History Theatre / PeterPan

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->''"And that's my home where dreams are born,\\
And time is never planned..."''
-->---'''Peter Pan''', "Never Never Land"

The version most people think of when they think of ''Peter Pan: The Musical'' is the 1954 version originally staring Mary Martin as Peter (the musical continues the tradition of [[CrosscastRole cross-casting]] women as young boy Peter to this day). Its notability can be attributed to the fact that Creator/{{NBC}} aired live stagings of the play several times between 1955 and 1960, to excellent ratings. The 1960 production was released on VHS tape (and DVD since), making it the canonical version of the show. This would be the final live televised musical for more than half a century, until ''Theatre/TheSoundOfMusic'' in 2013. December 4, 2014 saw NBC televise yet another live performance of ''Peter Pan'', with Creator/AllisonWilliams (''Series/{{Girls}}'') as Peter, and Creator/ChristopherWalken as Captain Hook.

NBC finally finished releasing all four of their ''Peter Pan'' televisings on DVD and/or Blu-Ray[[note]]Only the 1955 and 1956 productions received a release on the latter format[[/note]] by September 2015, through various studios. A 2000 taping of a live stage production, with Cathy Rigby as Peter Pan, has also seen VHS and DVD releases.
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!! The 1954 play and its TV adaptations contain examples of:

