Great DVD--Peter Pan
Added 9/9/2009
On our way home from summer vacation, we pulled into Branson for a final evening of fun for our grandkids. Peter Pan (the Broadway play) was showing that evening, so we took the two of them to see it. Our four-year old was mesmerized!! Seeing how she enjoyed it so much, I decided to buy her the dvd. Actually, I did not realize this particular play was available on dvd until I checked Amazon. I ordered it for her and now, every time she comes to visit us, it's the first thing she asks to see. It's a wonderful story and she's almost as fascinated watching on tv as she was at the play.
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Very entertaining
Added 3/23/2009
I purchased this film for our family of three senior women. It was fun to watch, kept our 86 year old mother entertained, as well as being entertaining to her 4 year old great grandchild. It is delightful to find products that are well done and need no censoring. The quality of the film is great. The delivery was prompt and hassel free.
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Great for the theatrical fans
Added 3/12/2009
This is a first rate product if you are looking for an accurate depiction of the theatrical presentation. Very well done and expertly filmed, it gives you the feeling of watching a stage production, coupled with the intimacy of a filmed event.
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Downhill after first act.
Added 2/16/2008
The first act in the nursery is rather delightful. Rigby is great for the flying, holds her own as a singer. The flying effects, sets and costumes are wonderful. But why all the tinkering with the libretto and even adding songs not in original?! appalling!
The use of adults in too many of the childrens roles greatly detracts from the charm of the story. Wendy seems positively middle aged here.
A pity there is not a technically good version of the Mary Martin production. I also enjoyed the Sandy Dennis version more when I saw it live in the early 80s.
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More flash, less magic...
Added 2/6/2008
More flash, less magic.
I've been fond of the Peter Pan musical for some time. I grew up watching an old taped copy of the Mary Martin commercial version, and I remember being extremely excited when they told me a new Peter Pan musical was going to be on TV. (I think I was seven.) All I can remember from watching the Cathy Rigby version at that time was being confused as to why they were using the "other" Peter Pan musical songs (I didn't quite understand the concept of plays yet) as well as why it was just... oddly unNeverland like.
That was ten years ago. I bought this reissued DVD today, and my opinion remains much the same.
The Broadway version of Peter Pan is indeed flashy - better flying and other special effects, gorgeous complicated sets, lavish costumes (the mermaid in the lagoon, the Indians are wearing something that doesn't resemble a dollar-store Halloween costume) but, I feel, there is absolutely none of the magic. There are new scenes, new dialogue, new takes on songs... and none of them work for me.
It's all too "Broadway." Gone are is close-knit stage as the Lost Boys (some of whom are adult women, which I must ask, WHY? when there are clearly child boy actors to play these parts) build a house for Wendy, and it is replaced by a huge empty stage with haphazard choreography. The charming (albeit a little stereotypical) Indian chants and dances are replaced by more politically correct "authentic" (lol) tribal dances. This is one of my biggest irks. I can understand making Tiger Lilly a black-haired or brunette girl, but Neverland is NOT the real world. It is a child's world. And when children play (Pirates/Cowboys/etc) and Indians, they do not don Tribal headdresses and recreate a Native American dance. They run around and whoop! with their hands. And the original version of the Indians wasn't even that bad, compared to the Disney ones. ("What makes the red man red" etc.)
I thought, maybe, that it was just me having been first exposed to the Mary Martin version, but others (who have no connection to either) have told me of a similar problem with this version. It just tries to hard to be BROADWAY! and flashy, that it misses the magic that is Neverland.
I don't care for Cathy Rigby as Peter, either. She just looks... old, to me, which is strange because I think Mary Martin was older than Cathy in the version I have. She doesn't play a very convincing Peter. Mary Martin had that odd, eclectic energy about her -- you KNEW she was an older woman, but she gave off this air of childish and stubbornness that makes her Peter click with me.
My question: Why has this been reissued but the elusive DVD of the Mary Martin version has not?
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