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It’s finally official, Finding Neverland will open in the West End during summer next year. However, this is not the first time that fans have gotten excited at such an announcement. Gary Barlow recently revealed in a podcast interview that the show is currently expected to open on the West End in “summer 2025”. Will fans finally see the show come to London’s theatre district?
Finding Neverland has found its way to opening on the London’s West End again. The first announcement of Finding Neverland opening on the West End was over a decade ago in 2012 when the musical premiered in the UK at the Curve Theatre. The show did well with ticket sales and audience reviews. However, that was the last fans heard anything until five years later in January 2017. Gary Barlow announced the transfer to the West End and expected it to open later that year in August but failed to announce a theatre. With history repeating itself, he has again announced the transfer to the West End for the production but not a theatre. This has left fans hopeful yet sceptical.
Gary Barlow is credited with writing the music and lyrics for the 22 original songs in Finding Neverland along with Eliot Kennedy. He stated in his recent interview:
“It was five years of my life writing that musical. It was a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. It was worth it because I’ve never experienced that before. To sit and watch actors and actresses do your work on stage and to watch audiences be emotional, it was absolutely wonderful.”
The show was adapted from the 1998 play The Man Who Was Peter Pan and the film version in 2004 Finding Neverland. The production made it’s world premiere back in 2014 and quickly transferred to Broadway in 2015. After 17 months, the show closed on Broadway but began a national tour in America the following month.
Featured above is the cast for Finding Neverland.
Finding Neverland features a book by Allan Knee. The score is by Tony Award nominees Scott Frankel and Michael Korie. Choreography was originally done by Mia Michaels and was directed by Diane Paulus. Even with positive audience and critic reviews, the show did not receive any Tony Award nominations.
The UK cast back in 2017 only named Alfie Boe as the leading role of Barrie. No other names were ever announced.
The American cast featured Jeremy Jordan as Barrie with Laura Michelle Kelly as Sylvia Llewelyn Davies. Michael McGrath played the fan favourite Charles Frohman/Captain Hook. Carolee Carmello portrayed Madame du Maurier with Jeanna de Waal as Mary Barrie. Aidan Gemme played Peter. Alex Dreier was Michael while Sawyer Nunes was George and Hayden Signoretti was Jack.
Featured above is Jeremy Jordan with Aidan Gemme.
The story follows the man who created the infamous character Peter Pan, playwright J.M. Barrie. In the opening, we see Barrie sitting with his beloved characters Peter Pan and Tinkerbell. Time quickly turns back to London in 1903. We see him struggling with writing plays and acting out in childish manners. He learns to deal with loss and comes to terms with his lively imagination in the world around him.
Janine has always been a part of music and performing. The first show that inspired her to go into theatre was the Velveteen Rabbit which she saw as a child, and Drew works to keep that magic alive in her work. When Drew was accepted into an internship program for audio engineering at a recording studio, she jumped at the opportunity. That was at the start of 2020, and so much has happened since then, both in her career and in the world. Since then, Drew has taken several opportunities to work at recording studios, concerts, festivals, and even large theatres while spending some time on tour. Drew's favorite by far though, has been the chance to work on Broadways and West End shows, as this was a dream come true. Drew is honoured to get to share these experiences from being inside the entertainment industry.
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