Finding Neverland (Broadway) NYC Reviews and Tickets
Member Reviews (3,011)
See it if a classic for the whole family. Endearing and entertaining.
Don't see it if You don't like sweet children's themes.
See it if You like to be entertained or have guest in from out of town. This is a crowd pleaser that almost anyone can find entertaining.
Don't see it if You are expecting anything to break the most or anything new or particularly creative.
See it if You like a good story. Romantic. NOT a kids show.
Don't see it if You can't get a good seat. I saw it twice. Once from 3 rows from the back, once from the 6th row and it doesn't play as well from the back.
See it if You just want to enjoy a light show with a delightful score.
Don't see it if You can't find your inner child.
See it if you want to see some lovely direction of a Peter Pan origin story & if you can ignore the unfair treatment by major critics & Tony voters.
Don't see it if you're a Matthew Morrison or Kelsey Grammer fan (both gone), but see it for Alfie Boe & Marc Kudisch. And skip it if you're unsentimental.
See it if You are a really big Peter Pan fan, but don't care if Peter ever appears.
Don't see it if You think this might be a good version of the movie.
See it if you're a fan of Peter Pan, origin stories, or imagination. It's a whimsical and emotional story. Ignore the haters. It's a great show.
Don't see it if you're easily influenced by negative reviews or lack of Tony love. Then again, see it, anyway, and keep an open mind.
See it if you're a big fan of Matthew Morrison.
Don't see it if you don't want to see unearned power ballad after unearned power ballad after unearned power ballad.
Critic Reviews (33)
"The stage version of “Finding Neverland” is no replica of the film, though it might have been better if it were. Instead, it heightens the screenplay’s sentimentality, tidy psychologizing and life-affirming messages by thickening their syrup and corn quotients in ways presumably deemed palatable to theatergoing children and their parents. The show brings to mind those supersize sodas sold in movie theaters. Like such drinks, “Finding Neverland” is largely made up of empty calories."
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"Manic, childish applause might cure the poisoned fairy Tinker Bell, but it's not medicine enough for "Finding Neverland", the awkward, garish and manipulative musical based on the 2004 Miramax film about playwright J.M. Barrie and the boys who inspired Peter Pan. Show-doctored into a state of shrill mediocrity, the patient can barely walk, let alone fly."
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""Finding Neverland" purports to be historical: the true tale of how Barrie, inspired by his dealings with the family of Sylvia Llewelyn Davies, created the boy who wouldn’t grow up. It also purports to be a singing-dancing family entertainment. It winds up being neither...Even if everything in it were profound and true, it would still be a mess, suffering as it does from confusion (or willfulness) about what makes a musical a musical."
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"Bombastic and exhausting, the show confuses childishness with an affinity for the child inside, at times recalling "Wicked" in its busily assaultive hyperactivity, but without that show's catchy songs or engaging central character dynamic...A rare blemish on the track record of gifted director Diane Paulus, the show does have a heart-stopping death scene that's both moving and visually spectacularBut the two hours-plus leading up to that moment, more often than not, are a chore."
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"The moments of pixie-dusted perfection come from Paulus’ mind—especially one visually breathtaking moment of swirling, sparkled sadness. When my seven year-old companion (yes, families–this one’s kid-friendly) asked upon leaving the matinee, “Can we go back tonight?” I thought of one of Sylvia’s lines: “You know children. They don’t mince their words.”"
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"There’s not enough flying in “Finding Neverland” — those giddy flights of wit and imagination that make us believe, if not in fairies, then at least that the American musical is still alive and well. Despite the technical marvels that director Diane Paulus brings to producer Harvey Weinstein’s beloved obsession, this ambitious version remains 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."
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"Finding Neverland flies. Occasionally it even soars...It's still too treacly and the tear-wringing ending just goes on forever. But there’s an audience for this show, which is visually cunning and something of a warm bath without being too insulting. It’s not for the Sondheim or the post-Sondheim crowd. It’s a sentimental throwback, unembarrassedly so."
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"A troubled musical that does not quite know what to make of Barrie and his famous friendship with the Llewelyn Davies family...The actual finding in "Finding Neverland" never feels logical. Nor does the score, which often has a rootsy, "Big River" feel and, despite some sticky melodies, remains far removed from the show's milieu. The show lacks a journey."
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