Jeremy Jordan and Laura Michelle Kelly star in the new musical that will arrive on Broadway 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.
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." Performances continue through Sept. 28. The A.R.T. engagement is presented by special arrangement with Harvey Weinstein, who will produce the Broadway production.
"We are delighted Finding Neverland is playing to standing room only audiences," managing director Billy Russo said in a statement. "We took a risk and launched the season in July in order to accommodate a nine-week run for the production — which is 50 percent longer than the standard run at the A.R.T. So far audiences have been resounding in their support and have responded in the way that confirms we were right to offer more opportunities for them to see Finding Neverland here in Cambridge."
Read critics reviews of the Boston try-out here.
Based on the 2004 Miramax film about Peter Pan playwright J.M. Barrie, the new version of the musical has a score by U.K. pop songwriters Gary Barlow and Elliot Kennedy, with a book by James Graham (This House). A previous incarnation of the musical, which featured a score by Tony nominees Scott Frankel and Michael Korie, received a 2012 U.K. premiere. 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.
Tony nominee Jordan (Bonnie & Clyde, Newsies, "Smash") plays Barrie opposite Olivier Award winner Kelly (Mary Poppins) as Sylvia Llewelyn Davies.
The 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.
For further information, call (617) 547-8300 or visit AmericanRepertoryTheater.org.
