Matthew Morrison to star in B'way's Finding Neverland
Glee star and Tony nominee Matthew Morrison is heading back to Broadway in 2015 to play the principal role of 'J.M. Barrie' in the Broadway premiere of the new musical Finding Neverland.
Producer Harvey Weinstein said,
We couldn't be more thrilled to see Matthew returning to his Broadway roots and back to the role he created in our workshop. He is wildly talented and a true leading man.Morrison earned a Tony nomination in 2005 for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for his performance as Fabrizio Naccarelli in 'The Light in the Piazza'. His other Broadway credits include 'South Pacific,' 'A Naked Girl on the Appian Way,' 'Hairspray,' 'The Rocky Horror Show,' and 'Footloose'.
Finding Neverland. recently finished its pre-Broadway engagement at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The production will officially open on 15 April 2015 at Broadway's Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, following previews from 15 March 2015.
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. It is directed by Diane Paulus and produced by Hollywood Heavyweight Harvey Weinstein.
"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. It was the highest attended and highest grossing production in A.R.T.'s 34-year history.
The musical's titular song 'Never Neverland' was performed at this year's Tony Awards ceremony by Academy Award winner Jennifer Hudson.
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