P
eter Pan is a Johnny-come-lately in the world of fairytales. Early in the 20th century J.M. Barrie (1860-1937) made up stories about a boy who never aged for the sons of a friend. Acquaintances were taken with Peter, so Barrie included him in a passing way in his novel, The Little White Bird, published in 1902. Two years later the Scottish writer, who aspired to be a dramatist as much as a novelist, turned part of that story into a stage play, Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up. In 1911, he turned the play into a successful novel, Peter and Wendy. Although Barrie published many other works of fiction and theater, Peter Pan has become his lasting legacy. (In 1929, he anonymously gave the copyright for the Peter Pan stories to the Great Ormond Street Hospital, a leading children’s hospital in London.)
Barrie helped make a 1924 film of Peter Pan, but two later works truly fixed the character in the public’s consciousness: Walt Disney’s Peter Pan, an animated musical adaptation released in 1953, and a 1954 Broadway musical starring Mary Martin as Peter and Cyril Ritchard as Peter’s nemesis, the poetic but dastardly Captain Hook. (Martin and Ritchard won Tony Awards for their performances.) Studio productions of the stage show were televised on NBC in 1955, 1956 and 1960, firmly placing Peter’s story in the childhood memories of many Baby Boomers, as well as with several of the stage version’s catchy melodies by Mark “Moose” Charlap including “I’ve Gotta Crow,” “I’m Flying” and “I Won’t Grow Up.” (The show had a lot of creative hands: Jule Styne, the composer of Gypsy and Funny Girl, wrote a few songs, and lyrics were provided by Carolyn Leigh, Betty Comden and Adolph Green.)
The Disney version has spawned sequels and spin-offs featuring Tinker Bell that keep that rendition fresh for today’s kids. The stage musical remains immensely popular, including Broadway revivals and national tours in the 1990s featuring Olympic gymnast Cathy Rigby. A live performance of Peter Pan was televised by NBC on Dec. 4, 2014, with Allison Williams and Christopher Walken; it received decidedly mixed reviews. The broadcast replaced the controversial number “Ugg-a-Wugg” — featuring stereotypical characterizations of Native Americans — with new rhythms and words performed with very different choreography.
The show has been staged locally by Cincinnati Landmark Productions at the Covedale Center (2009) and by Cincinnati Music Theatre at the Aronoff Center’s Jarson-Kaplan Theatre (2014). An interesting factoid: The Covedale production featured Brooke Rucidlo as Peter, while CMT’s took the unusual step of casting a male actor, Joshua Steele, in the role. Rucidlo and Steele are married to one another.
The musical is very popular with schools and universities. The University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music presented it just last week in an extravagantly staged and costumed production. Next week it shows up at Wright State University’s Festival Playhouse from March 19 to April 12 with Cincinnati Stage favorite Bruce Cromer (the longtime Scrooge for the Cincinnati Playhouse’s A Christmas Carol and a Wright State theater professor) as Captain Hook.
The mystique of Peter Pan and his creator has more facets. There’s Hook, the 1991 Steven Spielberg film about a grown-up Peter (Robin Williams) who’s lured back to Neverland by Captain Hook (Dustin Hoffman). Finding Neverland, the 2004 semi-biographical exploration of J.M. Barrie’s life (Johnny Depp played the role), has been adapted into a stage musical of its own that will be up and running on Broadway in time to be considered for the 2015 Tony Awards. (Its cast features Glee’s Matthew Morrison and Frasier’s Kelsey Grammer.)
Building on all this history, the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park is about to present another work inspired by Peter Pan: Peter and the Starcatcher. This one is a reboot similar to Christopher Nolan’s exploration of Batman’s roots in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, going back to the beginning and building a new foundation for the familiar tales.
A decade ago novelist Ridley Pearson was sharing the Peter Pan story with his young daughter who wondered how Peter met Captain Hook. Pearson began to weave a fanciful tale of a nameless orphan boy, carted off by evil pirates for dark purposes. That inspired a series of novels that he and Dave Barry (the humorous newspaper columnist who also writes novels and young adult tales) turned into a popular series for Hyperion Books (a Disney subsidiary, for yet another thread weaving together the pieces of Peter Pan).
Peter and the Starcatchers (2004) was followed by Peter and the Shadow Thieves (2006), Peter and the Secret of Rundoon (2007), Peter and the Sword of Mercy (2009) and The Bridge to Neverland (2011). The theatrical version, adapted by playwright Rick Elice, came next, premiering at La Jolla Playhouse in California in 2009. It landed in New York City two years later, first off-Broadway, then in a critically acclaimed Broadway run that earned five Tony Award nominations.
Artistic Director Blake Robison is staging the Playhouse production, which opens this week. The show fits well into his effort to present family-friendly productions — plays that appeal to multi-generational audiences. Robison says, “A good family play is like a Pixar film: accessible and sophisticated, funny and emotional, filled with physical humor that appeals to kids and language-based humor for more literary-minded adults. Peter and the Starcatcher is all that and more.”
Robison especially enjoys how backstories of iconic characters are assembled. “In much the same way that Wicked makes you watch The Wizard of Oz differently, Peter and the Starcatcher shines new light on the boy who refused to grow up,” he says.
Since Peter’s roots began in J.M. Barrie’s storytelling more than a century ago, it seems only fitting that this new rendition should build on that tradition. ©
PETER AND THE STARCATCHER continues through April 4 at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. Tickets and more info: cincyplay.com.
