Finding Neverland Resurrected?

Finding Neverland starring Julian Ovenden as J M Barrie as Rosalie Craig was tried out at the Leicester Curve a year ago with the hope that it would transfer into the West End but it needed to much tweaking to make this feasible.

But it seems to be rising from the ashes as 12 months later songwriter Gary Barlow, writer James Graham and director Diane Paulus have re-written the show.

It is a musical version of  the film Finding Neverland, which starred Kate Winslet, Johnny Depp and Dustin Hoffman, telling the story of  how J M  Barrie was inspired to write Peter Pan after meeting the widowed Sylvia Llewelyn Davies and her sons.

Gary Barlow told Baz Bamigboye during the interval of a staged workshop in New York (when Laura Michelle Kelly, Jason Alexander and Brian d’Arcy James played the leading roles): They said write a couple of new songs, but I've written nearly 20. Three of the songs by Scott Frankel and Michael Korie remain including  He Makes Me Smile and Neverland.

The creative team are continuing to work on the book and songs, with producer Harvey Weinstein  hoping for a try out next Spring at Boston’s American Repertory Theatre, followed by London's West End and Broadway if all goes well.