Peter Pan Reviews

This review is one of those not-so-good reviews; HOWEVER, it has great things to say about our Danny!

“Television in Review”
The Bryan Times – Dec. 10, 1976
By: Joan Hanauer

           NEW YORK (UPI) – The latest version of “Peter Pan” never gets off the ground.
            It appears to be aimed at adults, or adults’ conception of a children’s story, with very little attention to the kind of down-to-earth magical action that kids like to watch. Instead, everything’s a song cue—or worse, a stop-action production number cue.
            To summarize the problems with this two hour televised play—Peter Pan hardly ever flies.
            The show will be broadcast Dec. 12, 7:30-9:30 p.m., Eastern time, in an NBC two-hour “Hallmark Hall of Fame” special.
            The sets of Never Land have a greeting-card flavor, the song lyrics sound like greeting-card verse, and hardly ever does the production escape from painted prettiness into action, movement, adventure.
            Mia Farrow as Peter looks a perfect fey boy as long as she doesn’t move or open her mouth. As a boy her movements are too feminine and too grownup. Her legs are dirty, but not her face. She isn’t so much the leader of the Lost Boys as their governess. As a singer, she just doesn’t have it.
            The only time “Peter Pan” comes to life is when Danny Kaye struts about as Captain Hook, chewing up the scenery and songs with that fine flair for cowardly evil that makes him the sort of Hook everyone loves to hate.
            He “aims to maim,” as he sings in his ballad to bad men, “They Don’t Make Them Like Me Anymore.” He definitely deserves the place he claims in song in “The Rotter’s Hall of Fame,” and wants to win “By Hook Or By Crook.”
            The other hit of the show is Peter O’Farrell, who waddles around in sheepdog costume as Nana, and swims up to Hook with a menacing “tick-tock” as the crocodile.
            Tinkerbell, incidentally, is done with Disney-ish fantasy as a glistening silver butterfly sprite shedding bits of stardust, her voice a tinkling bell sound that Peter and the Lost Boys translate into mundane English. But she’s off sulking somewhere else throughout most of the show.
            The opening song of the play, “Once Upon a Bedtime,” is sung by Julie Andrews, which only underscores Miss Farrow’s failings as a vocalist. Sir John Gielgud narrates, and the viewer is tempted to wish they’d leave Gielgud to tell the tale, with an occasional tuneful interruption by Danny Kaye.
            The new version of James M. Barrie’s classic is like a Hallmark card that was supposed to come to life but didn’t make it. Or, as Danny Kaye cries out when hears the fateful tick-tock of his nemesis:
            “It’s the Croc.”

 

This review is more like a summary or a detailed explanation of the various songs that are included.

“Hallmark Hall of Fame Presents ‘Peter Pan’”
Lakeland Ledger – Dec. 11, 1976

           Mia Farrow is the high-flying exuberant boy who won’t grow up and Danny Kaye portrays the bumbling would-be villain, Captain Hook (and the gentler Mr. Darling), in the new “Hallmark Hall of Fame” Silver Jubilee production of “Peter Pan,” which will be “The Big Event” presentation on the NBC Television Network tomorrow at 7:30-9:30 p.m. on Channels 2 and 8.
            Featured in the cast are Paula Kelly as Tiger Lily, Virginia McKenna as Mrs. Darling, Briony McRoberts as Wendy (one the Darling children who follow Peter Pan to Never Never Land) and Tony Sympson as Smee the Pirate. The other Darling children, Michael and John, are portrayed by Adam Stafford and Ian Sharrock.
            Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse composed 14 original songs for the show, an ATV/ITC production in association with NBC. Gary Smith and Dwight Hemion are the executive producers. Smith also is the producer and Hemion, the director. Musical and dramatic sequences were supervised by Michael Kidd. The script adaptation is by Jack Burns and Andrew Birkin.
            The sound track of the show will be broadcast in full stereo by 17 FM Stereo radio stations from Massachusetts to California at the same time that the musical is colorcast.
            Sir John Gielgud and Julie Andrews are off-camera participants. Gielgud is the narrator and Andrews sings “Once Upon a Bedtime,” the song which serves as the opening theme.
            The program begins with views of the statue of Peter Pan in London’s Kensington Gardens, where Barrie once strolled, as Gielgud notes that “. . . in the mind of a child, who can tell where reality ends and fantasy begins?”
            “Little Darlings,” the second song, is performed by McKenna in a scene in which the children are tucked in bed, ready for sleep. Peter Pan sings “I’m Better With You” to his shadow after it has been found in the Darling nursery by his fairy, Tinkerbell, and repaired by an awakened Wendy. When Peter Pan teaches Wendy, Michael and John to fly, he sings “You Can Fly,” and the journey to Never Never Land begins.
            The Lost Boys, who are waiting for the return of Peter Pan, sing “Mothers.” They are overheard by Captain Hook, who orders their capture. When Hook is pleased at the course of his campaign, he sings, “They Don’t Make Them Like Me Anymore.” Tiger Lily and her Indian braves enter, performing “Never Never Land.”
            In another scene, the Lost Boys build a house for Wendy and sing “The House on Happiness Hill.” Wendy becomes their mother and sings “A Song Called Love” to them.
            Captain Hook renders “By Hook or By Crook” when he discovers the one who tricked his Pirates into releasing Tiger Lily. In a moment of danger created by Hook, Wendy comforts the Lost Boys by singing, “Pretending.”
            When the time comes for Wendy to return home, a sad Peter Pan sings “Growing Up.” Later, Hook sings “The Rotters’ Hall of Fame.” The last song, “Peter Pan,” is sung by the company as Peter forces Hook’s demise.
            All “Hallmark Hall of Fame” specials are under the full sponsorship of Hallmark Cards, Inc. (through Foote, Cone and Belding, Inc.)

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