* AdaptedOut: In the books, there are sections of Neverland representing all four seasons, but in ''Peter Pan Live'', there's no section of the island which represents winter.
* AllMusicalsAreAdaptations: While certainly not the first, this is one of the better known musicals based off Peter Pan.
* AnthropomorphicAnimal: Nana the dog and the crocodile play a big role, and the 1960 taped version also features a kangaroo, bespectacled lion and ostrich-type bird that live in Neverland and befriend Peter and Liza.
* AudienceMonologue: Hook goes off into one in the middle of "Hook's Waltz" as he ponders over his own immortality as a villain and what effect it has, particularly how when playing games, kids will always want to be Peter Pan instead of him. [[FelonyMisdemeanor He also mentions how can't break it to Smee that children actually find him lovable.]]
-->'''Hook''': That's where the canker [[ItIsPronouncedTroPAY g-naws]]! [[BigNO No!]] [[{{Pun}} By-carbonate of soda, no!]]
* AudienceParticipation: Clapping to save Tinker Bell. The 2014 TV adaptation accompanied this scene with a caption asking fans to [[{{Website/Twitter}} Tweet]] [[ForcedMeme #SaveTinkerbell]].
* BadassBoast: Peter gets a few in before his big fight with Hook.
-->"I am youth. I am joy. I am freedom!!"
* BerserkButton: Capt. Hook will panic everytime he hears a clock ticking since he knows that's when the crocodile is near. [[spoiler: Peter uses this to his advantage to get his friends, himself and the real crocodile on board the Jolly Roger for the climax.]]
* BigBad: Captain Hook.
* BigDamnHeroes: While in the book the Never Bird saves Peter from drowning, in the musical Tiger Lily does.
* BigEntrance: TV productions show Peter soaring into the Darling nursery as the shutters open themselves to let him in. Captain Hook gets this as he's preceded by a band of singing pirates (one of them playing a huge drum) while he's carried onstage on a litter.
* BittersweetEnding: Peter defeats Captain Hook and the Darlings return home, taking the Lost Boys with them who are then adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Darling. Wendy goes to the window calling out for Peter to remember to come back for her in the spring...[[spoiler:flash forward to many years later when Peter does return only to find Wendy has grown up. They are both saddened until Peter meets her daughter, Jane, who has heard all about Peter from her mother's stories and wants to be Peter's mother. Peter is overjoyed and takes her to Neverland. Wendy begs him to take her too but they both know he can't.]]
-->[[spoiler: "You see Wendy, you're too grown up."]]
** [[spoiler: The 2014 TV adaptation changes this to Wendy telling Peter she can't, but that Jane can go, and that she hopes Jane has a daughter who will be able to befriend Peter, and that Jane's daughter will have a daughter to befriend Peter, and so on.]]
* BrokenRecord: When Peter encourages the Darling children to think lovely thoughts, John talks about fishing, picnics, and sailing, while Wendy brings up hopscotch, summer, and flowers. Michael simply exclaims, [[SweetTooth "Candy!"]] repeatedly until Peter tells him, "''Lovelier'' thoughts, Michael!", to which Michael responds, "Christmas!"
* CallAndResponseSong: "I Won't Grow Up"
-->'''Peter''': I won't grow up!
-->'''Lost Boys''': I won't grow up!
-->'''Peter''': I don't want to go to school!
-->'''Lost Boys''': I don't want to go to school!
-->'''Peter''': Just to learn to be a parrot-
-->'''Lost Boys''': Just to learn to be a parrot-
-->'''Peter''': And recite a silly rule!
-->'''Lost Boys''': And recite a silly rule!
** The reprise of this, "We Will Grow Up" is the same, as are the reprises of "I Gotta Crow", the first of which doubles as a CrowdSong.
* ChewingTheScenery: If there's something Hook is known for other than his infamous appendage, this would be it.
* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: The TropeNamer. Peter begs this of the audience when it looks like Tinker Bell is dying so she can get well again.
* ClingyJealousGirl: Tinker Bell. Wendy has shades of this also, as she starts tearing up at the thought of Peter finding another little girl and bringing her to Neverland after she leaves.
* CluelessChickMagnet: Peter is too immature to see that Tinker Bell and Wendy obviously have feelings for him.
* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: In the third act it's revealed Mr. Darling has been living in Nana's doghouse as a form of self-punishment for chaining her up in the yard and allowing the children to fly away.
* CounterpointDuet and DistantDuet: NBC's 2014 version changed "Distant Melody" into one of these. In the stage musical, Peter sings it to the Lost Boys as a lullaby after Wendy asks if he knows any. In ''Peter Pan Live'', Wendy sings the first portion the song instead; the second sees Mrs. Darling, who is sitting in the window waiting for her children to come back to her, joining in.
* TheCrocIsTicking: The TropeNamer.
* CrosscastRole: Peter, who has always been played by a girl starting from Mary Martin, to Creator/SandyDuncan, to Cathy Rigby, to Allison Williams (among others). The only time he was ever played on stage by a man was an understudy.
