Page Six’s favorite movie mogul — Harvey Weinstein — is in England trying to become David Merrick.
Weinstein’s pulling out all the stops in an effort to become a big-time theatrical impresario with his latest project — a massive new musical called “Finding Neverland,” which begins previews tomorrow at the Curve Theatre in Leicester, England.
It’s based on the affecting 2004 movie starring Johnny Depp about playwright J.M. Barrie and the real-life family that inspired him to write “Peter Pan.”
Weinstein’s dabbled in musicals before, as an investor. He put money into “The Producers” (winner), “La Boheme” (loser) and “All Shook Up” (big loser).
This time around, though, he’s Mr. Hands-On Producer.
“He’s practically moved into the theater,” says a production source. “He’s here all the time. They were doing complete run-throughs of the show for him every afternoon. And then he’d give notes. Lots of notes.”
The official director is Rob Ashford — but Harvey’s sitting right there on his shoulder all the time (that must be some balancing act, literally).
He’s been ordering up all sorts of rewrites, and I’m told that the creators — the talented songwriting team Michael Korie and Scott Frankel (“Grey Gardens”) and playwright Allan Knee — have been chained to their piano and computers, working round the clock to please Mr. Producer.
By all accounts, the famously hot-tempered Weinstein, while demanding, is not throwing things — or people — across the rehearsal room.
He told the Sunday Times of London that bringing up four daughters has taught him patience. Reducing his sugar intake, he added, has also helped temper his temper.
Which is not to say he’s given up candy entirely.
In fact, he’s been in hot pursuit of one Nick Candy, who, with his brother Christian, is one of the biggest property developers in London. Their net worth is somewhere near $1.5 billion. Weinstein, sources say, is trying to get him to invest in “Finding Neverland,” which he hopes to move to the West End in the spring, then Broadway next season.
Candy dropped by a rehearsal of the show a few weeks ago, instantly transforming it into a backers’ audition.
Raising money for “Finding Neverland” hasn’t been easy. Weinstein canceled a production slated for the La Jolla Playhouse last year, partly because he didn’t think the show was ready and partly because the money wasn’t entirely in hand.
Rob Ahrens, who produced “Xanadu,” is running around New York, deputized by Weinstein to raise money for the West End and Broadway productions.
The production is lavish. It’s got more flying than “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” as well as a huge pirate ship that sails out over the audience.
Though Weinstein isn’t the terror he once was, I’m told production staffers were briefed on how to handle him. They were warned not to mention two things in his presence: rival movie and theater producer Scott Rudin and Rudin’s mega-hit musical, “The Book of Mormon,” which opens in London in the spring.
The battles between Rudin and Weinstein are legendary. They duked it out in public over the movie “The Reader,” and screenwriter David Hare told me that watching them nearly come to blows at a production meeting was just about the scariest thing he’d ever seen in showbiz.
When Weinstein quit smoking a few years ago, Rudin — who for my money is the David Merrick of our time — sent him a giant box of cigarettes. (Maybe as an opening-night present for “Finding Neverland” he’ll buy him Hershey, Pa.)
Weinstein, I’m told, would love to go head-to-head with “Mormon” in London this spring. He thinks British audiences will respond better to a musical about J.M. Barrie and “Peter Pan” than a musical about Mormons. He hopes, sources say, to pick up London’s top theater awards.
A tall order. While “Finding Neverland” is still looking for money, Rudin’s “Mormon” racked up more than $1 million in England from a single Amex promotion.
Here’s hoping Weinstein gets his wish and the two shows do battle.
Then we’ll see if the West End is big enough for two David Merricks.