Why is Peter Pan usually played by a woman? This piece relates a number of reasons but omits what is to me, an obvious one. Back in the twenties when the play was done often around the U.S., it was not uncommercial to have a cute young lady play Peter and prance around on stage, barefoot and barelegged in an outfit that showed much leg. No one complained it was naughty because it was children's entertainment…but it brought the fathers in.
But despite my love for Cathy Rigby in the role, I've long thought the show is just…sexually confused. Ms. Rigby did a decent job of making you forget she wasn't a he. Mary Martin did not. I loved Mary Martin as a performer but in her Peter Pan, she doesn't look to me like a Lost Boy. She looks like someone's grandmother on a wire. Then there's this song called "Mysterious Lady" in which — let me see if I can phrase this correctly…
A woman plays a boy pretending to be a woman trying to entice a gay man playing a heterosexual pirate who acts rather gay.
The Rigby production cut that number and I think it was a good cut. They also butched Cap'n Hook up a bit so he actually seemed like a villain. I have no trouble with a gay person playing a straight person but I always felt that when Cyril Ritchard played Hook to Mary Martin's Peter, he didn't play it straight enough. Hook's feet touched the stage less often than Tinker Bell's.
I question whether there's a young actor out there who could play Peter Pan and project the innocence (and when necessary, toughness) that the character seems to need. But if they can find such a person, I think that's a good idea. I also think that in the scene when Tink is dying, instead of asking the audience to applaud, Peter should ask them all to Tweet.