Big Budget and Spectacle Filled, Even When It Doesn't Need to Be

Review: Tuck Everlasting

Andrew Keenan-Bolger and Sarah Charles Lewis as Jesse Tuck and Winnie Foster in Tuck Everlasting.

Tony-winning director/choreographer Casey Nicholaw certainly seems to know what the people want. He is behind two of the biggest Broadway hits of the past 10 years, The Book of Mormon and Aladdin, and his most recent effort Something Rotten has proven surprisingly popular with both critics and audiences. All three shows share a similar tongue-in-cheek style of humor and an affinity for big song-and-dance production numbers that invoke the modernized spirit of Golden Age Broadway. So while it is admirable that Nicholaw has chosen to stretch himself with the decidedly more introspective and character-driven Tuck Everlasting, his natural instincts are at such odds with the material that this visually sumptuous but emotionally unsatisfying jumble of a show won't fully satisfy fans of either style of musical.

Based on the award-winning 1975 children's novel of the same name, Tuck Everlasting opens with 11-year-old Winnie Foster and her family still in mourning over the death of her father. Since the socially required yearlong mourning period hasn't passed, Winnie finds herself relegated to her house when all she wants to do is get out and explore the world. One night she sneaks out of the house and encounters Jesse Tuck, a 17-year-old boy whose family has a startling secret: they don't age. For the first time in a long time, Winnie feels invigorated by life thanks to her adventures with Jesse, and must contemplate her own mortality and whether or not to forfeit it for a chance to live with Jesse forever.

This fantastical premise opens the door for a surprisingly mature philosophical debate on the benefits and drawbacks of immortality, quite a large question for a family musical to tackle. Claudia Shear and Tim Federle's book handles the issue with grace, keeping the material accessible to children without completely shying away from the story's bittersweet overtones. Unfortunately their handling of plotting and characterization is much more rudimentary, giving us only the broadest sketches of the characters who inhabit this world.

In a better musical, Chris Miller and Nathan Tyson's score would pick up the narrative slack, but here too Tuck Everlasting disappoints. The pair definitely clearly have talent, as evidenced by a handful of charming songs including Winnie's signature "Good Girl Winnie Foster," but is inconsistently displayed here. Miller's melodies can get repetitive and Tyson's lyrics are filled with forced rhymes and poorly worded ideas, shortcomings that are all the more frustrating when other songs in the show lack these problems. Both the book and score can't seem to settle on just how sophisticated they'd like to be, as if scared that becoming too clever will alienate their young audience (this does not seem to be an issue for Tuck's next door neighbor, the exceedingly clever and long-running Matilda).

Muddying the waters even further is Nicholaw's direction, straining and ultimately failing to marry his love of big budget Broadway spectacle with the show's small scale tendencies. Nicholaw repeatedly has his chorus of dancers prancing around in the background during what should be intimate character moments, distracting from rather than adding to the principle casts' performances. And for the amount of choreography present, it is surprisingly generic, with the same handful of moves performed ad nauseam. The show works best when Nicholaw allows the material to speak for itself, such as the simple yet moving Act II ballad "The Wheel" or Winnie and Jesse's first meeting, "Top of the World."

The cast is all charming and likable, even when they are visibly struggling to elevate the material they've been given. Sarah Charles Lewis is quite the find as Winnie, poised and graceful with a pure and lovely voice. Hers is a wonderfully naturalistic, unlabored performance that you wish had informed the rest of the show, as she manages to impress without resorting to flashy tricks. Golden-voiced Andrew Keenan-Bolger is a great foil to Lewis as the forever young Jesse Tuck, matching her youthful energy every step of the way.

Carolee Carmello and Michael Park are underutilized as Ma and Pa Tuck, but do well with what little material they are given. And Robert Lenzi provides a refreshing jolt of mature energy as the elder Tuck son Miles, doing the best job of portraying the emotional strain living forever has taken on the family. As the villain of the story, Terrence Mann is certainly committed to his hammy portrayal, but it is such an odd performance that is never feels either threatening or entertaining, just bizarre.

The show's elaborate production design is certainly pretty to look at, with Walt Spangler's jewel-toned set providing an excellent amount of visual variety over the show's runtime. But while the multi-leveled versatility of Spangler's design is certainly impressive, it ultimately becomes distracting, with every new set piece adding to the production's bloated feeling. Gregg Barnes' costumes are similarly intriguing/off-putting, meticulously realized but bordering on overdesigned. The most successful design element is Kenneth Posner's lighting, which always enhances the storytelling rather than competing with it.

Given the number of high quality family musicals currently playing Broadway, it is difficult to justify the need for Tuck Everlasting. The show is serviceable, but nothing about it seems quite fully formed. No one on the creative team seems to know what type of show they want to make - should it be intimate and character driven or splashy and spectacle-laden? - and that tonal tension is apparent onstage. The youngest audiences members are certain not to care, but more discerning theatregoers can likely find a better family outing among Broadway's many musical offerings (the aforementioned Matilda and Aladdin both spring to mind).

Loud, Boisterous, and Lacking Imagination

Review: Finding Neverland

Matthew Morrison (center) and the cast of Finding Neverland.

