Peter Pan (1950 musical)

Peter Pan is a musical adaptation of J. M. Barrie's play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, first produced in 1950, with music and lyrics by Leonard Bernstein. 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.^[1]

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.^[2]

In 2000, conductor Alexander Frey learned about the full score, and restored the omitted material, which included about 45 minutes of previously unperformed Bernstein music. The restored songs included "Captain Hook Soliloquy" and "Dream With Me".^[2] A recording was released on CD in 2005, conducted by Frey, and featuring Broadway star Linda Eder in the role of Wendy Darling, and baritone Daniel Narducci as Captain Hook, on the Koch International Classics label.^[3] In December 2006 the full musical was produced for the first time on stage by The King's Head Theatre in Islington, London with Katherine Kastin as Peter Pan and Peter Land as Captain Hook, directed by Stephanie Sinclaire and featuring new musical arrangements by Mike Dixon.^[4] In September 2008 the score was performed in concert, with dialogue adapted from the original J. M. Barrie play by Nina Bernstein Simmons, in Cascais, Portugal, featuring Geraldine James (narrator), John Sackville-West (Peter Pan), Charlotte Ellett and Rachel Nicholls (Wendy) and Nicholas Lester (Captain Hook). It was produced in a full dramatic presentation by Santa Barbara Theater (California) in December 2008, directed by Albert Ihde and again conducted by Frey.

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