Le monde des musicals

Act One
London Town is strangely ill-at-ease. Newspaper boys proclaim that another baby has gone missing from its perambulator, and it is with a sense of urgency that the city’s businessmen return home after a day in the Office. (There’s Something In The Air Tonight)
In the Darling House, in a backwater in Bloomsbury, Mrs Darling is concerned that she has seen a boy’s face hovering outside the nursery window – three floors up! Despite this, she and Mr Darling prepare to go out for the evening, leaving the children, Wendy, Michael and John, under the watchful eye of Nana the Newfoundland dog, and Liza – the maid. Before leaving, Mrs Darling sings a lullaby to help the children sleep. (Just Beyond The Stars)
As silence descends on the nursery, a small ball of light, no larger than a thumbnail, is seen at the window – it is Tinkerbell. The fairy enters and flits frantically about the room as if searching for something.
Moments later, the windows swing open and Peter Pan files into the nursery. He and Tinkerbell look for his shadow, which was inadvertently severed on an earlier visit. Wendy is awoken and helps Peter Pan to reattach his shadow and, with the promise of regaling Peter with bedtime stories, she is invited to accompany him on his flight home. John and Micheal wake up and, with a sprinkling of fairy dust, the three children join Peter Pan and Tinkerbell as they fly out of their nursery window and across a moonlit London to the magical Never Land. (Never Land)
Meanwhile, in Never Land, Peter’s gang – The Lost Boys – show a certain amount of bravado as they eagerly await their Captain’s return. (The Lost Boys Gang) Despite their own self assurance that they can win every fight, the Lost Boys quickly disperse when they hear the “Heave-ho’s" of approaching Pirates.
The crew of The Jolly Roger, appear heralding the arrival of their Captain – the murderous Captain James Hook. (Good Old Captain Hook)
Hook is intent on avenging himself on Pan – who cut off his right arm and threw it to a passing crocodile. The same crocodile also swallowed an alarm clock, the ticking sound of which warns Hook of the reptile’s whereabouts. A timely appearance by the loathsome beast means the Pirates beat a quick retreat leaving the coast clear once more.
The Lost Boys emerge from their hiding places to welcome Tinkerbell as she arrives back on the island. Tinkerbell, who seems to be jealous of the new girl in Peter Pan’s life, instructs the boys to shoot a large, white bird from the sky. Tootles obliges with his bow and arrow, only to discover that the bird is not a bird at all, but a flying lady – Wendy.
Micheal and John fly down to the clearing with Peter Pan, to discover their wounded sister. For fears of causing further injury by moving her, Peter instructs the Lost Boys to build a house around her, until she makes a full recovery. when she will be formally adopted as a mother to them all. (Build A House For Wendy)
Tinkerbell is banished by Peter Pan as a punishment for her treachery. Having miraculously recovered, Wendy dutifully performs her first task as the Lost Boys’ “mother” by instructing them all to observe their bedtime. Peter Pan is quick to point out that he doesn’t have a bedtime, and that there is no-one who can tell him what to do – he is his own free spirit.
Wendy concedes defeat and accompanies Peter Pan as he starts to show her some of the wonders of Never Land (The Cleverness Of Me)
Unbeknownst to Peter Pan and Wendy, the Pirates have observed the change in the Lost Boys’ domestic arrangements – and they plot to kidnap Wendy and adopt her as their own. The scheme gets off to a shaky start though, as the ticking Crocodile makes a reappearance. It transpires that Tinkerbell and Wendy are not the only two girls vying for Peter Pan’s affection.
The young Indian squaw, Tiger Lily, is equally excited when she learns of Peter Pan’s return to Never Land from “that Other Place”. Her devotion to Peter Pan means that she and her Braves pose a further nuisance to the Pirates. Hook becomes distracted from his avowed intent of capturing Wendy, and instead sets off to overpower the irritating Tiger Lily.
After a day of adventuring, Peter Pan takes Wendy and her brothers to the lagoon, where they wile away their time with futile attempts to catch a mermaid – who sings alluringly, whilst combing out her tresses, just out of reach. (Crocodile / Tiger Lily / Siren Song)
The tranquility is interrupted by the arrival of three pirates, Smee, Cecco and Cookson. They transport the bound-and-gagged Tiger Lily and tie her to Marooner’s Rock – a ghostly place where prisoners meet their fate when the rock becomes covered by the sea at high tide.
Peter comes up with a clever plan to save his ally. From his hiding place he imitates the voice of James Hook with such accuracy that the Pirates believe it is their Captain bellowing new instructions. They obey “the voice” and release Tiger Lily from her bonds.
Hook returns, furious to discover that his crew have been fooled. Peter Pan leaps from his hiding place and the Pirates and Lost Boys engage in a fight on the shoreline.
During which Wendy is captured. Peter bargains with Hook and offers himself to the Pirates in return for Wendy’s safe release.
It is now Hook’s turn to trick the “wonderful boy” – and both Pan and Wendy are tied to Marooner’s Rock where the incoming tide begins to lap at their feet.
Stoic, but fearing all is lost, Peter is delighted to see a kite hovering across the lagoon – being steered by the repentant Tinkerbell.
The fairy rescues Peter and Wendy and they fly away to safety. Hook returns to the promontory just in time to witness their escape and, with a blood chilling wail, vows never to rest until his arch enemy is dead and buried. (When I Kill Peter Pan)

