Weinstein’s Developing ‘Finding Neverland,’ ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’ And Others For Broadway
HasSpider-Man: Turn off the Darktaught us nothing? Sure, the show making money (for now) but one would thinkall of the negative reactionswould make producers wary of adapting popular properties that need extensive wire work for the stage. NotBobandHarvey Weinstein.The New York Observerreports the pair are actively developing musicals based uponFinding Neverland, Chocolat,Cinema ParadisoandCrouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The furthest along isFinding Neverland, which already has music written byGrey GardensteamScott FrankelandMichael Korieand investors lining up. The 2004 film was directed by Marc Forster and starred Johnny Depp as J.M. Barrie, the man who created Peter Pan. Read more after the break.
The New York Observer reportsthey got wind of these shows when Hollywood premiere planner Peggy Siegal sent out an invitation to potential investors to hear a reading of theFinding Neverland, including the songs.Peter Panhas a very rich history as a musical, both on stage and on screen, so adapting the origin of the story itself makes sense in a weird way.Finding Neverlandwas not a particularly extravagant film, though, and one would assume when mining the Peter Pan character, you’d be remiss not to incorporate some of his more theatrical traits: flying, etc.ChocolatandCinema Paradisoare simple, heart-warming stories that – I guess – lend themselves to the stage.Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragonfits into that mold too but considering how pricey and complicated flying fights were for the team fromSpider-Man(and that’s a well-known property with a built-in audience) it doesn’t seem like a smart business decision to employ the same tricks for the Ang Lee Oscar winner.
Do you think any of these productions will make it to the stage? And are you a little disheartened that, even on Broadway, originality is dead?