* CrowdSong: "Ugg-a-Wugg". The 2014 TV adaptation changed it to "True Blood Brothers," replacing the nonsense "Native American" lyrics to those in an actual Native American dialect. They worked with a Native American representative to make sure nothing was offensive.
* DamselInDistress: Poor Wendy, poor Wendy...
* DeathGlare: In the 1960 TV version, a frustrated Hook gives an ''epic'' one to the camera after Wendy foils his poison cake plan without even knowing she did it.
* DidIMentionItsChristmas: In ''Peter Pan Live'', the Darling nursery is decorated for Christmas, but it has no bearing on the plot. Considering winter isn't represented in this adaptation's Neverland, it's especially weird.
* DirtyCoward: Tiger Lily and her Indian tribe. Exaggerated during the Indian dance where at the end the slightest noise from the last Indian scares her and the entire group away, downplayed when she tells her tribe to run when they see the "Wendy bird" flying nearby ("Ancient Indian Proverb - When in doubt, [[LargeHam RUN!!!!]]") and when she "volunteers" to keep watch for pirates after the party with the lost boys, and finally averted when she and the tribe return to save Peter and later help him fight the pirates on the ship.
* DudeLooksLikeALady: At one point Peter tricks Hook into thinking Peter is a lady ( [[LampshadeHanging "It's a lady! It's a]] [[IncomingHam BEAUTIFUL lady!"]] ), which would classify as {{Squick}} if it wasn't for the fact that [[LampshadeHanging Peter is always played by a girl]], so the trope is more played with than anything else.
* DyingDeclarationOfHate: Hook has one directed at Peter before falling to the croc.
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: During Hook's Waltz, Hook refers to himself as "Mrs. Hook's Little Baby Boy".
* EvilIsHammy: Captain Hook to a T.
* FreezeFrameBonus: If you pause the 2014 version during some of the nursery scenes, you can spot some of the actors rewarding Bowdie the dog with treats for performing tricks well as the first real dog to play Nana.
* GenerationXerox: [[spoiler:Wendy's daughter Jane, since they're played by the same actress.]]
* GrowingUpSucks: The whole message of "I Won't Grow Up".
* HookHand: Guess who?
* IAmSong[=/=]IAmGreatSong: "I Gotta Crow" for Peter, as he's bragging how great he is ({{Justified|Trope}} because he can fly and never grow old, even though it also shows how conceited he is). "Hook's Waltz" for Hook, though it's also a subversion of TheVillainSucksSong.
* LargeHam: Required for most, if not all the roles in the musical.
* KilledOffForReal: Captain Hook, though whether he was eaten by the crocodile or blown to bits by the bomb Peter threw overboard is anyone's guess. Averted for the pirates, because although they are stabbed or shot by Captain Hook throughout the play and a few are killed offstage by Peter when he hides aboard the Jolly Roger, a few moments later, the allegedly dead pirates always show up again for the next pirate crowd scene and even retain their names (at one point, we see Captain Hook accidentally shoot one while trying the old 'mirror over the shoulder' trick, and that one lays for just a few moments, then leaps up onscreen to rejoin the chorus in singing Captain Hook's praises!). We also never see what happens to them after the fight, as they are taken captive and forced to join in the reprise of "I've Gotta Crow" but are led offstage promptly afterwards.
* MagicalLand: Neverland, of course.
* MobileShrubbery: Hook and the Pirates show up in this PaperThinDisguise to deliver a poisoned cake to the Lost Boys.
* TheMusical
* NarratorAllAlong: Adult Wendy in the 2014 version, as portrayed by Creator/MinnieDriver.
* NeverGrewUp: Peter, of course. [[spoiler:When he finally returns to take Wendy back to Neverland for spring cleaning, he is genuinely shocked and hurt to find that she grew up even after she promised she wouldn't. That all disappears however, when he finds Jane waiting for him...]]
* NobleSavage: Tiger Lily. After Peter saves her from the pirates, she returns the favor by rescuing him with the help of her tribe (that somehow got hold of scooters) and they and the Lost Boys declare a truce.
* ObliviousToLove: Peter's immaturity prevents him from seeing any woman as anything more than a mother figure. When Wendy asks how he feels about her, he tells her his love is that of a devoted son. Tiger Lily and Tinkerbell fare no better.
* OneWomanSong: "Wendy", sung by Peter and the Lost Boys as they build Wendy's house and exclaim how wonderful it is that she'll be their mother.
* OpeningBallet: "1,2,3."
* OrchestralVersion: "Never Never Land." It's something of a {{Leitmotif}}, as it plays for Peter and Wendy during some of the more emotional scenes (Peter telling Wendy to come to Neverland, Wendy and the Lost Boys saying goodbye to Peter, and Wendy calling out the window for Peter to not forget to return to her). It also serves as the music for the unfortunately often-cut ballet between Liza and Neverland's animal inhabitants once she arrives.
