Peter Pan is a timeless story! Barrie always wanted a boy to play Peter. A high tenor could pull off the part. You'll need someone in the baritone range for Hook. If you have someone who is good at transposing, it's a tremendous help!
We did the full 1954 Broadway musical at our middle school in 2007; we used ZFX for flying. At the time, they just flew Cathy Rigby; they were fantastic to deal with!
We had over 70 middle schoolers in the cast; our ensemble was superb!
We did the show as scripted; no changes! We had no issues. Everyone knew that the character of Peter had a vivid imagination; whatever he thought of would happen! He had no understanding of reality. Life was one big adventure to him! We educated our cast and crew as to how Barrie wrote the source material and how Charlap, Leigh, Styne, Comden, Green, and Robbins approached the musical version.
I totally agree with with the blurb that Krista Carson Elhai posted on this thread. Producing classic Broadway shows lends itself to educating people. Peter Pan is a period piece. I'm against "modernizing" it, cutting it, being afraid to produce it as is. This cheats the cast, crew, directors, and audience out of experiencing history.
Don't be afraid of Peter Pan! It's a wonderful musical! Produce it! Educate with it! Have fun! Life is an adventure!
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Thomas Cole
Bay City MI
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-25-2018 00:33
From: Krista Carson Elhai
Subject: Peter Pan Pros and Cons
We produced Peter Pan two years ago. It was a huge technical challenge, but ZFX was incredible and my tech kids had a great time with lots to challenge them. It is a large draw for families of all ages.
Attaching a few pictures. We went with a twist on the traditional concept.
Here is the blurb we put in our program to address the Indian characters. Feel free to use/edit/steal from it. It kept the anticipated complaints from coming in, and several audience members thanked us for addressing the issuing.
Peter Pan first comes on the literary scene as early as 1902 and has since been adapted into many literary and stage versions. The world was a very different place over a hundred years ago and so we must keep in mind that societal ideals have obviously changed and "norms" in 1902 are no longer common place. Peter Pan is a "period piece;" a piece of art, theatre, or music, that is extracted from a certain era to give us a picture of society and life at that time and thus to modify a period piece would, in a way, be a bit like modifying history. Turn of the century Europe was fascinated with the romanticism of the "American Wild West" and so "Indians" were common in the literature of the time including Peter Pan.The directors have chosen to adhere to the original script in referring to Tiger Lily and her peers as "Indians," despite its known inaccuracy, because, first, we are under contractual agreement not to alter the script; second, it is only through the accurate portrayal of history that we can see how far we have advanced as a society and how much further we still need to go. It is impossible to learn from history if we rewrite the narrative. This topic was addressed with the cast early in the creative process so that open, honest, and mature conversations could be had during rehearsals.
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Krista Carson Elhai
CA Educational Theatre Association, President
Theatre Director
Claremont HS
An International Baccalaureate World School
Claremont CA
Original Message:
Sent: 04-23-2018 08:39
From: Kaelynn Earnest
Subject: Peter Pan Pros and Cons
Hello Everyone,
I'd like to hear some other opinions about the pro's and con's of Peter Pan.
We are having a particularly difficult time choosing a musical for next year. The criteria we are working from are these
- Need a strong role for a really great tenor
- Very few male solos, besides our leading tenor. (we are thin next year in terms of male students)
- Opportunities for huge ensemble: we try to cast 50+ students, but I like to split my ensemble so they aren't all on stage at the same time. However, I also don't like to have students that are only on stage like twice, so we like shows with lots of ensemble numbers.
- We just did Godspell, Zombie Prom, and Beauty and the Beast, so I'm looking for something of a different style, so the students are exposed to variety.
Currently the top of my list is Peter Pan, because I think it fits what I'm looking for, especially if I can cast Peter Pan with a boy. However, my tech director is really against this show, because of the "Indian" roles. I've spoken with a representative from the Native American Arts Council to inquire about making the show more politically correct. However, that representative wasn't familiar with the show, so his advice wasn't thorough.
Any pros or cons to the show, or other suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks!
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Kaelynn Earnest
Teacher
Rockford Public Schools
Grand Rapids MI
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