Finding Neverland at ART -- Reviews & Thoughts — Page 2

Except nearly all (or perhaps it IS all) of the creative team has been replaced. From what I understand, this has almost no resemblance to what was seen in the UK.

Does that mean this will succeed? Of course not, but you can't judge THIS production by what you saw in the past.

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"From what I could gather from talking to people who were walking out at the same time I did, DJDan's opinion is clearly an outlier."

I truly wish people were better able to refrain from thinking that they know "most people's" opinions based upon their limited conversations with a limited number of other audience members.

To imply that any differing opinion is an "outlier" is both unnecessarily insulting and rather self-aggrandizing ("I'm aligned with popular opinion! I'm right!")

The show was enthusiastically received by the audience. Why is the opinion of one guy who rushes home so he can post a negative review of the first preview any more valid than that of a dozen theater goers who were raving about the show as they were leaving? His was literally the only negative reaction that I read or heard. The response from the audience was not only positive, but overwhelmingly positive. There is no right or wrong here. Only opinion. And yes, from what I can gather, his opinion is an outlier.

Interesting that the big issue so far on this board was a person playing the dog meanwhile the Globe review says that Thayne Jasperson stole the first half of the show as Barrie's dog

To be fair, the posted review was from a Boston Magazine blog, not the Globe. I do agree with a lot of what she said, though. Particularly about Jasperson. He was very funny.

Updated On: 7/24/14 at 10:15 AM

The writer, Yiqing Shao, is female and has the writing skills of an average high-school sophomore.

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Listen, friends- I don't claim my thoughts on the show are the gospel here. It's an opinion. Nothing more, nothing less. I understand and respect the creative process. I know this show will change a lot between now and it's official opening. I reread my post last night and I don't think I was scathing or unfair. I tried to offer up thoughts on moments and performances that worked as well as what I thought didn't. If you saw the show and loved it, then more power to you.

At the end of the day, I'm not sure who the audience is for this show. I'm not sure there is enough Peter Pan magic to hold a child's attention, and not sure the material is smart enough to work for adults.

All that being said, it's a creative PROCESS. Diane Paulus is a genius. Weinstein has a proven track record. Maybe the show will pull together and be a hit? If it is, that's great for Broadway.

The only thing I know for sure is that the overall experience last night personally left me bored. Take it for what it's worth

"Your own single opinion about the show is what has the most value on a site like this; less so your subjective and possibly illusory impressions of what everyone else thought."

Fair enough. However, I went to this show with a group, and some of the group are theater professionals. This group of friends has a tendency to pick apart elements of a show, especially when it's in previews. (The same group went to the Jungle Book, pointed out what they liked, what they didn't like, and concluded that it was not ready for Broadway.) The conversation is much like that every time we get together to see a show. There is rarely unanimous agreement about every part of the show. Until last night. We all liked it. All of it. Those familiar with the source material acknowledged that turning a sad movie into an entertaining stage show was a difficult task, but gave Diane Paulus credit for pulling it off.

Thanks - phrased like that, I find it much more informative.

"Diane Paulus is a genius."

There have only been three geniuses in the American Musical Theater: Jerome Robbins, Frank Loesser, and Stephen Sondheim. Diane Paulus isn't even a piece of doggy-doo wrapped in a pretty bow compared to them.

I have no desire to see this, and I'm certainly not supportive of it after the way Weinstein threw actual Musical Theater writers to the curb and replaced them with some pop schlock bum. And then he got Diane Paulus involved? No thanks.

I am going to pre-judge all I want. This man doesn't know how to work in the Musical Theater. Turn off your iPad, Harvey.

Updated On: 7/24/14 at 11:04 AM

"There have only been three geniuses in the American Musical Theater: Jerome Robbins, Frank Loesser, and Stephen Sondheim."

I'd add Leonard Bernstein, Bob Fosse, and maybe Hal Prince. Boris Aronson, too.

I'm all for new technology, Kad, and I didn't know about the blackout feature, but I still think a pad and pencil (or pen, if you'd like) would be less distracting.

And newintown, we'll have to have that argument over Bernstein's "genius" status in another thread. I think he went from inspired and brilliant to "important" and pretentious far too quickly.

"How is Mia Michael's choreography?"

I'll admit to not being qualified to judge choreography in technical terms, but simply as an audience member, I found it to be very inventive and original, particularly with the servants' use of dance and movement to add a little whimsy to otherwise mundane (but necessary) stage movement.