Peter Pan Product

The historic live 1956 telecast of Mary Martin as Peter Pan is now available for the first time on home video. This performance is widely considered the definitive version of the beloved musical. Just nine days after the initial Broadway run concluded, Director Jerome Robbins oversaw the cast and crew as they gathered in the large Brooklyn studios of NBC to bring the show to life on television.

Cyril Ritchard, who portrayed Captain Hook, described the telecast's immense success by stating, "...it was not just a TV performance, it was a stage production brought to the cameras." A year later, the same cast came together to perform several shows at the Ambassador Theater in New York City for invited children audiences in preparation for the second live telecast of Peter Pan. This ensured that the 1956 telecast maintained the same fresh theatrical quality as the first.

The New York Times celebrated the second telecast as "Thrilling!... The production had that electrifying excitement of theatre at its most finished and, above all, that contagious espirit that joins player and audience in a sublime escape from reality." Alongside Mary Martin, the stellar cast included Kathy Nolan as Wendy, Sondra Lee as Tiger Lily, and Heller Halliday, Mary Martin's daughter, as Liza.

The unforgettable songs such as "Never Never Land," "I've Gotta Crow," and "I Won't Grow Up" were composed by Mark "Moose" Charlap and Carolyn Leigh, as well as Jule Styne and Betty Comden and Adolph Green.

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