‘Tuck Everlasting’ Broadway Review: Why Immortality Isn’t What It’s Cracked Up to Be

Nothing gives us a better glimpse of eternity than this musical’s lax narrative, generic performances, and endless ballet

tuck everlasting
Photo: Joan Marcus

Imagine a vampire story where the undead are really nice people and would never think to bite anyone. That pretty much sums up the suspense and excitement delivered by the new musical “Tuck Everlasting,” which opened Tuesday at Broadway’s Broadhurst Theatre.

If immortality is so awful here on earth, why do people pray for it before they die? Neither the musical nor its source material, Natalie Babbitt’s much-lauded children’s book, asks that question. The show’s first act, as written by Claudia Shear and Tim Federle, finds it necessary to ask all sorts of other less interesting questions.

Long ago, a family of four hiked through a forest and drank some spring water that gave them eternal life.

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