I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: there’s never really a bad night at Atlanta’s Fabulous Fox Theatre.
(Except for Evita…which would’ve been awful anywhere!)
We went to see Finding Neverland tonight, and I have to confess: it wasn’t my favorite play. But I really think that’s entirely MY fault, for not doing my homework.
I didn’t know anything about the story itself. I never saw the movie, didn’t read up on it before accepting the tickets, and didn’t know what to expect. I think I was expecting something like a fun trip through Disney’s Peter Pan ride, not a really long story about author J.M. Barrie and the life events that led to the famous tale of Peter Pan.
It was a sweet story, to be sure. The singing was lovely and there were lots of hilarious jokes. The glittery confetti scene pictured below was gorgeous. As a writer, I related to the theme of trying to recapture the playfulness of youth to add new life to your work. But that’s where my sense of connection ended. I didn’t feel moved through any of the more emotional parts of the story. I mean, you should feel something during a scene where a child is mourning the loss of his parent. But the play never did a great job of connecting with my emotions (which could possibly be attributed to the overabundance of drama in my own life lately). It just felt like it all went on a lot longer than it needed to.
My 15-year-old son disagrees with my review. I thought he might have gotten bored, but he said he loved it! Maybe because he’d seen the movie, and knew what to expect, he was able to enjoy it more?
Don’t get me wrong–it’s not a bad play, at all. I don’t regret going (unlike Evita…LOL) although I think seeing it one time is enough for me.
It’s playing here in Atlanta, for seven more shows through Sunday. If you like a love story, with a lot of laughs and a whole lotta singing, you’ll enjoy yourself, I’m sure. The rest of the audience seemed really into it.