Act Two
Time has passed. The shore bound Pirates are increasingly frustrated by Hook’s refusal to set sail and resume piratical endeavours.
His obsession with destroying Peter Pan has put him in melancholy mood and boatswain Smee is charged with the task of cheering him up. (Look Back Through A Rose Tinted Eyepatch) During the Pirates half hearted attempts to lighten the atmosphere, Hook comes up with the idea of using rat poison to kill Pan.
The only question that remains is how to administer the poison.
Meanwhile, all is not going smoothly in the Home-Under-The-Ground.
Wendy is struggling to raise six Lost Boys in addition to her own two brothers, especially when “their father”, Peter Pan, comes home only when it suits him. She begins to wonder whether she is actually missing out on her own childhood by being thrust so rapidly into motherhood. (Just Beyond The Stars – Reprise)
With characteristic bad timing, Peter noisily enters the hideaway just as Wendy is getting the children off to sleep. Wendy asks what his exact feelings are for her. His reply leaves her dissatisfied and she questions his refusal to grow up like a normal boy. (One Big Adventure)
It is no good. Wendy knows that her proper place is back home in Bloomsbury and she asks Peter to make the necessary arrangements. Michael, John and the Lost Boys elect to go with her, to Peter’s disapproval, but he accepts their decision and suggests that Tinkerbell will lead the way.
Before they have the chance to leave they hear the sound of skirmishing above ground. Hook and the Pirates are once again battling for territory with Tiger Lily and her Braves. This time Hook is victorious. He taps a rhythm out on Tiger Lily’s drum to indicate that the Pirates have been defeated, thus fooling Peter into thinking it is safe to go above ground.
Wendy and the boys say their goodbyes to Peter but are immediately captured by the Pirates as they leave the Home-Under-The-Ground. Knowing nothing of this, Peter stays behind, promising to finish Wendy’s medicine for her – which he keeps in the bottle beside his bed. (The Cleverness Of Me) With the other children imprisoned, Hook and Smee descend into the lair where Pan is sleeping soundly.
They switch the bottle of poison with the medicine bottle and quietly retreat. (When I Kill Peter Pan – Reprise / Old Captain Hook – Reprise)
Tinkerbell flies home just in time to discover Hook planting the poison. She wakes Peter to warn him but he refuses to believe her. In order to save her Captain, Tinkerbell drinks the poison, her light grows faint and it looks as if she is going to die.
The only thing that can save her is the sound of children clapping and stating, out loud, that they believe in fairies. Miraculously the remedy is forthcoming and Tinkerbell lives to accompany Peter Pan and he files to the Jolly Roger to rescue Wendy and the boys. (One Big Adventure – Reprise)
Hook prowls the deck of the Jolly Roger. He believes he had heard a cock crow in the dead of night – a sign portending death to he who hears it - which plunges him once more into the depths of turmoil – torturing himself as to whether it is good form to dispose of children by making them walk the plank. (A Pirate With A Conscience)
The prisoners are brought up from their cell in the hold and are taunted on the deck. Despite his fervent belief that Pan is by now poisoned. Hook is unsettled by the children’s equally fervent belief that their hero lives. (Never Land – Reprise)
Sure enough, Peter Pan sequesters himself on board shop and successfully, and mysteriously, dispatches several of the Pirates. Peter’s cock-crow resounds as he rallies the Lost Boys and Darling Children for a final showdown with the surviving Pirates. (The Fight)
At last Peter Pan and his nemesis face one another. With the Crocodile excitedly ticking away in the waters beneath, Hook announces that he will decide his own destiny rather than be slain aboard ship by Pan – and he throws himself overboard and into the waiting reptilian’s jaws.
Meanwhile, back home, in Bloomsbury, a distraught Mrs Darling waits by the open nursery window, as she has done ever since her children went missing. (Just Beyond The Stars – Reprise) Mr Darling, out of remorse, has adopted Nana’s position and now lives inside the dog kennel – much to the incredulity of Liza, the maid.
When both parent’s backs are turned, Wendy, Michel and John alight on the nursery windowsill and quickly hide amongst the bedclothes.
A happy family reunion takes place – though Mr Darling is somewhat perturbed when his wife spontaneously agrees to adopt the six orphaned boys who have also flown down from the sky into their very own backyard.
The one outsider to the celebrations is Peter Pan. He cannot resist one last opportunity to try to persuade Wendy to return with him to Never Land, but it is not to be. Wendy needs mothering just as much as he does. However, Mrs Darling does give permission for Wendy to return to Never Land once a year – to do the spring cleaning.
Time passes. The following Spring Peter returned to Bloomsbury, exactly as he has promised, to accompany Wendy to Never Land. But the following year, he didn’t come at all. Wendy waited and waited, but he never came…. And then, the next spring cleaning, there he was, and, stranger still, he never knew that he had missed a year. But that was the last time. Wendy never saw Peter Pan ever again.
Alone and bewildered, the “wonderful boy” struggles to understand why it is that everyone else grows up, whilst he dreams only of staying a boy forever and having fun – surely adulthood and grown-up responsibility can wait… if only for one more day. (There’s Always Tomorrow)

