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The show, which opened on Wednesday night at the
Lunt-Fontanne Theater, follows the friendship of Scottish
playwright J.M. Barrie and the British family that inspired his
story about a boy who could fly and who never wants to grow up.
It is Weinstein's first turn as chief producer in musical
theater. He reworked the 2012 version of the show that premiered
in England and is based on the film of the same name starring
Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet.
"What is most striking is how a show about the power of whimsy
and imagination is so lacking in both," said the New York Post
newspaper.
"This 'Neverland' is most charming in subdued moments, when the
emphasis is on human connection, and eventually, loss," said USA
Today.
Directed by Tony winner Diane Paulus, the show features music
and lyrics by Gary Barlow of British pop group Take That and
Eliot Kennedy.
Matthew Morrison, of the hit TV series "Glee," plays Barrie with
a convincing Scottish accent. The playwright is suffering from a
career slump when he meets the widow Sylvia Llewelyn Davies and
her young sons in a London park.
English actress Laura Michelle Kelly is the boys' mother, and
"Frasier" actor Kelsey Grammer takes on the dual roles of
Barrie's American theatrical producer, Charles Frohman, and
Captain Hook.
The Daily News newspaper found Morrison "impressive in his
easy-going star turn" as Barrie and described Kelly's
performance as "sublime."
"At the core of the show are sensitive, naturalistic
performances from Morrison and Kelly, two accomplished
musical-theater actors," said the Hollywood Reporter, adding
Grammer is amusing as the flamboyant Captain Hook.
The trade magazine Variety praised the show's technical marvels
but said it remained "stubbornly earthbound."
"The lead in its feet has a lot to do with the ponderous lyrics,
but at the heart of the matter, this material doesn't cry out to
be a musical," it said.
With impressive advance ticket sales and enthusiastic audiences,
the show might be critic-proof, said the Hollywood Reporter.
"And good luck to it, if only this family-friendly musical, a
semi-fictionalized account of J.M. Barrie's creation of Peter
Pan, didn't work so strenuously for its meager ounce or two of
charm," it added.
(Editing by Matthew Lewis)
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