Show Finder

Family-friendly musicals on Broadway generally come in just one flavor: flashy. Enter “Tuck Everlasting,” a warm-spirited and piercingly touching musical that has nothing flashy or splashy about it. The nearest this small-scale production comes to the kind of spectacle we associate with kiddie bait is a toad hopping across the stage.
Based on the popular children’s book by Natalie Babbitt, the musical, which opened on Tuesday at the Broadhurst Theater, has been deftly adapted by Claudia Shear (“Dirty Blonde”) and Tim Federle and features a winning, varied score by Chris Miller (music) and Nathan Tysen (lyrics).


------New York Times

With “Matilda” exiting Broadway in January, there’s a new singing pre-teen hoping to generate the same family-audience appeal. But whether Winnie Foster, the main character in the new musical adaptation of “Tuck Everlasting,” can connect with all-ages theatergoers will depend on their inclination for sentiment, moralistic storytelling and a show that’s nothing if not sincere. Those who lean that way will be attracted to the tuneful folk-meets-Broadway score, to the solid performances and to the gentle Americana fable with life lessons intimately told. The show’s warmhearted tale and handsome production values also bode well for a family-centric market, especially on the road.

------Variety

Composer Chris Miller and lyricist Nathan Tysen — who previously collaborated on “The Burnt Part Boys” — wrap the story up in a warm and folksy score. It fits the 19th-century time period. The song “The Wheel” sums up the show in wistful fashion. “You Can’t Trust a Man,” sung by daffy detectives (Fred Applegate and Michael Wartella), lends a jaunty lift. Director and choreographer Casey Nicholaw (“Aladdin,” “Something Rotten!”) provides  a stirring climactic ballet. Past, present and future fuse. It’s the show’s highlight and a relief from busy and distracting dancing by sprites and carnies.

-------New York Daily News