Paulus directing "Finding Neverland"

[RippedMan]

Posted: 6/6/13 at 11:22pm

Paulus is joining the creative staff for "Finding Neverland" in the West End. They've added another composer too. This all sounds so messy. I'd rather just have one team stick with the show - composing wise, but adding a mash-up of songs and stuff is going to make the show sound so disjointed. The duo got great reviews for their score for Far From Heaven and Grey Gardens. Let them keep working on it! And I'm interested to see how Paulus does with a show that's a little more commercial and straightforward. Book scenes/songs, etc.
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[ucjrdude902]

Posted: 6/6/13 at 11:25pm

I expect that once Paulus wins with Pippin Sunday night that the original team will "back out" and Paulus takes full control with whoever she selects.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 6/6/13 at 11:30pm

Composing wise? I feel like they're trying to take an "arty" musical and make it more commercial - Bringing in a songwriter from The X-Factor? But it just seems like the wrong tone for this show.

[larrystyles]

Posted: 6/6/13 at 11:35pm

well there goes the heart of the story

[lotiloti]

Posted: 6/7/13 at 4:02am

The three things I thought it needed, when I left the theatre. Was, a rewrite, a new score. Above all, a new director.As far as I could see. The only direction the cast recieved was, go to the front apron when all the set is moving. Apart from that, I thought it had the makings of a great show.

[sparepart973]

Posted: 6/7/13 at 7:46am

The score was horrible. It seriously needed some new songs. Most of the songs were just so bland and generic. For such an emotionally charged story, the score had very few wow theatrical moments.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 6/7/13 at 8:23am

Gary Barlow is far more than the man from the X Factor. He is one hell of a songwriter and wrote pretty much all Take That's songs as well as many for other artists.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 6/7/13 at 10:08am

Gary Barlow has also worked with some theater people in the past (Andrew Lloyd Webber, Jim Steinman, etc.). Not the world's greatest pedigree, but hey, you could do a lot worse.

[jv92]

Posted: 6/7/13 at 11:14am

It's not like Weinstein is bringing in another songwriter who writes for the theater. If he were bringing in JRB, or Guettel, perhaps one could compare this to Bob Merrill coming in out of town during HELLO, DOLLY!. He's bringing in a pop songwriter to augment a theater score, and completely belittles Frankel and Korie's contributions by saying that one of the songs Barlow has written is quite hummable or melodic or whatever he said (And what? The other songs weren't?).

Personally, this annoys me as a fan of the original writers, and as a champion of songwriters who spend their lives writing for the theater. Weinstein clearly doesn't know his ass from his elbow about the theater, except for throwing some money at some shows in the past. Not to mention that he's hiring my least favorite director working in the theater.

If I were Frankel and Korie, I'd withdraw my work and give Weinstein the heave-ho.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 6/24/13 at 10:30pm

"If I were Frankel and Korie, I'd withdraw my work and give Weinstein the heave-ho."

Amen!