Finding Neverland Finds Boston's American Repertory Theatre

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 8/29/13 at 9:21pm

Finding Neverland limped out of Leicester a year ago a total mess, with the creative team and producers almost at war.
Twelve months on, songwriter Gary Barlow, playwright James Graham and director Diane Paulus have given the show a complete overhaul.
It’s based on the film Finding Neverland, which starred Kate Winslet, Johnny Depp and Dustin Hoffman, and explored how J.M. Barrie was inspired to write Peter Pan after meeting the widowed Sylvia Llewelyn Davies and her sons.
‘They said: “Write a couple of new songs”,’ Barlow told me during the interval of a beautifully staged workshop in New York on Monday night. ‘I’ve written nearly 20,’ he added. Laura Michelle Kelly, Jason Alexander and Brian d’Arcy James were all sublime in leading roles, and Kathleen Chalfant made her singing debut as Sylvia’s mother.
It’s a transformed show. The earlier piece was written by Americans and Graham has junked much of the mark-I book and layered it with a more intrinsically British sensibility — and it’s all the better for it.
Three of the songs penned by Scott Frankel and Michael Korie remain, including the finely written He Makes Me Smile and Neverland.
The act one finale Stronger, sung by Brian d’Arcy James, is a rousing corker of a song which Barlow thought would be the first single from a proposed album.
The creative team will continue refining the book and songs, and producer Harvey Weinstein has hopes of a run next spring at Boston’s American Repertory Theatre. Then, if it all clicks, it’s onto London, followed by Broadway.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2406205/Taylor-Swift-pens-song-Paul-Potts-film-charting-Britains-Got-Talent-stars-rise-unlikely-maestro.html#ixzz2dPYD0iwm
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[bwayboy22]

Posted: 8/30/13 at 1:24pm

I am personally so excited to see this. I think it has the potential to be really great! I'm also glad Boston is starting to come back as a Pre-Broadway Tryout City!

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 8/30/13 at 3:13pm

I guess it won't be as "big" as was planned, right? With the pirate ship flying out into the audience and stuff? Don't think ART Can handle it.

[mikey2573]

Posted: 8/30/13 at 6:29pm

I thought the movie FINDING NEVERLAND was horrible. It took a strange and fascinating person (Barrie), a true story that sometimes seemed almost supernatural in its odd circumstances and coincidences, and made them both humdrum and run of the mill. Depp did not capture any of Barrie's quirkiness and personality (why did he whisper through the whole movie??).
The more the musical ventures away from the film and closer to the darker, odder, truer tale the better.

For a REAL look at what Barrie was like, watch JM BARRIE AND THE LOST BOYS, a BBC miniseries from the 70s with Ian Holm almost BECOMING Barrie. Someone has compiled some clips of it for YouTube that highlight some of the better scenes:

Here Barrie first meets the Llewelynn Davies boys (the oby playing George is Ian Holms' own son):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9rjCmGPpXA

This series of clips chronicles the closeness between Barrie and Michael, who was his favorite. At the end, they even appear to have a "lover's spat". Brilliant writing and brilliant acting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdwwgDijI0I



This series of clips continues the relationship between Barrie and Michael, including another spat and the heart-wrenching scene when the boys' mother dies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYPYkqm8djk

The whole mini-series (over 5 hours) was meticulously researched by Andrew Birkin, who turned the whole thing into a haunting biography, JM BARRIE AND THE LOST BOYS: The Love Story That Gave Birth to Peter Pan.

http://www.amazon.com/J-M-Barrie-Lost-Boys/dp/0300098227/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377901680&sr=8-1&keywords=andrew+birkin

"A psychological thriller... one of the year's most complex and absorbing biographies." Gerald Clarke, Time
"A terrible and fascinating story." Eve Auchincloss, Washington Post
"Positively the most captivating book I have read in years." Margaret Forster, Evening Standard
"My most unforgettable read of the year." Ronald Blythe, Guardian

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/30/13 at 6:41pm

I have seen the ART put a life size Guggenheim rotunda onstage all in the service of a lesser Paul Rudnick play. I have seen the ART put a climbable mountain and a babbling river onstage for Alcestis.

The issue for me is the ART is a non-profit taxpayer-funded institution that begs for money from citizens, assures them that ticket prices alone do not begin to cover the cost of, say, the goo beneath The Glass Menagerie, and then ship the productions off to New York, quickly turned into commercial productions, where certain people and her husband suddenly make bank.

