I sit on the Executive Board of the Eastern Massachusetts
Association of Community Theaters (EMACT). One of our services for our member groups
is the Distinguished Awards and Special Honors (DASH) program. Productions
entered in the program are reviewed by two trained consultants who score the
performance in a number of technical and artistic categories, and at the end of
the season, the highest-scoring productions in each category receive
nominations and awards, and the best overall production of both a musical and a
play is recognized. Although I am merely one of the program coordinators and
not one of the adjudicators, I thought it might be interesting to review last
night’s televised performance of
Peter
Pan Live! as if I were scoring a community theater production in the DASH
program. I won’t assign actual scores, but I’ll comment on each category. (For
anyone interested in seeing the actual ballot we use in the DASH program, which
has comprehensive descriptions of the criteria within each category, please go
to
http://emact.org/services/dash.asp
and scroll all the way to the bottom, then click on “DASH Scoring Spreadsheet –
Musicals”.)
Set Design
The sets for this production were elaborate and numerous.
Locations represented included the Darling home, the skies over London, and various
locations in Neverland including Captain Hook’s pirate ship and the Lost Boys’
lair. There was a nice contrast between the realistic depiction of the Darlings’
elegant (and enormous!) Victorian mansion with its subdued colors and subtle
but rich furnishings and the cartoonish, brightly-colored, stylized fantasy
world of Neverland. The sets were physically located such that transitions from
scene to scene (e.g., Pan and the children exiting the bedroom and flying over
London) were smooth and seamless. A high point of the production.
Set Dressing
The set dressing was a seamless part of the design. The
subtle richness of the “real world” scenes allowed for a startling reveal of
the bright, slightly disproportionate “fantasy” scenes. There were a few misses
in small details, such as the disgustingly filthy bathtub which appears in a
scene where the actors are describing how they just scrubbed the entire place
from top to bottom, but on the whole, set dressing was appropriate and
contributed well to the overall “feel” of the piece.
Lighting Design
I’m sure it’s not an easy feat to light a live production
for television cameras, but for the most part lighting was well done. There
were a few scenes in the latter half of the production which were obviously
meant to be ominously dark, but I couldn’t see the actors’ faces well, and in
one case Peter Pan flew in and out of some overly-bright patches, which ruined
the dim effect. The projected shadow work during Pan’s first scene was
marvelous. I did miss the traditional flickering light for Tinker Bell,
although the CGI effect was nicely done and well-synchronized with the actors’
reactions. There was a small error when Tinker Bell was poisoned and the shell
she was hiding in lit up to show she was inside, but the light stayed on after the
CGI Tink reappeared outside the shell. A minor quibble on a generally well done
area.
Sound Design
For the most part, the sound was well balanced. There was
one flying sequence where the vocals were slightly overpowered by the
orchestra, but that was the exception rather than the rule. Given television
technology, it is not surprising that all the sound effects were well done and appeared
to come from the appropriate locations. Microphones all seemed to be up at the
appropriate times and at correct levels.
Costume Design
Much like the sets, the contrast between the real world and
the fantasy world was nicely done, with the London scenes in subdued colors and
traditional styles and the Neverland scenes in bright colors and fantastical
styles. I didn’t love some of the choices, however, such as costuming pairs of
Lost Boys as twins (there is one actual set of twins in the script, and I felt
their fun interplay was lost in the sea of twins) and the overly clean, very
specific costume styles. These boys have been running through the woods without
supervision for years – they’d be dirty and dressed eclectically in torn rags,
not wearing clean, color-coordinated, perfectly pressed school uniforms. I also
found the Indians’ costumes to be a bit overly revealing. Although it was
apparent that they were wearing shorts under their loincloths and body paint,
the apparent show of skin felt inappropriate for what is essentially a children’s
show. Tiger Lily’s costume also showed some skin, but felt less revealing
somehow. The crocodile costume was beautifully done, and although the bright
purple and cobalt blue colors felt a bit jarring to me, it fit well with the
fantastical styles established for the Neverland characters. The choice to make
Peter’s costume similar to the traditional style but with some more
contemporary or fantastical changes (such as mesh over the shoulders) worked
for me. I think that Peter’s traditional hat might have made the actress look a
bit more boyish, but the costume otherwise did a nice job of minimizing her
figure and exposing her extremely slender and boyish arms, which was an effective
choice.
Make-Up and Hair
Design
One of the difficulties of televising a stage production is
finding a makeup style that works for both long, full-stage shots and typical
television closeups. Pan’s makeup made a heroic attempt to make a strikingly
beautiful and feminine actress look boyish, and in long shots it somewhat
succeeded, but in closeups the heavy orange pancake, blanked-out lips, and gray
blush in contrast with unnaturally white teeth just looked strange and Goth. The
pirates’ look was consistent and well done: seemingly inspired by the Jack
Sparrow pirate trend, heavy eyeliner and bad teeth were the style of the day.
