Curve confirms autumn premiere for Neverland musical

Finding Neverland centres on author JM Barrie and the story behind the creation of his classic book Peter Pan. With his last play a failure, Barrie is crippled by writer’s block and success seems like a far-away land. But then a chance encounter with widow Sylvia Llewellyn Davies and her four young sons sends his heart and imagination soaring, and their friendship gives birth to a magical tale.

The roles of Barrie and Davies were played on screen by Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet – casting for the stage version is still to be announced, though Julian Ovenden and Gwyneth Paltrow are rumoured to be involved.

Other highlights of the Curve’s autumn season include the world premiere of Obama, the Mamba – President of the Slums (11-20 October), a co-production with The Lowry centring on the US President’s Kenyan half-brother George Hussein Obama.

Written by Kevin Fegan and directed by Kully Thiarai, the play, about the “self-styled Third World President of Africa’s most lawless slum”, is timed to coincide with the forthcoming US presidential election.

The season will also see the UK premiere of Australian comedian Glynn Nicholas’ “brutally frank and seriously funny” Certified (20-29 September 2012), and visits from the award-winning productions One Man, Two Guvnors (25 October to 3 November) and Some Like it Hip Hop (13-14 November).

The Christmas show will be a new production of Hello, Dolly! (30 November 2012 to 12 January 2013), directed by Curve artistic director Paul Kerryson.

Jerry Herman’s classic musical comedy centres on the adventures of a professional matchmaker and contains numbers such as “Put on Your Sunday Clothes”, “It Takes a Woman” and the title number.

Kerryson will also helm a revival of Joe Orton’s dark comedy Entertaining Mr Sloane, which runs from 1 to 24 November.