Peter Pan Live! has been coming together over at NBC for months now, but on Monday, the network finally released some footage from the live production, which spotlights Allison Williams’ makeover to look like a young boy, as well as Christopher Walken in his full Captain Hook regalia. Check out the fun trailer, below.
Peter Pan has had a long history in the cultural lexicon. J.M Barrie’s famous story was published as a stage play and then a novel in the early 1900s. Then, Disney turned the story into a film in 1953. The musical stage production was performed in 1954 with Mary Martin in the lead. Eventually, that production hit VHS in the 1990s and has been well-known ever since. So, when NBC began looking for a musical production to perform live, Peter Pan was a natural choice.
The stage version of Peter Pan has traditionally signed on a woman in the lead role. This time around, Christopher Walken nabbed the role of Captain Hook, and shortly thereafter, Girls actress Allison Williams landed the role of Peter Pan. The first trailer for the live production focuses on the two characters, taking us from the window of the Darling childrens’ bedroom to the far off Neverland, where pirates and lost boys roam.
Peter Pan Live! follows in the footsteps of The Sound of Music Live!, which did well as an “event” production around this time last year. The December broadcast last year received plenty of accolades, thanks to its chancy live component and its all-star cast, which included Carrie Underwood, Laura Benanti and Stephen Moyer. It also brought in a whopping 18.47 million total viewers and a 4.6 rating in the advertising demo. That’s a huge success for the network, and it’s easy to see why NBC wants to repeat that sort of performance this year.
This time, NBC has signed on for a well-known, likeable play and (thanks to Walken) has a more famous cast to back up the performance. Peter Pan Live! also has a larger ensemble cast and more moving components, including Captain Hook’s ship to contend with on the stage, amping up the excitement factor somewhat. You can see how it all pans out when Peter Pan Live! hits the schedule on December 4 at 8 p.m. ET.
