Allison Williams dons pixie wig for Peter Pan Live!
Clap, fellow baby boomers! Clap to save the poisoned, dying Tinker Bell! If you’re anywhere near my age, that plea should send waves of nostalgia washing over you.
“Do you believe?” Peter Pan (Mary Martin) asks the audience watching the grainy picture on their early black and white TV sets. “Oh, please, please believe. If you believe, wherever you are, clap your hands and she’ll hear you. Clap! Clap! Don’t let Tink die!”
It was 1955 when NBC aired its first adaptation of Martin’s Broadway hit. TV was still new and magical.
I was only 6 years old when Peter looked directly at me and begged me to clap. Oh, how I clapped. I clapped with all my heart. After almost 60 years, I still feel supremely confident that it was my applause that pulled Tinker Bell back from the brink.
When the little flickering light that represented Tink got stronger and flitted away, it was the best moment of the show. And then Peter was off to rescue Wendy.
Martin, who was 41 when she began the stage version, reprised the TV role in 1956 and 1960, when she was getting a bit old to pass herself off as a prepubescent boy who refused to grow up.
Martin’s 1960 videotaped version was rebroadcast in 1963, 1966 and 1973 and was released on home video in 1990.
Sandy Duncan (then 33) took on the role of Peter for the Broadway revival from 1979 to 1981; and 21-year-old Olympic gymnast Cathy Rigby became Peter in an off-Broadway revival in 1974. Remarkably, Rigby would return to the role on and off Broadway for 40 years, until she was 61.
And now Peter Pan’s green tights have been passed to a new generation.
Allison Williams, the 26-yearold co-star of of HBO’s Girls, is set to don a pixie wig and flying harness and try to disguise her grown-up curves as a boy.
“I’ve been going for androgynous and nonsexual,” Williams joked in a Today show interview. “It’s a real 180 for me.”
We’ll see how well Williams (daughter of NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams) pulls that off when NBC airs Peter Pan Live! at 7 p.m. Thursday. The three-hour musical will encore at 7 p.m. Dec. 13.
Peter Pan Live! follows on the heels of the ratings (if not critical) success of The Sound of Music Live! starring Carrie Underwood in December. Once all the DVR viewings were tallied, 22 million viewers tuned in to watch Underwood as Maria von Trapp.
Executive Producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron have returned to put their stamp on the newest production of James M. Barrie’s classic tale.
“Allison Williams is a major find,” said Zadan in an NBC news release. “She will reinvent the iconic role of Peter Pan with her wit, her warmth, her dynamic flying and her wonderful musical abilities. The score will be sung beautifully and introduced to a whole new generation of families.”
“I have wanted to play Peter Pan since I was about 3 years old, so this is a dream come true,” Williams added. “It’s such an honor to be a part of this adventure. And besides, what could go wrong in a live televised production with simultaneous flying, sword fighting and singing?”
Williams, a classically trained singer who graduated from Yale in 2010, has showcased her vocal talents several times on Girls playing the role of Marnie Michaels.
How about Captain Hook? The legendary Cyril Ritchard played the one-handed Hook in the version that so affected me as a boy, and Dustin Hoffman had the role in the 1991 film opposite Robin Williams. It would be hard to top those two, but NBC has a contender in the legendary Christoper Walken. The 71-year-old Oscar winner ( The Deer Hunter) should be perfect for the role.
Whether this latest version equals the childhood memories of baby boomers remains to be seen. In an interview with USA Today, director Rob Ashford was asked how the expectations of boomers could be satisfied without having the production seem outdated to a younger audience.
“Because the story is timeless,” Ashford said, “it will be a wonderful discovery for a lot of young people. Also, Allison and Chris each attract fans from different worlds and different generations. I’d expect they’d all be coming together to see this amazing story about responsibility and growing up and the choices we make. For those who know the story, they will be reacquainted with it, and those who don’t know it will grow to love it.”
Rounding out the cast are Christian Borle ( Smash) as Mr. Darling/Smee; Taylor Louderman ( Bring It On: The Musical) as Wendy Darling; Broadway veteran Kelli O’Hara as Mrs. Darling; and newcomer Alanna Saunders as Tiger Lily.
Finally, I hope they keep the scene where the kids have to clap to save Tinker Bell. I’ll be clapping right along if they do.