Carolee Carmello will return to Finding Neverland

Three-time Tony nominee Carolee Carmello is set to return to the Broadway production of Finding Neverland at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre from 5 July 2016. She reprises her role as Madame du Maurier from Sally Ann Triplett, who will play her final performance on 3 July.

Ms Carmello was last seen on the Great White Way as Mae Tuck in the short-lived Broadway premiere of Tuck Everlasting.

The principal cast currently includes Tony Yazbeck (J.M. Barrie), Laura Michelle Kelly (Sylvia Llewelyn Davis), Paul Slade Smith (Charles Frohman), Sally Ann Triplett (Madame du Maurier), Dana Costello (Mary Barrie), Christian Michael Camporin, Alex Dreier, Jackson Demott Hill, Jack McCarthy, Christopher Paul Richards and Eli Tokash (The Llewelyn Davis Boys).

Finding Neverland, directed by Diane Paulus, began previews on 15 March 2015 at Broadway's Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, before an official opening on 15 April, and will play its final performance on 21 August 2016.

Finding Neverland features a book by Olivier Award nominee James Graham, with music and lyrics by Grammy Award winner Elliot Kennedy and Gary Barlow, UK songwriter and member of popgroup 'Take That.'

Synopsis: "When a playwright meets a widow and her four boys in Kensington Gardens, he embarks on a friendship that inspires one of the most beloved stories of all time. Based on the Miramax film written by David Magee, Finding Neverland follows the real-life relationship between the Llewelyn Davies family and James Matthew Barrie as he writes the revolutionary 1904 play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up. This new musical explores the power of imagination to open up new worlds, and the pressures put upon those worlds by the prospect of growing up."

The creative team behind Finding Neverland features choreography by Mia Michaels, scenic design by Tony Award winner Scott Pask, lighting by Phillip S. Rosenberg, costumes by Suttirat Larlarb, and sound design by Tony nominee Jonathan Deans.

The pre-Broadway engagement of Finding Neverland, which starred Jeremy Jordan as J.M. Barrie, concluded on 28 September 2014, after 75 sold-out performances at the American Repertory Theater at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was the highest attended and highest grossing production in A.R.T.'s 34-year history.

Carolee Carmello earned her Tony nominations for her performances in 'Scandalous,' 'Lestat,' and 'Parade.' Her other Broadway credits include 'Tuck Everlasting,' 'Sister Act,' 'The Addams Family,' 'Mamma Mia!,' 'Urinetown,' 'Kiss Me, Kate,' 'The Scarlet Pimpernel,' '1776,' 'Falsettos,' and 'City of Angels.'

- by Tom Millward