* OurActsAreDifferent: There were originally about five acts in the musical, then reduced to four. Later editions of the taped 1960 version cut out the title card for the third act but they didn't bother to change the one appearing before the final act, which still has an "IV" on it. Nowadays the events of the musical from the Jolly Roger to the finale comprise of the third and final act.
* OurFairiesAreDifferent: Tinker Bell here is portrayed as a small light (or laser depending on the production) speaking in chimes and bells.
* PajamaCladHero: All the Darling children. The Lost Boys too, as they are dressed in their pajamas for the latter half of the second act and all of the third.
* Parent Service. Tiger Lily usually functions as this.
* PaperThinDisguise: The pirates and Hook use the classic MobileShrubbery disguise to deliver a poisoned cake to the Lost Boys and Peter. The boys discover the cake but fail to notice the clump of bushes that suddenly appeared along with it. After killing two of the pirates Peter pretends to be a part of the crew wearing only an eyepatch, bandana and cape.
* {{Pirate}}: Captain Hook and his crew, of course.
* PoisonIsEvil: Captain Hook poisons Peter's medicine from Wendy, turning it a completely different color depending on the production. [[TooDumbToLive Peter doesn't notice the change]] or [[CassandraTruth believe Tinker Bell's claim that it is poisoned]] until she drinks it to save him.[[note]]The poison being a completely different color may have actually been a staging element so the audience knows the medicine is poisoned. The characters wouldn't see the change or know the difference.[[/note]]
* TheSavageIndian: Subverted. Tiger Lily and her Indians hunt the ostrich, chase after the Lost Boys and fight the Pirates at one point, but the most harm they do to the Lost Boys is a literal tug o' war with one of them, they save Peter from the pirates by chasing them away with scooters, and run away screaming at the sight of the "Wendy bird".
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Notably pulled off by Tiger Lily and the Indians in the 1960 TV version when they catch sight of the "Wendy bird".
-->'''Tiger Lily:''' Famous Indian Proverb: when in doubt... RUN!!!!!
* SettingOffSong: "I'm Flying" can count as this, as Peter is teaching the children how to fly and the last verses are him saying it's time to go off on their journey.
* SkewedPriorities: After Hook plants his poisoned cake in front of the Lost Boys' hideout, Wendy stops them from eating it right away not because it suddenly appeared on the ground but because she's already settled into her role as TeamMom and says the cake is far too rich for her "children" to eat.
* SmallStartBigFinish: During the 2nd reprise of "I Gotta Crow", Peter teaches Liza how to crow, and she becomes more confident and louder as the song progresses. When Liza isn't featured in the show, it is usually replaced by Peter and Wendy breaking the fourth wall and teaching the kids in the audience to crow instead.
* SmugSnake: Hook.
* SpontaneousChoreography: The Indians' dance number starts out as them hunting the Lost Boys but becomes this. The Pirates are tricked into this by Peter while chasing him during "Oh My Mysterious Lady" and play it straight during "Hook's Waltz".
* {{Tsundere}}: Tinker Bell. She's not afraid to call Peter a "silly ass" but drinks poison to save him.
* VillainSong: Hook has several - a tango and tarantella to help him devise a plan, and a grand waltz to revel in his premature victory.
* TheVillainSucksSong: Subverted in "Hook's Waltz" as Hook and the pirates sings how despicable and unlovable he is and how much he loves it.
* VillainousBreakdown: After crying out how it isn't fair that Peter beat him in their final duel, Hook brings out a bomb intending to take everyone onboard with him.
* WalkThePlank: Or, how WebVideo/PawDugan referred to it in his review of the 1960 version, the [[DoomyDoomsOfDoom "Water Slide of Doom"]].
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: At the end of Act One we see Michael give Liza some fairy dust just before he joins Peter and his siblings on the way to Neverland. Halfway through the second act we see Liza finally arrive in Neverland, engage in some dancing between some animals and sentient trees and watch Peter as he sleeps. After that we never see her again until she joins Peter, the Indians and animals for the fight aboard the Jolly Roger and then she returns home with the Darlings. What happened to her during that time?
* WhenTreesAttack: {{Averted}}, and then subverted. In the 1960 taped production, the Lost Boys hide inside three trees from the Pirates and Indians and can move them about the stage, so we know they are fake. When Liza shows up, however, the trees welcome her to Neverland, bowing and dancing with her and even [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments trading her featherduster for a bunch of balloons and a bouquet of flowers]]. By this time we've seen the boys enter Wendy's house but not leave, [[EpilepticTrees which means they could be alive after all but benevolent rather than evil]].
* {{Yandere}}: {{Averted}}. Rather than Tinker Bell telling the Lost Boys to shoot Wendy so she can have Peter to herself, the Boys see Wendy first and decide to kill her on their own.

