Paulus keeps clunky ‘Neverland’ flying high

If you ever wondered how a director shapes a theatrical production, making a whole world out of someone else’s words and imbuing them with a particular spirit, then the touring Broadway production of “Finding Neverland” offers an instructive lesson. The national tour of the show opened Wednesday, Jan. 18, at SHN’s Orpheum Theatre under the direction of Diane Paulus.

That’s not to say that the production values in this musical are universally high. The synth-heavy eight-person band sounds variously like a karaoke MIDI file and the soundscape for the start screen of a ’90s-era computer game. In terms of digital projections, “Finding Neverland” is yet another casualty of what by now must be a law of physics: If you make frequent use of them, one will inevitably look like a space travel screen saver.

These quibbles aside, Paulus creates an enchanting theatrical universe out of weak songs and plot, which was inspired by the true origin story of Peter Pan. No entrance, crowd scene or scene change merely moves the show along; each device that could be purely functional instead says something new about the London of 1903 where Scottish playwright J.M. (James) Barrie (Kevin Kern) got inspiration for “Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up” from the merry boys of Sylvia Llewelyn Davies (Christine Dwyer) as they played make-believe in Kensington Gardens.

The way a woman pushing a pram whips her head around to glare at James, the way dinner party prattle marches in rhythm with music, the way a servant simply cannot exit the stage until he first performs a flamboyant flourish with a handkerchief — all these inflate the pretensions of Edwardian affluence so that, at James’ mischievous prodding, they’re ready to pop.

As a paean to mischief, to the sense of play, to the wonder and imagination that are all key to making art, “Finding Neverland” excels. It would have been nice, though, if songs, by Gary Barlow and Eliot Kennedy, were allowed to further plot and character, or at least do more than celebrate those virtues, over and over again. Even the song titles read like a thesaurus: “My Imagination,” “Believe,” “Circus of Your Mind” and “Play.”

Less compelling are the human vessels into which the show shoehorns those qualities. It’s supposedly very urgent that James come up with his next playwriting success, but were he to fail, it doesn’t seem as though his producer (Tom Hewitt) or his actors would react with much more than an “aw, shucks” or an “oh well.” Same goes for when James separates from his status-conscious wife, Mary (Sarah Charles), or when Sylvia’s bouts of fatigue lengthen, her coughs turning up blood.

It’s as if the show’s book, in an effort to be family-friendly, underestimates its younger audience members’ capacity to handle stakes that actually matter, to feel real fear — an irony, given that the runaway success of Peter Pan itself derives in no small part from myriad dangers: pirates and a crocodile, Indians and Lost Boys, the possibility that, even when you’re holding the hand of professional flier Peter Pan, the magic might wear off and you tumble to Earth.

Paulus’ direction, however, keeps this clunky craft wondrously, magically aloft.

Lily Janiak is The San Francisco Chronicle’s theater critic. Email: ljaniak@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @LilyJaniak

Finding Neverland: Book by James Graham. Music and lyrics by Gary Barlow and Eliot Kennedy. Directed by Diane Paulus. Through Feb. 12. Two hours, 30 minutes. $55-$275, subject to change. Orpheum Theatre, 1192 Market St., S.F. (888) 746-1799. www.shnsf.com

To see a trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKVVps_9FHA&feature=youtu.be