They looked appropriately unwashed and grungy, unlike the Lost Boys who were
once again pristine – I don’t believe for a minute that a bunch of unsupervised
boys would have washed their faces within the last week. Hair styling and wigs
were excellent for the most part, from Mrs. Darling’s modified Gibson girl to
Wendy’s girlish pulled-back hair to Smee’s long golden locks. I would have
liked to have seen a slightly more masculine style on Pan, and something much
less neat (I doubt he owns or uses a comb). One other hair misstep was older
Wendy’s blond wig in the final scene: Not only was the light blond too pale for
the actress, it was also noticeably lighter than young Wendy’s hair, and since
hair darkens with age, a darker blond would have worked much better.
Props Coordination
Considering the scale of the production, not a huge number
of props were used, which seemed to me a very wise choice. The pirate swords
were nicely done, although again a bit too clean and new-looking. The teacups
for the tea party were exactly what I would expect Wendy to imagine. Small
details like the lantern and shell where Tinker Bell is hidden were nicely done.
The props in general were not particularly noticeable, which in this kind of
production is a good thing. In a live televised production of this scale, the
audience is watching for bobbled or dropped props, and I saw almost no problems
with prop handling.
Stage Management
Bravo to the poor soul tasked with organizing the “backstage”
of this massive production. Keeping everyone out of camera range (almost all
the time, anyway), getting actors from location to location, managing camera
angles and set relocations and getting the whole thing done within the 3-hour
limit was a ridiculously difficult task that was extremely well done. Extra
points for having to find enough burly stagehands to carry all the mermaids
across the set once they were in costume! All cues and cuts seemed very well
done, with the minor exception of one or two cuts to commercial that seemed
slightly abrupt, particularly the two very brief between-commercial shots of
Captain Hook holding a long high note, although that may have been driven by
either the director or possibly the breath control of the actor.
Performance
In general, I found the performances were adequate to good.
Sadly, the notable exception was Captain Hook. Christopher Walken seemed
lifeless and unenergetic, completely out of keeping with a character who should
be sweeping grandly across the deck of the ship, flinging his hat around and
bellowing. I was expecting much more from him, and perhaps 20 or even 10 years
ago he could have given us a marvelous Hook. But when the most interesting part
of watching his performance is trying to figure out which object on the stage
his lines are written on, it’s not a successful performance.
Moving on to the “adequate” category was Allison Williams as
Peter Pan. Her voice is lovely, and she was playing the emotional arc of the
character nicely. But she never convinced me that she was a little boy who had
never had a mother in his life. Her accent (although nicely consistent) was too
posh, her mannerisms too polite, her voice and movements too feminine for a
wild little boy. I wanted a messier belt during “I Gotta Crow” and a little
more childish desperation and panic as she begged the audience to clap and save
Tinker Bell. On the positive side, her flying work was extremely well done. I
was never worried that she’d crash or tip, and her acrobatics were smooth and
natural. She had obviously spent plenty of time training to be at home on the
wires, and it showed. I wish there had been a bit more focus on stage combat
training, but that is a minor detail affecting only one short scene.
My favorite performances were from the three Darling
children, each of whom lived up to their name. When I first saw Wendy, my
immediate reaction was that she was much too old for the part. However, she took
on the mannerisms, voice, and bearing of a young girl on the cusp of adulthood
so beautifully that I forgot her age for the remainder of the show. I wish the
director had taken advantage of her age to have the same actress play older
Wendy, although there may not have been enough time between scenes to age her
up believably. I look forward to seeing this young lady on the stage and screen
again in the very near future. Hopefully this excellent performance will open
doors for her career. Michael and John were the appropriate ages for their
characters, and their enthusiasm and wonder throughout the show was an absolute
joy to watch. Every time John came on the screen I couldn’t tear my eyes away
for the marvelous expressions on his face. Both boys were completely in the
moment whenever they were on screen. Very impressive and charming performances
from both youngsters.
Another extremely well-done performance was given by
Christian Borle as Smee and Mr. Darling. Traditionally, the role of Mr. Darling
is paired with Captain Hook, and provides a fun contrast between the loving
bluster of Darling and the angry, unloved bluster of Hook, and I did miss
having that parallel, although I appreciated that Borle chose to tone down
Darling’s bluster a bit, possibly for that very reason. But it was his
performance as Smee that was so impressive. He is not the usual physical type
for Smee – short, fat, and bald – so the choice to give him a very different
physical look was the correct one. His Smee had long golden locks falling over
a pirate headband and bare, beefy arms, with no sign of the traditional striped
shirt or sandals. His facial expressions, with bugged out eyes and manic grin,
stopped just short of mugging, and worked perfectly within the cartoonish world
of Neverland. His dancing was an absolute highlight of not only his own
performance but of the production as a whole, and he single-handedly saved what
could have been a tragic rendition of “Hook’s Tango.” His performance is proof
that veteran Broadway performers are the best choice for live televised stage productions.