Besides being a stage play in one of its original incarnations (refer to the main article), ''Literature/PeterPan'' has been adapted as a musical twice.

The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Pan_(1950_musical) first]] was done in 1950 and is the lesser known of the two, although it was done by Broadway legend Music/LeonardBernstein (of ''Theatre/WestSideStory'' fame). It was originally staged with only 5 songs. Since 2000, new productions have been put on incorporating the previously {{Cut Song}}s and generally restoring the work to the original written version.

The version most people think of when they think of ''Peter Pan: The Musical'' is the 1954 version originally staring Mary Martin as Peter (the musical continues the tradition of [[CrosscastRole cross-casting]] women as young boy Peter to this day). Its notability can be attributed to the fact that Creator/{{NBC}} aired live stagings of the play several times between 1955 and 1960, to excellent ratings. The 1960 production was released on VHS tape (and DVD since), making it the canonical version of the show. This would be the final live televised musical for more than half a century, until ''Theatre/TheSoundOfMusic'' in 2013. December 4, 2014 saw NBC televise yet another live performance of ''Peter Pan'', with Allison Williams (''Series/{{Girls}}'') as Peter, and Creator/ChristopherWalken as Captain Hook.

* FridgeLogic: Tiger Lily and her Indian tribe behave just the way a boy like Peter Pan would assume Indians behave (instead of behaving like any real life Native American tribe), which fits with the way Neverland seems to shape reality to conform to Peter Pan's imagination.

The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Pan_(1950_musical) first]] was done in 1950 and is the lesser known of the two, although it was done by Broadway legend LeonardBernstein (of ''Theatre/WestSideStory'' fame). It was originally staged with only 5 songs. Since 2000, new productions have been put on incorporating the previously {{Cut Song}}s and generally restoring the work to the original written version.

* MobileShrubbery:Hook and the Pirates show up in this PaperThinDisguise to deliver a poisoned cake to the Lost Boys.

* KilledOffForReal: Captain Hook, though whether he was eaten by the crocodile or blown to bits by the bomb Peter threw overboard is anyone's guess. Subverted for most of the pirates, as they are stabbed or shot by Captain Hook during his big musical number but a few are killed offstage by Peter when he hides aboard the Jolly Roger. We also never see what happens to them after the fight, as they are taken captive and forced to join in the reprise of "I've Gotta Crow" but are led offstage promptly afterwards.

* KilledOffForReal: Captain Hook, though whether he was eaten by the crocodile or blown to bits by the bomb Peter threw overboard is anyone's guess. Subverted for most of the pirates, as they are stabbed or shot by Captain Hook during his big musical number but a few are killed offstage by Peter when he hides aboard the Jolly Roger. We also never see what happens to them after the fight, as they are taken captive and forced to join in the reprise of I've Gotta Crow" but are led offstage promptly afterwards.

* OpeningBallet: "1,2,3".
* OrchestralVersion: "Never Never Land". It's something of a {{Leitmotif}}, as it plays for Peter and Wendy during some of the more emotional scenes (Peter telling Wendy to come to Neverland, Wendy and the Lost Boys saying goodbye to Peter, and Wendy calling out the window for Peter to not forget to return to her). It also serves as the music for the unfortunately often-cut ballet between Liza and Neverland's animal inhabitants once she arrives.

* CrowdSong: "Ugg-a-Wugg". The 2014 TV adaptation changed it to "True Blood Brothers", replacing the nonsense "Native American" lyrics to actual those in an actual Native American dialect. They worked with a Native American representative to make sure nothing was offensive.

* ExploitingTheFourthWall: When Tinkerbell is injured, Peter and company save her life by getting the audience to chant "I do believe in fairies, I do, I do".
* FollowTheLeader: The success of the 1950s televisings motivated the networks to air several other fantasy musicals. Among others, ''Film/{{Cinderella}}'' became the highest-rated TV program of its time, and ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'' (which actually made its big-screen debut 16 years before ''Peter Pan'''s first airing) became a yearly tradition across the country.

* CoolandUnusualPunishment: In the third act it's revealed Mr. Darling has been living in Nana's doghouse as a form of self-punishment for chaining her up in the yard and allowing the children to fly away.