“But then, as I met the people who were involved, and they all agreed that they wanted to keep the essence of the story intact, it was exciting to watch them add the elements of a live musical.” Babbitt saw the show during its pre-Broadway run at Atlanta’s Alliance Theater in 2015.Ĭlaudia Shear, who wrote the libretto for the show’s Atlanta run, had not read Babbitt’s novel before being asked to adapt it for the stage. “When I first heard the idea proposed – some seven or eight years ago – I was uneasy,” Babbitt told PW via e-mail. The production, which begins previews March 31 and officially opens on April 26 at Manhattan’s Broadhurst Theatre, has been nearly a decade in the making. The musical’s star, Andrew Keenan-Bolger, also writes middle-grade novels: the second book in Keenan-Bolger’s Jack and Louisa series, Act Two (Grosset and Dunlap), released in February. Based on the classic 1975 novel by Natalie Babbitt, it has been adapted for the stage with a libretto by Claudia Shear and author Tim Federle ( Better Nate Than Ever). There’s one salient takeaway from Tuck Everlasting, the lackluster new Broadway musical based on Natalie Babbitt’s beloved 1975 children’s novel, and it has to do with wardrobe: You can’t trust a man dressed in yellow.Few Broadway shows can claim as many ties to children’s literature as Tuck Everlasting: The Musical can. READ THE FULL REVIEW ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY REVIEW OF TUCK EVERLASTING The story of an 11-year-old girl encountering a… READ THE FULL REVIEW HOLLYWOOD REPORTER REVIEW OF TUCK EVERLASTINGĪ new musical adapted from Natalie Babbitt’s 1975 fantasy novel (which became a 2002 Disney film) is the latest show to arrive on Broadway under the assumption that the appetite for theatrical fare geared to children and their well-heeled parents is limitless. The premise of Natalie Babbitt’s 1975 YA novel was that in an earlier century, a rural New Hampshire family… Immortality, like Krazy Glue, styrofoam and the two-party system, sounds like a fine idea - until you find your fingers stuck together under a mountain of landfill with Donald Trump running for President. READ THE FULL REVIEW DEADLINE REVIEW OF TUCK EVERLASTING If you can ride out the ick factor of that… READ THE FULL REVIEW TIME OUT NEW YORK REVIEW OF TUCK EVERLASTINGĪt the dramatic crux of “Tuck Everlasting,” a 102-year-old man trapped in a 17-year-old body asks an 11-year-old girl to wait six years until she’s legal, at which point she will drink from a magical spring and spend the rest of eternity as his never-aging teen lover. The nearest this small-scale production comes to the kind of spectacle we associate with kiddie bait is a toad… Enter “Tuck Everlasting,” a warm-spirited and piercingly touching musical that has nothing flashy or splashy about it. NEW YORK TIMES REVIEW OF TUCK EVERLASTINGįamily-friendly musicals on Broadway generally come in just one flavor: flashy. Go to relive one of your favorite childhood stories, just don’t expect the timeless tale to have been turned into a Broadway masterpiece. The acting is commendable overall, but the highlight of the show is Terrence Mann as The Man in the Yellow Suit, portrayed as a delightful carnival barker. The plot is satisfyingly streamlined, but subtext has been abandoned to accommodate the big themes and audiences of all ages. Though there are moments of brilliance in the music by Chris Miller, lyrics by Nathan Tysen, and direction and choreography by Casey Nicholaw, the heavy-handed book offers more challenges than rewards. The reviews for Tuck Everlasting are in, and the critics are split…it turns out not all magical stories turn out to be magical Broadway shows. Andrew Keenan-Bolger and Sarah Charles Lewis in “Tuck Everlasting.” Photo by Sara Krulwich/The New York Times
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