A ‘Peter Pan’ for the Ages

by

Dance

Michael Pink’s Peter Pan is gigantic and wonderful. Following the awesome scene that ends Act One, when Peter and the Darling children joyfully, gracefully fly out the bedroom window and up to the heights of the Marcus Center’s huge proscenium, over London’s towers and on to Neverland, I thought Milwaukee Ballet should do this show annually, or maybe add a Christmas Tree and alternate it with The Nutcracker. 

It doesn’t have that hit parade of Tchaikovsky songs, but Philip Feeney’s orchestral and choral score is pretty divine and always in tune with the action. The scenery by my late beloved friend and colleague Rick Graham is an ingenious masterpiece. Captain Hook’s nightmarish sailboat comes apart and transforms into various settings on and off the water. The Darling children’s full-stage bedroom with its huge, inviting window and a sizable doghouse is completely realized, yet moveable.

David Grill’s lighting works miracles. The fairy Tinkerbell’s arrivals are represented by lots of colored lights flashing rapidly in sequence on walls and from dresser drawers. Grill’s painterly lighting – a rich turquoise sky, a ghostly full moon, atmospheric transformations to shades of yellow or lilac – create visuals that belong in an art museum. Judanna Lynn’s friendly costumes identity each character completely. Tinker Bell’s is full of tiny lights.

Show-stopping spectacles include a giant crocodile that rises from the orchestra pit and crawls along its outer ledge, eyeing the audience. We’re never shown the creature devouring the clock we hear loudly ticking in its belly, and that absence of narrative allows the beast to become a symbol of time itself. Growing older is the threat it holds for everyone in Neverland.

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Fairy Magic

Another unique spectacle occurs near the end of the second act. Tinker Bell is dying from poison meant for Peter. Peter pleads with his eyes to the audience. Suddenly, everywhere you look, the many hundreds of audience members in the Marcus Center’s vast hall are silently waving the wands we received on arrival, now sparkling with light. We’re a community bringing Tinker Bell to life with fairy magic, while the suspenseful music turns triumphant. It’s enough to bring tears.

There’s also the Act Three swordfight between Peter and Hook that has our boy flying all around, including a run across Hook’s fiercely outstretched arms. It’s just one of many moments when you’re stunned by the flying mechanics. Somehow, strings become attached to performers onstage. Up and down, forward and backward, and side to side they fly, often rapidly, and always in action. The strings are pulled by offstage company dancers who’ve learned the music and the choreography. I know that’s true, but I have no idea how they pull it off.

Pink must have been very brave and a little mad in 2008 when he decided to bring J. M. Barry’s children’s story to life as a ballet. He was bolstered, of course, by the great successes of his earlier story ballets, especially Dracula. He also knew he’d built a company of dancers that could act.

Peter Pan premiered in 2010 and was revived in 2012. Only three of the current company dancers were involved back then. Davit Hovhannisyan was Hook from the start. Annia Hidalgo was Tinker Bell in 2012, her first role in a Pink ballet and now, sad to say, her last. Both played those roles in all of last weekend’s six performances. Barry Molina, Peter’s Shadow in the original shows, starred as Peter in three of them. Marko Micov, a relative newcomer, alternated as Peter. Like everyone else in the huge cast which also included dancers from the second company and school, he’d only ever seen the show in video.

Seasoned company members took the other leading roles. Alana Griffith and Lizzie Tripp alternated as Wendy. Marie Harrison-Collins and Marize Fumero traded off as Neverland’s prima ballerina Tiger Lily. Garrett Glassman and Lahna Vanderbush did every performance as Wendy’s siblings John and Michael, respectively. They couldn’t have been better.

Parker Brasser-Vos was the comic pirate Smee for the entire the run. Amanda Lewis, from the second company, was the constant Nana, touching in her head-to-toe dog costume.

Peter Pan is a work of physical theatre. Good acting is crucial. The opening night performances had all the charisma, skill, and intelligence you could ask for. Along with every pirate, Lost Boy, Neverland Princess, and perplexed Mrs. Darling, they showed how perfectly the current company can execute Pink’s style.

This revival was originally planned for the 2019-2020 season. The pandemic forced its postponement. The happy result is that Peter Pan served as the climax of Michael Pink’s 20th anniversary season in Milwaukee.