6abc Loves The Arts: Finding Neverland

Broadway Philadelphia is bringing the smash hit musical Finding Neverland to town, just in time for Thanksgiving.

Finding Neverland is the Broadway spin on the Academy Award-winning film of the same name, and it's the behind-the-scenes story of how one of fiction's most beloved characters came to be.

"Everyone knows the story of Peter Pan," says actress Crystal Kellogg. "But what people don't know is how it was created."

Finding Neverland is about the real-life family who inspired playwright J.M. Barrie to pen the enchanting tale of a boy who never grows up.

"It's really about how he is inspired by this mother, Sylvia, and her four kids, her four boys," Kellogg explains. "They kind of inspire him and allow him to kind of open up and use his imagination and create and play."

The show is set in London in the early 1900's and follows Barrie's life as he strives to become a successful playwright.

"It's sort of a mixture of reality and fantasy," says Fran Egler, Director of Programming & Presentations at The Kimmel Center. "Little bit of a tearjerker based on the film with Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet, but it's a wonderful story."

"It's got a little bit of everything for everybody," says Kellogg who plays Barrie's wife, "she's a part of the high society that he doesn't really fit in with."

Audiences will also see some of the make-believe adventures the boys created, escapades that sparked Barrie to conjure up the magical world of Neverland.

Kellogg describes one particular nursery room scene, "All the boys are jumping on their beds and all the sudden the music stops and all the boys are lifted into the air and there's tons of stars and it looks like they're flying."

The musical was created by the team behind Chicago, Pippin and Shakespeare in Love.

After 17 months on Broadway, where it earned Broadway.com's Audience Choice Award for Best Musical, the show is now on a nationwide tour.

"The show really is about bringing the kid out in you," says Kellogg, "and that it's OK to be a kid."

Broadway Philadelphia's Finding Neverland runs November 21-26 at The Academy of Music.

For tickets and show times go to www.TheArtsInPhilly.org

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