The Search For A Musical ‘Neverland’ Finds A Home At The A.R.T.

Producer Harvey Weinstein certainly got what he was looking for from Diane Paulus — a successful replanting of his movie Finding Neverland as a Broadway-bound musical. And the American Repertory Theater artistic director got something in return — a chance to show, as she did with Hair and Pippin, that she brings a remarkable sense of brio and creativity to material that would be trite without such treatment. That doesn’t make Finding Neverland a fully fledged artistic success, if art is what you’re looking for at the A.R.T. Am I sounding like one of those snooty actors whom J.M. Barrie — or more precisely book writer James Graham — makes fun of in the musical, actors who want to play Richard III rather than Nana, the dog? I don’t mean to be. Finding Neverland (through Sept. 28 at the Loeb Drama Center) is an enjoyable musical, from start to finish. It’s well-cast, even better sung and marvelously choreographed by Mia Michaels. Scott Pask’s set design is an elegant mixture of realism and fantasy. There’s very little not to like, despite the feeling, somewhere in the midpoint of the 2 ½ hours, that you might want to shout, “OK, I get the point. We should be more like children and play more.”