PETER PAN - A Musical Adventure first saw light of day in Denmark, at the International Musical Of The Year in 1996, where it won two top awards for Best Song (WHEN I KILL PETER PAN performed by the late Denis Quilley) and The Orchestra's Award (chosen by the orchestra who performed the short-listed works).

In 1999 it was seen in a full production at Det Ny Teater in Copenhagen, performed in Danish.

Under the direction of Julia McKenzie and Jonathan Butterell a staged concert, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, was produced as a one-off event at the Royal Festival Hall in 2001 - which was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 - starring John Thaw as Captain Hook, Joe MacFaddden as Peter Pan, Jenna Russell as Mrs Darling, and Sheila Hancock as the Storyteller.
The performance also boasted a first in that Wendy, Michael and John were played by three real-life siblings, Laura Michelle Kelly and her brothers Jorim and Nathan.

A fuller semi-staged version, with the London Symphony Orchestra, was mounted at the Royal Festival Hall over Christmas 2002 starring Richard Wilson and James Gillan, with Suzannah York as the Storyteller and Lottie Meyer as Wendy.

That same winter it was also seen for the first time in the USA, at the Prince Theatre in Philadelphia.

Sadly bookwriter, Willis Hall, died in March 2005, aged 75.

The show received it`s first fully-staged British production at Birmingham Repertory Theatre in December 2007, where it was directed by Rachel Kavanaugh, designed by Peter McKintosh and choreographed by Jenny Arnold.
The cast included David Birrell as Captain Hook, Peter Caulfield as Peter Pan, Gay Soper as the Storyteller and Gina Beck as Wendy.
This version was revived for Christmas 2008 at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, where David Birrell reprised his role as Hook and James Gillan, Amy Lennox and Alwyne Taylor assumed the roles of Peter Pan, Wendy and the Storyteller, with Martin Callaghan as Smee. It is this cast that have now been immortalised on the CD recording.

Act One
1. " There's Something in the Air Tonight" - Storyteller, Mr Darling, Londoners
2. "Just Beyond the Stars" - Mrs. Darling
3. "Tinker Bell and Peter Pan's Arrival" - Orchestra
4. "Never Land" - Peter Pan, Wendy, John and Michael
5. "The Lost Boys Gang" - The Lost Boys
6. "Good Old Captain Hook" - Pirates
7. "Build a House" - Peter Pan and The Lost Boys
8. "The Cleverness of Me" - Peter Pan and Wendy
9. "Crocodile/Tiger Lily/Siren Song" - Tiger Lily and Mermaids
10. "When I Kill Peter Pan" - Captain Hook and Pirates

Act Two
11. "Look Back Through a Rose-Tinted Eye Patch" - Smee, Captain Hook and Pirates
12. "Just Beyond the Stars (Reprise)" - Wendy
13. "One Big Adventure" - Peter Pan and Wendy
14. "The Cleverness of Me (Reprise)" - Peter Pan
15. "When I Kill Peter Pan/Good Old Captain Hook (Reprise)" - Captain Hook and Pirates
16. "One Big Adventure (Reprise)" - Peter Pan
17. "A Pirate with a Conscience" - Captain Hook, Smee and Pirates
18. "Never Land (Reprise)" - John, Michael, Wendy and The Lost Boys
19. "The Fight" - Captain Hook, Peter Pan, Wendy, John, Michael, Pirates and Lost Boys
20. "Just Beyond the Stars (Reprise 2)" - Storyteller and Mrs. Darling
21. "There's Always Tomorrow" - Peter Pan and Londoners

Aucun dossier informatif complémentaire concernant Peter Pan - A musical adventure

Aucun dossier informatif complémentaire concernant Peter Pan - A musical adventure