixed to good reviews and the decision was made to transfer the production to Broadway.
Finding Neverland opened for previews at The Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on 15 March 2015. In the fall of 2014, it was announced that Jeremy Jordan would not be transferring with the production to Broadway, and the role of J.M Barrie was taken over by Matthew Morrison, as well as Kelsey Grammar assuming the role of Charles Frohman/James Hook. The production received mixed reviews and controversially didn’t receive any TONY nominations that season. The production closed on 21 August 2016.
Finding Neverland commenced a seventeen-month US national tour in October 2016. The production starred Kevin Kern as J.M Barrie, Christine Dwyer as Sylvia Lewellyn Davies and Tom Hewitt as Charles Frohman/James Hook.
In early 2016, a West End transfer was announced with Alfie Boe set to play J.M Barrie. However, as of 2021, there have been no updates on this production.
If you haven’t listened to this musical theatre pop fantasy, get on it Besties.
Cast recording available on streaming services.
Whilst I never saw the show on Broadway, I did catch the original production at Curve which was simply stunning, and the today is the lost gem ‘In the blink of an eye’.
FACTS:
Music: Scott Frankel (original) Gary Barlow, Eliot Kennedy
Lyrics: Michael Korie (original) Gary Barlow, Eliot Kennedy
Book: Allan Kneed (original) James Graham
Theatre: Curve, The Lunt-Fontanne
Run: Curve - 22 September – 18 October 2012
Broadway: 15 March 2015 – 21 August 2016 (565 performances)
