This Year's NBC Musical... — Page 5

If it's a male for Peter, then it would be fun to have a woman Hook. Bette Midler would be my choice. Could be fun.

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Kristin Chenoweth is pretty much perfect for it. She even has the hair.

I've read a couple of times on this board misinformation about the origins of PETER PAN and that Barrie always 'intended' the role to be played by a boy, etc. To set the record straight, that is simply not true.

Perhaps people are confusing Barrie's relationship with Michael Llewyn Davies - the inspiration for Peter Pan as he first briefly appears in a novel that predates the play called THE LITTLE WHITE BIRD with the idea that Barrie actually wanted a boy to play the role on stage, but its not so.

Barrie wrote the play specifically for American actress Maude Adams who had become a Broadway star in 1897 with the adaptation of his novel THE LITTLE MINISTER. It was the decision of Charles Frohamn (who produced the original production of PETER PAN in both London and New York) to premiere the show in London first, which meant that British actress Nina Boucicault became the first Peter Pan. For the record, Dollypop, Frohamn produced THE LITTLE MINISTER and all of Barrie's works and agreed to produce PETER PAN before even reading it. Barrie never 'shopped' the property to other producers.

But make no doubt about it, the play was written for Maude Adams, and the correspondence that exists between she and Barrie stemming back to early 1904 and Barrie's earliest ideas for the play as he was crafting it for her have been published in many sources.

Adams never made a film, but despite retiring from the stage in 1916 had been very keen to star in a film version of PETER PAN and invested huge amounts of her personal money into the development of lighting and early color film techniques, which when she failed to obtain a patent on them, were promptly stolen by GE Electric.

Barrie DID briefly mention in 1921 at the time of penning an unused screenplay of PETER PAN that he loved the idea of Charlie Chaplin playing Peter on film - but by 1924 when the film was actually made he reverted to insisting the role be played by a woman.

In short -- Barrie never wrote or expressed interest for the play to be performed with a boy in the title role. It was simply a convention of the time that all boys roles on stage were played by women and that was what was in his head when he wrote the play specifically as a star vehicle for Maude Adams. Even when they were child roles played by actual children - and there were many children acting on stage in 1900 in London -- boys roles such as Little Lord Fauntleroy (a hugely popular stage play in the late 19th century) were always taken by females. Barrie never would have thought twice about it.

Ironically, in the first draft of PETER PAN, Captain Hook was a woman. Not a lie.

Updated On: 1/19/14 at 08:54 PM

First of all, you lifted that word-for-word from some person's response in a Yahoo Answers forum: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070621162958AAb6z7d

That's embarrassing and illegal enough. But beyond that, the REAL answer has nothing to do with labor laws. It all has to do with the kernel of inspiration from what's known as the "principal boy" in traditional pantomime theatre. I would encourage you to locate a copy of the Midsummer Magazine profile from 2000 that explains in greater detail (can't find it online).

ETA: my post was to South Fl

Updated On: 1/19/14 at 08:57 PM

Smee? Just shut up, she's amazing.

Updated On: 1/19/14 at 09:19 PM

"PETER PAN (at least this version) is nowhere near that popular to "Middle Americans." They'll also likely have trouble finding a male star with the same wide appeal that is willing to play Peter Pan. "

I could not disagree more on every point made here. Time will tell, I guess. Numbers don't lie.

I am a regular visitor to the Maude Adams House here on Long Island. I stayed there overnight only a few weeks ago and based my comments in this thread on some of the information I have gained by thumbing through books that are in the library there. At this point I couldn't tell you what information I got from which book, but they are the source of my post.

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It was going to be Rodger and Hammerstein's "Cinderella" but....when they couldn't get the schedule to work for Mary J Blige to play the Fairy Godmother they had to move on.

WHATTT?!?! That would have been perfect! Maybe it'll work out next year, depending if Peter Pan is successful.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I just don't think this version of Peter Pan is well-known among the younger generation. When Peter Pan is mentioned, I think most people would think about the Disney movie first. This is the same population that had no idea Sound of Music was a play before a movie, and that show is one of the most performed musicals in schools and community theaters. I don't even think most people know Peter Pan was actually a play before it became a Disney film. I remember an instance when classmates were shocked to find out Disney's The Little Mermaid was based on a fairy tale.

Besty, I have to imagine that "Uga Wug" is a song that could go on the chopping block. That's one song I could never stomach.. Not because it's politically incorrect, but just because it felt so pointless to me. Though I understand it fleshes out Tiger Lily and better familiarizes us with the Indians. Still, the song could be easily replaced with a brief book scene.

They could even keep the dance section of it. But the lyrics either have to be cut or changed. And so do a lot of the Indian scenes, dialog, and dialect.

They don't have to make it "authentic" like Dances With Wolves, but they can't make it a red-skinned minstrel show, either.

I wish them luck with that.

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I thought Patti Columbo's authentic interpretation of Ugga Wug was spot on. But I could see it easily cut for the broadcast. I wonder if they'll do mysterious lady or marooners rock?

You mean Hugh Jackman.