NBC's live production of Peter Pan airs December 4 and they're now releasing advance clips and behind-the-scenes footage. I don't like to judge something until I experience the finished product but the promotional campaign for this one is going to make that difficult.
To enjoy Peter Pan, the audience has to do a certain amount of pretending. They have to pretend the post-adolescent female in the title role is a boy who never grew up. And they have to pretend they don't see the wires when people fly.
I've probably seen ten different women play Peter, including Mary Martin on the TV versions. Cathy Rigby was the only one who ever managed to make me kinda-forget that I was looking at an adult woman, though Sandy Duncan came close. The shots of Allison Williams make her look to me like a grown lady — or at best, a grown, slightly effeminate man — but I'll give her the benefit of the doubt.
(Christopher Walken looks and sounds a lot like Christopher Walken. My pal James H. Burns, who sent me this link, wrote, "Is that Chris Walken, or someone doing a Chris Walken impression?" I think these days, the answer is "Both.")
You can find the behind-the-scenes videos on your own. Everyone who has ever promoted a production of Peter Pan has shown footage and video of the actors rehearsing in their flying harnesses but I don't recall ever seeing it before I saw the people fly. That will just make it more difficult to not see the wires when the show airs. The way it's supposed to work is that if you must let the audience in on how the magic trick is done, you let them experience it once before you show them the secret and totally demystify things.
I also don't get why Christian Borle is playing Mr. Darling (the father) and Smee. Traditionally, the same actor plays Mr. Darling and Captain Hook because the father represents a slightly-villainous authority figure to Wendy, Michael and John. So that connects Dad to the truly-villainous authority figure of Hook they meet in the other reality. Smee doesn't have any corresponding presence in their real lives so why have the same actor double in the two roles? NBC can afford one more SAG-AFTRA member on stage.
Despite it all, I'm still looking forward to this telecast. Here's a peek…
