The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Updated stage production of ‘Peter Pan’ to go on tour
NEW YORK — A new, inclusive stage production of “Peter Pan” flies out on a U.S. tour this month, telling the classic tale of a boy who refuses to grow up — but without references that, ironically, have aged poorly.
Gone are elements harmful to Native people, in are a few new songs and the setting of Victorian England has been scrapped in favor of modern America with a multicultural cast.
“Part of the why I wanted to do this is that it will be kids’ first experience in the theater, and I want them not only to fall in love with “Peter Pan,” but to fall in love with the theater and to come back,” says director Lonny Price.
The show is based on the 1954 musical version — originally starring Broadway legend Mary Martin — with a score by Morris Charlap, additional lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and additional music by Jule Styne.
Playwright Larissa FastHorse, who made history on Broadway in 2023 with her satirical comedy “The Thanksgiving Play,” was tapped to rework the story. She says she found the character of Peter Pan complex, the pirates funny, the music enchanting but the depictions of Indigenous people and women appalling.
In the previous version, there were references to “redskins” throughout, a dance number with cringy gibberish for lyrics called “Ugg-A-Wugg” and Tiger Lily was described as fending off randy braves “with a hatchet.”
The tour kicks off in Maryland this week and travels to North Carolina, Ohio, Illinois, Washington, D.C., South Carolina, Florida, Arizona, Nevada, California, Missouri, Texas and Georgia.
“Ugg-A-Wugg” has been cut, replaced by the melody from a tune from the little-known 1961 Comden-GreenStyne musical “Subways Are for Sleeping,” married with new lyrics from Amanda Green, Adolph Green’s Tony Award-nominated daughter.
Price also found in the original creators’ papers a “haunting, beautiful” song called “I Went Home,” which tells of a time when Peter returned home and found his window barred and another kid sleeping in his bed. Martin had asked for it to be cut before the premiere, fearing it was too sad. Price put it back in, arguing audiences are more mature these days.
“I think kids can be a little upset now,” he says. “I don’t think it’s upsetting. I think it’s moving. I think it’s just a very moving piece. I don’t think anyone’s heard that song since 1954.”
FastHorse widened the concept of Native in the musical’s Neverland to encompass several members of underpressure Indigenous cultures from all over the globe.
FastHorse and Price’s version takes place in a modern day, middle class United States not Victorian England. The cast includes children of various races and ethnicities.
“I want every child in this nation to look out their window of the national tour, to look out the window and believe Peter can fly by their window,” says FastHorse. “Our cast looks like America.”