At one point during Finding Neverland, the bombastic new musical currently playing at the Lunt-Fontaine Theatre, a secondary character turns to the audience and clearly mouths, "What the f***?" This is supposed to be a comical rejoinder to author J.M. Barrie's fantastical description of the fictional world of Neverland, but also represents the most logical reaction to the spectacle-driven nonsense being presented onstage. The production is so busy trying to impress that minor annoyances like a coherent narrative and a well written score are left by the wayside to make room for more pomp and circumstance, resulting in a musical that fails to coalesce into more than the sum of its disjointed parts.

Based on the 2004 film of the same name, Finding Neverland centers on the creation of one of the most enduring children's tales in all of Western literature, Peter Pan. At the musical's start playwright J.M. Barrie is a well-established fixture of the London theatre scene, yet while his shows are still popular the general consensus is that his best work is behind him. While Barrie struggles to find inspiration for a play he can actually be proud of writing, a chance meeting with widow Sylvia Llewelyn Davies and her four rambunctuous boys reignites the imagination that has laid dormant inside Barrie for years. As the writer grows closer to Davies and her boys, he begins to shape the story that would become Peter Pan's adventures in Neverland, a play so different from London has ever seen that many doubt the show will work.

The understated charms of the film have been replaced here with the kind of pop-influenced histrionics that defined Broadway for a good deal of the 1990s, and the relatively slim narrative simply cannot support the added weight. It doesn't help that James Graham's book has  almost nothing to do with Gary Barlow and Eliot Kennedy's inoffensively generic songs, whose sole purpose appears to be providing a backdrop to the unneccesarily manic choreography by Emmy-winner Mia Michaels. None of the musical numbers succeed in illuminating character or conveying any emotion other than a vague desire to please, and even that is quickly drowned out by the overly applified orchestra that lords over the evening's proceedings. It's not that the songs are bad so much as they are unmemorable, to the point where the majority of them are forgotten by the time their final measure has ended.

There are glimmers of an interesting idea here and there in the book scenes, but Graham never adequately explores them. Several lines plant the seeds for the core concepts and story beats of Peter Pan, but Neverland never acknowledges this foreshadowing in anything other than a joking way. It would be much more satisfying to see Barrie actively latch on to these remarks about fairies, mermaids, and pirates to construct his story, but as written they seem like a bizarre coincidences rather than deliberately drawn parallels. The musical's first act finale centers around the idea that Barrie must embrace his dark side to give Peter Pan some much needed dramatic tension (and its famous villain, Captain Hook), but since Graham gives no indication Barrie has a dark side before or after this sequence it just seems like a manufactured plot point. The one thing Graham does spend an inordinate amount of time on is anarcharistic, tired meta jokes like having in-story actors ask "what's my motivation" or letting one of the overly precocious Davies boys ask if he'll receive any royalties for his contributions to Peter Pan.

It is frankly shocking that director Diane Paulus, who has helmed outstanding revivals of Hair, Porgy & Bess, and Pippin in recent years, allowed this kind of lowest common denomentator nonsense to take place under her watch. Paulus really should know better, and given her success at disguising the dramaturgical flaws of some of the previously mentioned musicals it is unnerving to see her put something so half-baked onstage. At the same time, Finding Neverland gives the impression that without Paulus at the helm it would be much, much worse, especially taking the aforementioned script issues into account. Without Paulus' bold, visually driven staging the show would be virtually unwatchable.

As is, the production is still difficult to stomach, as watching obviously talented individuals struggle to overcome material that does them no favors is never pleasant. Matthew Morrison gives a perfectly serviceable performance as J.M. Barrie, but is hampered by the lack of interesting material that actual explores the playwright's psyche. A consumate professional, Morrison hits all his marks, participates some rather physical staging and choreography, and sings with a pleasant baritone that does its best to inject emotion into the bland songs. At times Morrison appears to be marking things, although whether that's due to a disdain for the material or sheer exhaustion is difficult to tell (the character of Barrie rarely leaves the stage, so exhaustion is not out of the question).

Laura Michelle Kelly is suitably winsome as the widowed Sylvia, and her struggles with an unnamed illness (probably tuberculosis) bring Neverland as close to genuine drama as the show cares to get. Unfortunately, Barlow and Kennedy have chosen some rather dubious keys for Sylvia's big songs, and Kelly's generally lovely voice doesn't always agree with the notes it's being asked to sing. The role of Barrie's American producer Charles Frohman has since been taken over by Terrance Mann, but at the performance I saw Anthony Warlow did fine work in a role that is more plot device and joke delivery machine than actual character. Teal Wicks and Carolee Carmello are both wasted in underwritten secondary roles, and while the rest of the ensemble clearly has talent they spend so much time shamelessly mugging that they come across as rather obnoxious.

The physical production walks a fine line between ornate and garish, mostly sticking to the former. Suttirat Anne Larlarb's costumes are the most consistently appealing, utilizing a rich, jewel-toned color palate and just enough over the top details to establish a fantastical tone while maintaining a connection to the real world. Scott Pask's set mostly fades into the background, except for a strange clock motif which stands out because it isn't really referenced anywhere else in the design or the show's story.

Finding Neverland clearly wants to be everyone's new favorite musical, and judging by the audience reaction and the robust box office numbers it might even be succeeding. But don't let that fool you into thinking this is anything other than a by the numbers project that struggles and ultimately fails to overcome its pedestrian score and truly atrocious book. There is not enough pixie dust in the world to make Neverland fly, and no amount of stagecraft can disguise that fact. The only thing that takes the edge off a director as talented as Paulus helming something this awful is the knowledge that without her prodigious talents it would have been much, much worse.