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 8/30/13 at 6:59pm

I would hazard a guess that Porgy and Bess, The Glass Menagerie and especially Pippin would be all money spinners for ART.

The team that brought you Pippin are also bringing you Finding Neverland, who are well in with the Broadway in crowd at the moment, Diane Paulus cannot put a foot wrong at the moment, so for that reason that's why this will land on Broadway sooner than later.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/30/13 at 7:05pm

I don't know what your phrase money spinners means but what makes you think ART sees any $$ from these Broadway productions? ("Once" started there too.)

[Jonwo]

Posted: 8/30/13 at 7:17pm

Finding Neverland has commericial producers in the form of Harvey Weinstein so I imagine it won't look cheap especially if its planning a transfer to London afterwards.

[winston89]

Posted: 8/30/13 at 7:34pm

Namo,

I do understand what you're saying about ART, and it makes sense. ART is a non profit theatre that is bringing shows to Broadway without bringing any of the profits of said shows back to said non profit theatre. It's not a practice that I think is right.

However, there was something interesting I noticed. I was looking at the opening night credits for Pippin and noticed that the show is being billed as "The American Repertory Theatre production of Pippin." And, the only time ART is mentioned in conjunction to Once in the credits was as "workshopped at." One thing that I did notice to be interesting though was that Once, Rent and Peter and the Starcatcher (at least for its initial Broadway run, not sure about now, now that it's at New World Stages) listed New York Theatre Workshop as a producer. So, in that case, the original theatre where these shows started out is getting some money back as an original producer. I wonder why ART can't do the same thing.

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 8/30/13 at 7:37pm

Brian d'Arcy James and Laura Michelle Kelly are amazing actors and singers. It would be great if they continued with the project.

Posted: 8/30/13 at 11:53pm

The theater that originates a production almost always gets paid some sort of royalty payment or licensing fee for creating the production. The ART is definitely getting money from the recent commercial transfers of their productions.

Same goes for NYTW for Rent, The Vineyard for Avenue Q, ATC for Spring Awakening, The Public for A Chorus Line, etc etc.

[winston89]

Posted: 8/31/13 at 9:14am

Billy, what you said isn't totally accurate. I know for a fact that NYTW came on as a producer for any of their more recent shows that have transferred to Broadway. Of course these shows are Rent, Once and Peter and the Starcatcher. Even the Vineyard came on as a producer for Avenue Q's Broadway engagement. But I'm not sure about the original production of A Chorus Line. I was looking at the original playbill on playbill vault, and it said that it was the Public Theater production of A Chorus Line, it didn't list the Public as a producer so I'm not sure if they got anything from that show. If anything, they may have lost because they used funds from the New York Shakespeare Festival to mount the show.

Point being is that just because a show has it listed in the program that it started at another theatre, it doesn't equate that theatre getting money from the Broadway production of a show.

[Brick]

Posted: 8/31/13 at 12:33pm

The Public definitely received royalty payments from CHORUS LINE, as Reidel is so often reporting when he criticizes Oskar Eustis' desire to send things from The Public to Bway.

Having a producer credit on the commercial run means they put money into it, so it's possible they receive that money back plus a piece of the profit if it recoups, in addition to the royalty.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 8/31/13 at 12:36pm

I'm sorry, is anyone else pissed off that Weinstein basically gave the bookwriter and original composing team the old heave-ho?

[Kad]

Posted: 8/31/13 at 12:55pm

The royalty chain is strange. Performers in workshops will receive royalties on shows, even if they don't continue to the final product. I have no doubt ART is seeing money- a lot of it- come in from its recent transfers.

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 9/2/13 at 8:21am

The royalty chain is very strange but neverless very intriguing.

I would guess that the Donmar Warehouse made a absolute killing on Cabaret as it run so long in New York and Frost/Nixon as it got made into a major movie, the Donmar originated both of these, so hold a copyright for both production, so therefore would attract a royalty of the box office?

Would Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman still get a percentage of the box office for originating the role of Phantom and Chrisine, in The Phantom of the Opera?

Likewise would kristin Chenoweth and Idina Memzel still attract a percentage of the box office for Wicked?

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 9/2/13 at 6:07pm

Bump anyone?????

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 9/2/13 at 6:07pm

Bump anyone?????

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 9/2/13 at 7:55pm

This will be a real test for Paulus whose hits have all been revivals of established shows,]. Even great directors like Sher have failed big time when developing a new musical. D'Arcy and Kelly are great performers but the original Brit leads seemed perfect to me.