Wonder: The Musical

Musical (2025)
Book by Sarah Ruhl
Music and Lyrics by A Great Big World (Ian Axel & Chad King)
Based on the novel Wonder by R.J. Palacio and the Lionsgate and Mandeville film Wonder
Music Supervision by Nadia DiGiallonardo
Choreography by Katie Spelman
Directed by Taibi Magar
American Repertory Theater
Loeb Drama Center
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
December 9, 2025 – February 8, 2026

With Garrett McNally (Auggie), Alison Luff (Isabel), Javier Muñoz (Nate), Melvin Abston (Mr. Tushman), Donovan Louis Bazemore (Jack), Kaylin Hedges (Via), Diego Cordova (Justin), Reese Levine (Julian), Skylar Matthews (Charlotte), Paravi (Miranda), Nathan Salstone (Moon Boy), Raymond J. Lee (Mr. Browne), Pearl Sun (Ms. Petosa, Mrs. Albans), Nicholas Trupia (Amos), Kylie MiRae Kuioka (Summer), Maddy Le (Ensemble), Ryan Behan (Ensemble)

Auggie (Garrett McNally) is at the age for junior high school, but has been schooled at home up to this point. He is brilliant and studious, but his face has been severely affected by a genetic disorder and multiple surgeries and he is deeply afraid of being scorned by other kids at school. In addition to his loving mother Isabel (Alison Luff), father Nate (Javier Munoz) and older sister Via (Kaylin Hedges), part of his psychological support comes from an imaginary character, Moon Boy (Nathan Salstone), who wears a space suit and provides constant consultation to Auggie. Seeking comfort and camouflage, Auggie wears a helmet given to him by Via’s close friend, and now his as well, Miranda (Paravi). With the support of his family and the encouragement of Moon Boy, Auggie decides he will try school.

School for Auggie is a trip in all sorts of ways. The principal, Mr. Tushman (Melvin Abston), is a terrific guy who paves Auggie’s way with as much compassion and thoughtfulness as one could hope. Two of the teachers portrayed, Mr. Browne (Raymond J. Lee) and Ms. Petosa (Pearl Sun), are about as fun and as enthusiastic as anybody would want, spitting out all kinds of great lines about themselves and about the projects they are undertaking with the kids. Mr. Browne goes into a whole song and dance about being a former Wall Street broker who found greater meaning in teaching – belting out Precepts, a great song about moral guidelines – and Mr. Petosa is a pure live wire, with all kinds of prompts that help Auggie, intellectually talented and studious, to shine.

Auggie gradually befriends Jack (Donovan Louis Bazemore), a very cool kid who is in demand in the in-group, but who comes to prefer Auggie’s thoughtful company, expressing that sentiment beautifully in Best Friends. However, Auggie is taunted by Julian (Reese Levine) and his buddy Amos (Nicholas Trupia), who won’t let Auggie forget his deformities. To boot, Julian’s mother, Mrs. Albans (also Pearl Sun, who does a great job in two very opposite roles) is head of the school board, and when things come to blows she lets Mr. Tushman know who carries a lot of administrative weight. But Mr. Tushman, a man of true integrity, does not buckle, and when it comes time to address the conflict that emerges between Auggie and Julian, he does so straightforwardly.

In a subplot, Via, who feels that she does not get as much attention as she might due to a variety of factors and sings Around the Sun – which carries both astronomical and familial significances, about feeling inadvertently placed in the shadows – meets Justin, a charming boy who is involved in the school drama club. They both try out for Our Town and score parts, though Via’s is only as understudy to Miranda as Emily, the main role opposite Justin’s main role of George. As well, Via feels that she has newly been abandoned by Miranda and does not know why. All of this weighs on Via until when, later on, Miranda explains what’s going on in her personal life.

