Peter Pan Returns to Milwaukee

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As a child taking dance lessons in my first years of elementary school, I’d rope my siblings and the neighbor kids into playing Peter Pan with me. I, of course, was Peter, “flying” off our front porch and telling all the others what to do.

So I feel close to Milwaukee Ballet dancer Barry Molina, who’ll play Peter in the May 11-14 revival of Peter Pan, when he tells me, “As a kid, you create little worlds that seem just as real as real life. I had four younger siblings—I won’t call them Lost Boys—but I’d make them play whatever I came up with. That’s how I connect with Peter. He’s having fun and using other people to further that goal, for better or worse.”

Michel Pink created the ballet here in 2010, basing it on J.M. Barry’s play and novel. “On a surface read,” he tells me, “it’s a boy who doesn’t want to grow up, and a journey to Neverland, and this naughty fairy Tinker Bell. But there’s so much more to it. If you think about Peter, he has no sense of responsibility and feels no guilt for any of his actions. He’s totally self-centered. He’ll do something, say something, and in the very next breath he’s forgotten that. He truly lives in the moment. He could be any age. There’s a lovely line in the book where he says, ‘Yeah, death would be an awfully big adventure.’ He’s open for anything.”

Molina adds, “It’s hard for him to have empathy and look at situations from other people’s perspective, but he has a moment at the end when he sees from Wendy’s perspective. There’s a bit of a journey toward understanding.”

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Freedom in Dance

Molina’s journey to Peter began in 2009, his first year with Milwaukee Ballet’s second company, MBII. Similar in stature to Marc Petrocci, the dancer for whom Pink created Peter, Molina was chosen to understudy Peter’s Shadow. If you’ll recall, Peter loses his shadow in the Darling children’s bedroom. Pink imagines the Shadow enjoying its freedom in dance before Peter reclaims it. 

“At the last minute,” Molina explains, “the original dancer got sick, and I had to step in. And that was my first big moment on the Milwaukee Ballet stage.” He danced the Shadow again as a fulltime company artist in the 2012 revival of the show, filmed by PBS for national broadcast. 

From Shadow to Peter became his aspiration and Pink cast him as Pan for a spring 2020 revival, broadsided by covid. Now, at last, he’s flying. About the long wait, Molina says, “I think for me it’s all for the better. I’ve had a chance to grow as an artist.”

Dancer Annia Hidalgo performed the role of Tinker Bell in the 2012 revival. It was her very first role with Milwaukee Ballet. She returns to it now.

“It’s a very important role for me,” she says. “It was my introduction to Michael’s choreography, telling the story in a way that is so real. I’d never had that opportunity. I remember thinking this is amazing, I want to keep doing things like this. And coming back to it now, it’s like I’m a master at this! I can sing the music. When my theme comes, it’s like, that’s me. I love this role.” 

“And now, oh my god, it’s a full circle,” she adds, because her first Milwaukee Ballet role will be her last. She describes her plans carefully. “I’ll continue to spread all the knowledge I’ve gathered about the craft of ballet through teaching, freelancing, and other collaborations both nationally and internationally. I’ll also continue my collegiate studies in pursuit of my bachelor’s degree in information technology.”

Mischievous Tinker Bell

I ask what she loves about Tinker Bell. “It’s the relationship with Wendy. I’m very protective of Peter. I want him to do what I want him to do. So I’m kind of mischievous. I don’t really want Wendy close to him.”

“The story goes that every time there’s a baby born, there’s a fairy born,” Pink explains, “and that very fairy lives on your shoulder as part of your life. Tinker Bell is Peter’s fairy. Her job is to be there. But she’s naughty. She can also cause trouble. She’s very much her own agent.” 

Of course, she sacrifices her life to save his. That’s when audience members use the magic “fairy fixer” we’re given upon arrival.

One other original cast member remains in the company. Davit Hovhannisyan is Captain Hook. Seen in rehearsal, he’s a master comic, as lost a boy as anyone in Neverland, and in need of a mother. He’s amply assisted by Philip Feeney’s musical score. 

“You hear every single word of the action in the music,” Pink says. “I keep referring to it as Looney Tunes.”

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There will be evening performances Thursday-Sunday, May 11-14, with additional Saturday and Sunday matinees, at the Marcus Performing Arts Center. For times and tickets, visit milwaukeeballet.org, or call The Milwaukee Ballet Box Office at 414-902-2103. The show is for all ages.