Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: James Graham wasn’t looking for Neverland when Harvey Weinstein showed him the way.
The directions did not include “the second star to the right, and straight on till morning.”
British playwright Graham attracted the attention of the Hollywood mogul for his edgy, politically charged plays in the U.K., and the men had talked about working together on a movie project.
Then, Mr. Weinstein asked the playwright to join his first venture onto Broadway, a musical adaptation of the 2004 film “Finding Neverland.”
4 comments:
The thing I find most interesting about this article is how James Graham went into the entertainment industry with a very particular type of show and media he wanted to produce, and ended up with a giant show that was about as far from that as you can possibly get. Yesterday in our last Cake Everyday class of the mini, we talked about how the class helped us to get away from the box that we have put ourselves in when we focus on declaring and instead to see ourselves as general creators. This article spoke to that idea that when you decide that you are one thing or can only produce one thing, you limit yourself enormously. So much of being successful, especially in an industry like the arts, is purely mental, but as we discovered yesterday, many of the boxes we find ourselves in were created by us. Just as James Graham went from doing highly political and provocative works to an imaginative fairty-tale-meets-reality world for all ages, we can start to see ourselves not just as sound designers or stage managers but as creators and leaders.
I think this is a sweet little stage preview article for a sweet show. I went to see "Finding Neverland" at the Benedum Center just this week and it is truly beautiful and wonderful. Even as a show that is really about the making of a magical world, it is magical in and of itself. I know the article mentions it was not a critical success, but I think that was because of the powerhouse year that was 2015 on Broadway and had little to do with the show itself. I do find it interesting that show is based on the movie and not that both were based on a pre-existing storyline or book. I guess this is becoming more common, but I would have never suspected that "Finding Neverland" was not a stage-play first. I do think it is cool that the James Graham basically found the show in the same way that the main character found the show Peter Pan, by coincidence and a stroke of fate that led to something amazing. That's circular for you.
This article really captures the entertainment industry in a single experience. One can never be sure they will be able to follow through on a concrete plan, because there's so many other opportunities passing by that will be missed if we remain to rigid. This is such a beautiful show to have this happen with too. It's so fantastical and magical and full of opportunity. I'm toughly excited for this show to arrive in Pittsburgh!
I have mixed opinions of the show. The little boy I babysat throughout high school is now playing Peter in the touring company, and though I could not be more proud of his work on this production, I still have problems with the theatrics of the piece in its entirety. I am an open critic about my experiences with finding neverland... I personally don't find the story that intriguing nor the score or scenes captivating. The usage of scenery and projections, in my opinion, are to distract the audience from what is occurring onstage. It really disappoints me that Diane Paulus, the same director who brought us the wonderful revival of pippin, has created one of the mostly poorly constructed shows, in my opinion. This show in my opinion exemplifies what is wrong with commercial theatre- it uses "tricks" and special effects to entertain the audience rather than to further the plot. This production seemed very forced in many different directions. There was no sense of cohesion, rather it felt like there was multiple designers, producers, and directors just waiting for their payday.
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