Things get more complicated between Jack and Auggie when Halloween rolls around. Jack says something to some other kids when he thinks Auggie isn’t listening but it turns out he has heard what Jack has said and things get emotionally complicated. Auggie is totally thrown by Jack’s comments and does not want to return to school, but eventually does. Things develop (see spoilers section below for more) and Auggie’s issues with Jack and Julian come into vivid relief.

This charmingly simple musical has a particular kind of magic to it which makes it appealing and moving in a very direct way. Its music is straightforward, the lyrics are down to earth and in the vernacular, and the book does not carry any particularly unique surprises. But it is staged, acted, sung and played beautifully and the overall effect is gripping.

I saw two versions of this show – a preliminary “concert” version with limited staging and then the fully staged production with lights, action and a rotating stage. In the fully staged version, Auggie and Moon Boy get lifted in the air by cables and there is plenty of dynamic action. But the concert version, with partial staging, was also very affecting, a compelling indicator of this production’s underlying and pervasive qualities.

Clearly, what makes this show striking is the contribution of a whole range of young actors who play the parts of the kids surrounding Auggie. They are are terrific in this production and the work that director Taibi Magar and music director Nadia DiGiallonardo have done in preparing them is most evident. Donovan Louis Bazemore as Jack has a wonderful young movie star demeanor, radiating a grace and decency throughout. Kaylin Hedges as Via hangs appropriately between shrinking violet and ready-to-explode adolescent, and when she comes into her own with Justin and in the Our Town related scenes, she brings bright light to her character’s shadows. As Justin, Diego Cordova is also very good, with a gallant charm that carries no pretense. And as Miranda, Paravi offers a sweetly sad complement, radiating with her pink hair and vivid singing a response to her character’s troubles. And in the tough role of Julian, Reese Levine manages to convey the nastiness of the bad and spoiled kid while leaving room for something else to develop.

In the adult supporting roles, Alison Luff is terrific as Isabel, exuding all the maternal warmth for a challenged kid while being unassumingly bold and stylish. She pulls it off wonderfully and with rich voice in You Are Beautiful, her ode to Auggie, and at the end in One In a Million. As Nate, Javier Muñoz has a quirky charm that comes through his goofy jokes, his adoration of Isabel, and, as well, in forthrightness when it comes to dealing with the horrible Mrs. Albans. As Mr. Tushman, Melvin Abston gives a wonderful performance, exhibiting the sort of down to earth integrity one would hope from all administrators, and as the teachers, Pearl Sun and Raymond J. Lee are also terrific, showing exactly how much an animated teacher can do for a passel of kids. If there’s one number that exhibits their group ethos, it’s the unforgettable Choose Kind, about learning what it means to be a person of decency and integrity.

All of these wonderful performances, of course, surround the strikingly moving and affecting performance by Garrett McNally as Auggie, who gives the role his absolute all. McNally is a person with facial differences of the sort that Auggie has and clearly comes to this role from within. He is, in a word, stupendous – thoughtful, articulate, expressive – and full of the sorts of nuanced and intelligent responses one would hope for in this role. McNally exhibits the subtleties of his character in his acting and makes it clear, in every line, what it means to suffer, to rebound, and to bear a courageous stance before a challenging world.

Director Taibi Magar had previously directed Night Side Songs at the ART and showed his complete stuff there. Like that wonderful and moving production, Wonder offers, with a straightforwardness of narrative line and of music and lyrics, a deeply touching performance. Night Side Songs is about coming to terms with illness and Wonder is about living with facial difference, but both shows exhibit their strength with clarity and an affecting straightforwardness.

The music, though thematically uniform throughout, is played beautifully, and the songs, though quite similar in tonality, carry a kind of beautiful comprehensive effect that relies on the honesty and heartfelt-ness of the writing and potency of the production rather than upon the inventiveness of the material. Indeed, sometimes the most simply expressed poems can be greatly affecting, and this is very true of this endearing, moving and beautifully executed production.

Overall: A simply written but straightforward and affecting show, beautifully staged, with wonderful acting all around.

– BADMan (aka Charles Munitz)