‘Neverland’ at Smith Center takes its time finding the magic in the tale

“Finding Neverland” is based on the 2004 movie of the same name (Courtesy)

“Finding Neverland” is based on the 2004 movie of the same name (Courtesy)

With the help of his alter ego, Capt. Hook (Tom Hewitt), and his pirate crew, writer James M. Barrie discovers the power of his imagination in the musical “Finding Neverland,” now playing at The Smith Center.

It’s a good thing writer James M. Barrie found Neverland. Otherwise, he — and we — might never have found Peter Pan.

“Finding Neverland” — at The Smith Center through Sunday — dramatizes that journey of discovery, but it never quite discovers itself.

It’s a perfectly pleasant time at the theater, with bouncy tunes and pretty pictures and delightful children and a few welcome flights of fancy.

Yet for a musical about (among other things) the power of imagination to overcome anguished reality, there’s something dismayingly by-the-numbers about the entire enterprise.

Not enough to scuttle the ship, mind you, but enough to undercut its emotional impact and render it curiously inert, despite the big emotions it supposedly explores.

“Finding Neverland” — based on the 2004 movie of the same name — whisks us to turn-of-the-20th-century London, where playwright Barrie (a briskly wistful Billy Harrigan Tighe) is at sixes and sevens.

Not only is he suffering from writer’s block, much to the consternation of his gruff American producer Charles Frohman (the amusingly crusty Tom Hewitt), but his marriage to a former actress (appropriately shrill Crystal Kellogg) has lost its enchantment. Assuming it ever had any.

Enter, on an uncharacteristically sunny London day, lovely widow Sylvia Llewelyn Davies (warm, graceful Christine Dwyer) and her darling sons (Ben Krieger, Finn Faulconer, Jordan Cole and Mitchell Wray were the opening night quartet), whose delightfully fanciful play helps ease these lost boys’ heartbreak at losing their father.

Except, perhaps, for the lad named Peter, who’s pretty much given up on childhood — and make-believe. At least until Barrie joins their adventures, which in turn sparks his own imagination and opens his all-but-dormant heart.

So far, so bewitching. In theory, anyway.

Alas, James Graham’s book remains stubbornly earthbound for most of the show, sidestepping the tale’s emotional complexities as it dutifully scatters “Peter Pan” references (Pirates! Pixie dust! Crocodile! Tick-tocky clock!) at regular intervals.

The score, by Gary Barlow (a veteran of the ’90s Brit boy band Take That) and longtime collaborator Eliot Kennedy, is similarly serviceable, if hardly striking. Shifting between pallid power ballads and jaunty, Sgt. Pepper-y pop, the music provides apt accompaniment for “So You Think You Can Dance” choreographer Mia Michaels’ herky-jerky dances.

Director Diane Paulus (a Tony-winner for her all-the-world’s-a-circus “Pippin” revival) does her best to compensate, generating music-hall jollity — and deploying Jon Driscoll’s elaborate projections — until “Finding Neverland” reaches its final, genuinely moving moments.

At that point, the show dispenses with all the distractions, trusting simple yet evocative stagecraft (especially Tony-winner Kenneth Posner’s lighting) to work its magic.

It’s a long journey, but at least “Finding Neverland” finally finds that magic. Before that happens, however, you’ll have to settle back — and settle for the elementary pleasures it provides.

Read more from Carol Cling at reviewjournalcom. Contact her at ccling@reviewjournal.com and follow @CarolSCling on Twitter.