Further proof of that rule was the luminous Kelli O’Hara as
Mrs. Darling. In just a few short scenes, O’Hara created the emotionally
believable character of a loving, devoted mother whose heart is broken and then
healed. Her barely controlled sadness as she sings “Distant Memory” with Wendy,
her facial expressions on seeing her lost children reappear at the nursery
window, and her affectionately amused smirk when she encourages Mr. Darling to
agree to adopt the Lost Boys (“What’s twelve more?”) were more moving than the
performances of other actors who had the entire show to create their arc. Such
a beautiful performance.
The pirates and Lost Boys did a terrific job, as well.
Although the Lost Boys were more like Lost Men (what happened to not growing older
in Neverland? Apparently most of these “boys” were kidnapped at the age of 25),
their dancing was an absolute pleasure, and they generally did a good job of
moving and speaking like young teenagers, if not exactly small boys of 7 or 8. I
wish their individual characters had been a bit more well-established, however.
I never felt like any of them developed a unique personality. (I found it
interesting that several of the dancers had been in the Broadway cast of Newsies, and one of my favorite parts of
that production was how well every ensemble member developed their own unique character.)
The pirates’ dancing was also a highlight of their performance, as was their just-short-of-over-the-top
mugging. They were obviously having a wonderful time and their exuberance came
across in every scene. I could absolutely believe that they were crazy pirates who
would happily take on any wild adventure they came across without a second
thought.
The Indians were also effective dancers, although much like the
Lost Boys, I found them to be somewhat generic. It didn’t particularly bother
me that all the Indians except Tiger Lily were male, but perhaps having mixed
genders would have added some much-needed visual (and vocal) interest.
As a whole, with the exception of Hook, all the performances
had the appropriate energy and were within a reasonable range of levels and styles.
The actors listened and reacted, and they maintained their characters throughout.
Some emotional arcs were more clearly played than others, but on the whole, I
thought the cast did a nice, unified job and worked well together.
Choreography
Another highlight of this production! The dances were
energetic, athletic, and fun, with creative use of the space, dance styles that
fit the characters and the music, and appropriate for the performers’ ability
levels. “Hook’s Tango” was an excellent example of the latter – Borle’s Smee
dancing frenetically and exuberantly against Hook’s bored stroll may not have
been ideal, but it worked successfully with the limits of one actor and the
strengths of the other. (I would have loved to have seen this number when
Walken was in his dancing heyday. THAT would have been a TANGO!) Each of the
three ensembles (pirates, Lost Boys, and Indians) had their own distinct dance
styles, which helped to create and differentiate the groups of characters while
also maintaining visual interest and variety for the audience.
Musical Direction
As expected in a professional, big budget production, the
orchestra was fabulous. The orchestrations were lush and interesting, yet almost
never overpowering the actors. They were so well-done that I wondered a few
times if they were using a pre-recorded track (I’m not entirely sure there wasn’t
a click track in a few places, but it was for the sake of the vocalists, not
the instrumentalists). They kept right with the vocalists and tempos were
proper and consistent throughout. A few minor errors from the trumpets at the
end served only to remind me that these musicians had been playing perfectly -,and
nearly constantly - for the past three hours.
For the most part, the soloists and ensemble vocals were
also well done. I never felt that a singer was reaching for a note, although I
would have loved a stronger belt from Pan in a few spots, and Tiger Lily seemed
quite out of breath during “True Blood Brothers.”
Although perhaps not truly a part of “Musical Direction,” I
did appreciate and enjoy the musical changes that were made from the original
production. The choice of adding and adapting songs by the original composers
kept a sense of stylistic consistency. It can be disconcerting to an audience familiar
with the score of a production to have such significant changes made, but in
this case the choices were effective and fit well into the overall production.
Direction
Much like stage management, direction of a production of
this scale is not an easy job. On the whole, directorial choices were
consistent, clear, effective, and true to the original script. One exception
was the costume, hair, and makeup choices for the Lost Boys, which were
inconsistent with their characters. But the main factor that came into play
with the direction was the actual filming of the production, which I thought
was quite well done. There were broad shots to show us the scale of the
locations, closeups to catch the actors’ expressions at key moments, and no
falling into the trap of zooming in on dancers so the impact of the
choreography (not to mention a look at their impressive footwork!) is missed.
One could object that having too many closeup shots loses the sense of being
part of a live, on-stage production, but I didn’t feel like closeups ever took
me out of the moment here. The scenes that called for showing scale or the
broader visual scope of a scene were shown that way, and zooming in was used appropriately
for more intimate moments.
On the whole, I thought this production was well-done,
despite the miscasting of Walken (although I freely admit that he was one of
the reasons that many non-theatre viewers tuned in, so it was a marketing
success if not an artistic one). Fans of live theatre may have been somewhat
disappointed, but to the target audience of television viewers who rarely
attend live productions, it was well done enough that maybe a few of them might
be inspired to see a live show. And it was certainly good enough – and watched
enough – that we can all hope that another live production will be in the works
again soon!
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