“Finding Neverland” tells the story of how J.M. Barrie created the world of Neverland and its fascinating characters, including Peter Pan.
First premiering in 2012, the show eventually made its way to Broadway in March 2015. Now, it travels all over the country, with its next stop at Texas A&M. The show will play in Rudder Auditorium on Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
Conor McGiffin, who plays both Captain Hook and Charles Frohman in the production, graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in musical theater in 2014, but had a long acting career before that. McGiffin has performed in several professional productions before this, including “Jekyll and Hyde,” “Annie,” “Hairspray” and “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder.” This is his fifth national tour.
“Since I was eight, I was doing children’s theater; then I got my first paid gig at 14,” McGiffin said. “Right out of college, ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ was my first professional gig. I’ve been very lucky to be working steadily ever since.”
According to McGiffin, the cast performs “Finding Neverland” anywhere from seven to nine times a week. Their day starts by traveling to the location of their next performance. They then drop everything off at the hotel and head to the theater of the day to do soundcheck and get ready to perform. But in McGiffin’s opinion, the best part of being in this production is what comes after the performance.
“My favorite part is when we leave the stage door and we see the kids looking for Peter and for Jeff [Sullivan], who plays J.M. Barrie,” McGiffin said. “They’re just so wide-eyed, and you see that the show has touched them. To see that what we’ve done has impacted them in such a positive way, I mean, there’s nothing in the world that compares to that.”
Nine-year-old Brody Bett plays Michael and has been acting since he was six. His first performance was as the grand duke in “Cinderella,” and he has been performing in shows ever since.
“I have always loved music as long as I can remember,” Bett said. “I always sang around the house and played any instrument I could get my hands on. My mom was in a big show band and always took me to her gigs. She would have me come up on stage with her to sing sometimes or help her do raps in some of the songs. I just thought it was a lot of fun.”
As part of the traveling show, Bett said he loves being in a new city every few days because he sees new things and performing in new theaters all the time. However, his favorite part of doing this production is the cast.
“I have grown so close to them and they really feel like family to me,” Bett said. “I am going to be so sad for this tour to end because I will miss them so much.”
Jake Vasquez, recreation, park and tourism junior chair of the OPAS student committee, said tickets for “Finding Neverland” are still available at boxoffice.tamu.edu.
“It’s going to be a really great show,” Vasquez said. “It’s our last show of the season, so if people haven’t seen an OPAS show yet, this would be a great one to come to.”