Finding Neverland at the Eccles

A couple of years ago, while on a theatre trip to New York, I was able to see Finding Neverland and I loved it so much!  I loved it just as much after seeing it again last night!  It is a beautiful and heartwarming story of how J.M. Barrie (Jeff Sullivan) comes to write the play Peter Pan after Sylvia Llewellyn Davies (Ruby Gibbs) and her four sons help him find his imagination again.  The music is absolutely wonderful (I listen to the Original Broadway Cast Recording all of the time) and every song is staged brilliantly.  I love how Barrie goes to Kensington Gardens for inspiration in "My Imagination," how he and the Llewellyn Davies brothers become pirates in "Believe," how he turns a dull dinner party into an adventure in "We Own the Night," how the people in his life try to get Barrie to act more sensibly in "Circus of Your Mind,"  how Barrie's alter ego, Captain Hook, encourages him to act boldly in "Live By the Hook," how Barrie's acting troupe reacts to his new play in "The World Is Upside Down," how Barrie and Sylvia play with their shadows in "What You Mean to Me," how Barrie's acting troupe rediscover their inner children in "Play," how the Llewellyn Davies brothers use their imagination in "We're All Made of Stars," how Barrie tries to comfort Peter when he realizes that he will have to grow up in "When Your Feet Don't Touch the Ground," and how Barrie brings the play Peter Pan to Sylvia when she is too ill to attend the premiere in "Neverland" (Reprise).  I think the penultimate scene with Sylvia is one of the most magical bits of stagecraft that I have ever seen and I cried once again.  I really enjoyed Sullivan's performance, but I missed the Scottish accent, and his chemistry with Gibbs, who has a beautiful voice, is palpable.  The acting troupe is completely over the top, and a bit cliched, but they are a lot of fun.  The young actors playing the Llewellyn Davies brothers (they rotate from night to night) are delightful and elicited many cheers from the audience.  It is all so enchanting and the message that you should never take life too seriously really resonates with me.  If you can discover your own inner child I think you will really enjoy this musical which runs at the Eccles Theatre through Sunday, Dec. 9 (go here for tickets).