Four young boys fidget on a couch in Cambridge, one clutches a lunchbox, another a backpack. Not yet in their teens, they already have seven Broadway shows between them.
Aidan Gemme, Hayden Signoretti, Alex Dreier and Sawyer Nunes are the children behind the American Repertory Theater musical “Finding Neverland.”
The Broadway-bound show, directed by Tony-winner Diane Paulus and backed by producer Harvey Weinstein, is based on the film of the same name starring Johnny Depp. The musical follows playwright J.M. Barrie as he struggles to pen a successful a hit show in 1904 London. Amid the adult pressures of a failed marriage and a string of previous stage flops, widow Sylvia Llewelyn Davies and her four sons spark his inner child, inspiring him to write “Peter Pan.”
“Personally, I wouldn’t be able to call it just a comedy or just a drama,” said Gemme, 11, who plays Peter, the inspiration behind Barrie’s Pan. “There’s a little bit of both, which kind of makes it fun.”
The boys say the show, which had its world premiere at ART on Aug. 13, has been a roller coaster of ups and downs as the creative team behind it tinkered with line, music and scene changes. “We’d come to rehearsal and they’d be like, all right, change 50 pages in your script, please,” said Signoretti, 12, who plays Jack. “It gives you a headache, but once it was frozen, it’s amazing fun.”
“Finding Neverland” will close Sept. 28, but the boys hope to be part of the future Broadway production in March — although the cast is not yet set. “That is a mystery,” said Nunes, 12, who plays the oldest son, George. “If we do happen to continue on, that’s awesome, but it’s a whole ’nother different adventure.”
All four boys had an interest in theater at a young age, and quickly procured management, but Dreier, 11, who plays Michael, the youngest son, found his biggest challenge in making it to the stage was convincing his parents. “They were like, ‘No, no,’ ” he said. “Because they’re tax lawyers and they wanted me to be a tax lawyer, too.”?
But with encouragement from his preschool teacher, his mom took him to see a manager, who quickly accepted him. “I started going on auditions, and they never really told me there was anything after auditions,” he said. “Then when I got Billy Elliot (the Musical), my mom was like, ‘What did I do?’ ”
Though his parents no longer push for him to be a tax lawyer, Dreier said education is still the number one priority, and despite a hectic schedule of rehearsals and shows, all four boys are still able to attend school regularly. “There are lots of nights spent doing homework at the theater,” Signoretti said. “You have to be on top of it.”
“Finding Neverland” is a crowd favorite, but got mixed reviews from critics. Though, Signoretti said he keeps up with them, Nunes and the others tend to avoid them. “I try not to read any of the message boards and those kind of reviews,” Nunes said. “It ruins the whole magic of the show.”