I thought Peter Pan Live! was quite skillfully done and while much of America was probably sitting there waiting for something to go wrong, some of us were marveling at how much went right…and how ambitious so much of it was. I thought the direction and staging and art direction and choreography were very good.
So did I love it? No. I admired the attempt but did not love it and some of the reasons were probably just ingrained in the whole idea of doing it at all. I found myself missing the presence of a live audience, and not just at the point where Peter asked everyone to clap and it saved Tinker Bell's life even though most viewers heard between zero and three people clapping. Mostly though, I found myself untransported to the Darling nursery or Neverland. I spent the whole three hours on a TV soundstage somewhere, unable to pretend the wires weren't there.
Most of all, I felt it was way too long, especially around the two-hour mark. They included, I believe, a lot of the show that stage productions have jettisoned. Then again, they had three hours to fill because, you know, Walmart had all that stuff to sell.
Allison Williams is adorable and I never for one moment thought she was a boy. Never thought she could fly, either. Cathy Rigby was visibly on wires too but she looked like she was in control, choosing where to fly and proudly showing off her amazing skill. Ms. Williams just looked like the wires were picking her up from one spot and putting her down in another. I hate to fault her performance because it took loads of guts and hard work to pull it off but Peter needs to have a boyishness and heroism that she just didn't have.
One moment really struck me: The moment when the Lost Boys tell Peter that they've killed "The Wendy Bird" at Tinker Bell's instruction. Williams showed no despair and no anger. Melissa Joan Hart showed more emotion in the Walmart commercial when she thought she was out of wrapping paper.
Okay, so let's talk Walken. I usually love him but his whole performance struck me as one of those Saturday Night Live-style sketches like, "What if Walter Matthau had been in Star Wars?" Or "What if Paul Lynde played The Elephant Man?" It was like they had someone in the cast who did a good Walken so they decided to do the unlikely comedic premise, "What if Christopher Walken played Captain Hook?" It wouldn't have differed much from what we got.
I think he really stopped being Hook for me when he started dancing. It's hard for Captain Hook to be an evil bastard when he's also a great hoofer. The monotonous delivery didn't accomplish much aside from inspiring thousands of Tweets saying he needed More Cowbell.
Some of the songs were fine. The "Ugga Wugg" number was so much better with everyone muttering in Yiddish instead of doing faux Indian gibberish. Switching out of Sarcasm Mode, "Distant Melody" was actually pretty good, sung well by Taylor Louderman, and I liked "I Won't Grow Up" a lot and "Hook's Waltz." Okay, fine. But such moments were just too few and far-between.
Peter Pan has always been a show with a very special duty: Done right, it's a great way to introduce young kids to the concept of musical theater. I'd love to think this production will inspire another generation of playgoers but I don't think so. Oh, well. Maybe that's what Glee is for.