Peter Pan: Encyclopedia II - Peter Pan - Adaptations

Peter Pan - Adaptations

Peter Pan has been adapted for stage and screen many times. Following the example of Barrie's original stage version, and for practical reasons (and perhaps tradition), Peter usually - but not always - has been played by an adult woman.

Paramount Pictures released the first film version of Peter Pan in 1924, a silent movie starring Betty Bronson as Peter and Ernest Torrence as Hook. Barrie selected Bronson for the role, and wrote additional scenes for it, but the director stuck largely to the stageplay. In 2000, the United States Library of Congress deemed it "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Several musical versions of the play have been produced, of which the best known are Jerome Kern's 1924 version, Leonard Bernstein's 1950 version, and the 1954 version mounted by Jerome Robbins (originally to have only a few incidental songs with music by Mark Charlap and lyrics by Carolyn Leigh, but evolved into a musical with additional music by Jule Styne and lyrics by the team of Betty Comden and Adolph Green). The 1954 version became widely known as a vehicle for Mary Martin and later for a series of female gymnasts, including Cathy Rigby.

On February 5, 1953 Disney released its animated film version of Peter Pan with music by Sammy Cahn, Frank Churchill, Sammy Fain, and Ted Sears. 15-year-old film actor Bobby Driscoll supplied the voice of Peter.

The 1979 stage version starred Broadway and television actress Sandy Duncan.

P. J. Hogan's 2003 live-action film version Peter Pan is notable for being the first film to cast a young teenage boy (Jeremy Sumpter) to portray Peter. Wendy was played by Rachel Hurd-Wood and Hook by Jason Isaacs, who also plays the role of the Darling children's father.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Adaptations", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki