''Peter Pan'' is a 1950 musical adaptation of
J. M. Barrie's 1904 play ''
Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up'' with music and lyrics by
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein ( ; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first America ...
; it opened on Broadway on April 24, 1950.
This version starred
Jean Arthur as
Peter Pan,
Boris Karloff in the dual roles of
George Darling and
Captain Hook, and
Marcia Henderson as
Wendy.
The show was orchestrated by
Trude Rittmann
Gertrud Rittmann (24 September 1908 – 22 February 2005) was a German Jewish composer, musical director, arranger and orchestrator who lived and worked for much of her life in the United States. Her career particularly flourished with major succ ...
and
Hershy Kay and conducted by
Benjamin Steinberg. The show ran for 321 performances, closing on January 27, 1951.
The production was initially intended as a full-blown musical, with Bernstein composing a complete score for it, but was staged with only five songs – "Who Am I?", "Pirate's Song", "Plank Round", "Build My House", and "Peter Peter" – to accommodate the limited vocal ranges of the principals.
In 1998, conductor
Alexander Frey began research into whether there may have existed more material that Bernstein had composed for Peter Pan. Over the next seven years, as his schedule allowed, he discovered and restored almost an hour of previously unheard music, much of the material found (and not yet orchestrated) in the archives of the composer's manuscripts. The restored songs included "Captain Hook Soliloquy" and "Dream With Me",
as well as other sung material, dance music and orchestral interludes. The world premiere recording of Bernstein's complete score was released on CD in 2005, conducted by Alexander Frey, and featuring Broadway star
Linda Eder in the role of
Wendy Darling, and acclaimed baritone
Daniel Narducci
Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength"), ...
as
Captain Hook, on the
Koch International Classics label.
In September 2008 the world premiere performance of the full Bernstein score was performed in concert with Alexander Frey conducting the
Gulbenkian Orchestra, with dialogue adapted from the original
J. M. Barrie play by Nina Bernstein Simmons. Three performances were given in
Cascais
Cascais () is a town and municipality in the Lisbon District of Portugal, located on the Portuguese Riviera. The municipality has a total of 214,158 inhabitants in an area of 97.40 km2. Cascais is an important tourism in Portugal, tourist de ...
, Portugal, for a combined audience of over 10,000 people, and featured
Geraldine James
Geraldine James, OBE (born 6 July 1950) is an English film and television actress.
Biography Early life and family
James was born in Maidenhead, Berkshire, to a cardiologist father and an alcoholic mother, who had been a nurse. She failed her ...
(narrator),
John Sackville-West
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second ...
(Peter Pan),
Charlotte Ellett
Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populous ...
and
Rachel Nicholls
Rachel Nicholls is an English soprano in opera and concert.
Career
Born in Bedford, England, Nicholls studied French at the University of York, and from 1998 voice at the Royal College of Music with Kathleen Livingstone. In 2001, she won se ...
(Wendy) and
Nicholas Lester
Nicholas is a male given name and a surname.
The Eastern Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Anglican Churches celebrate Saint Nicholas every year on December 6, which is the name day for "Nicholas". In Greece, the name and its d ...
(Captain Hook).
The first stage production of the full Bernstein score was given by Santa Barbara Theater (California) in December 2008, directed by
Albert Ihde
Albert may refer to:
Companies
* Albert (supermarket), a supermarket chain in the Czech Republic
* Albert Heijn, a supermarket chain in the Netherlands
* Albert Market, a street market in The Gambia
* Albert Productions, a record label
* Albert C ...
with a full orchestra again conducted by Alexander Frey.
Another production was held at the
Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts
The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College is a performance hall located in the Hudson Valley hamlet of Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The center provides audiences with performances and programs in orchestral, chamber, ...
in June 2018, directed by
Christopher Alden.
Musical numbers
Sources
*
References
*Dietz, Dan. ''The Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals'' (2014), Bowman & Littlefield, , p. 17
External links
*
{{authority control
1950 musicals
Broadway musicals
Musicals based on plays
Musicals by Leonard Bernstein
Works based on Peter Pan