Gary showers pixie dust on Pan musical

THE musical Finding Neverland is to be overhauled — again — before it flies into the West end.

The show — based on the novel by Allan Knee and the film that starred Kate Winslet and Johnny Depp, about J. M. Barrie’s inspiration for writing Peter Pan — has been through at least three iterations since it was launched five years ago in Leicester, where it was a disaster.

The show then ran on Broadway, and is now in Los Angeles, during a U.S. tour.

It was due to have opened in London this summer, but for a variety of reasons has been postponed. It’s hoped it will be ready for 2018, or early the following year.

After Leicester, Gary Barlow and playwright James Graham were contracted to revamp Neverland, and to a certain degree they have succeeded. At least there are now some hum-able songs — four of which I like a lot.

But Barlow and Graham are going to be asked to work even harder: to come up with some new numbers, and to rewrite and sharpen the show’s book, paying particular attention to removing any Americanisms that would stick in the craw of British audiences.

There’s also the delicate nature of the relationship between Barrie and the Llewelyn Davies boys (who prompted him to write Peter Pan), and how to put that across without it seeming creepy.

The elaborate staging by director Diane Paulus and strangely out-of-keeping choreography by Mia Michaels (I grimaced at each and every dance step she created) are likely to be ditched.

It’s not yet known whether the pair would remain with a London production, or be replaced.

One suggestion would be to bring in a British ‘show doctor’ to work alongside Ms Paulus. Frasier star Kelsey Grammer, who had the joint role of Barrie’s producer, Charles Frohman, and Captain hook in the Broadway show, told me: ‘The plan had been to open in London this year, but they’re going to work on some changes and I’m hoping I’ll be in London with Finding Neverland next year.’

Neverland’s producer, harvey Weinstein, could not be reached for comment.

however, I do know that he liked The Girls musical (another Barlow project) which opened to acclaim and rave notices at the Phoenix Theatre in London last week.

OVER a seven-day period, The Girls took in a staggering £1million at the box office, breaking all previous Phoenix Theatre records.

There’s chatter that Weinstein might meet with Tim Firth, The Girls’ director, writer and collaborator (with Barlow) on songs, to seek advice about Neverland.

It certainly couldn’t hurt. They need to find that second star on the right. Otherwise there’s little point in bringing the show to the West end.