a boy who could fly; afairy named tinkerbell; the lost boys of neverland; tigerlily the indian princess; and captain hook and hispirates take the darling family on an unforgettableadventure beloved bygenerations.
dance classes for toddlers in san diego, the milwaukee ballet companypresents j. m. barrie's timeless classic,peter pan. -applause- funding for peter panby the milwaukee ballet was provided by a generous grant
from the anne ray charitabletrust and by the wisconsin energyfoundation;creating brighter futures for the communities in whichwe do business. funding for peter pan bythe milwaukee ballet was provided by hydrite chemicalcompany, we are a north americanmanufacturer and distributor of commodity and specialtychemicals. we partner with hundreds ofcompanies in every industry both globally and inyour neighborhood
to make the food you enjoy andthe products you use. hydrite chemical company is alsoa proud sponsor of pbs and it's programming. -funding for peter pan bythe milwaukee ballet from the anne raycharitable trust and by the wisconsinenergy foundation. creating brighter futures forthecommunities in which we dobusiness. was provided by hydritechemical company, of commodity andspecialty chemicals.
do i believe in magic? youknow what, i think i do. i don't think i could do thisjobif i didn't believe in magic. i believe in magic and thepower of people's ability to suspend disbelief. i alsobelieve it is the only place, the live theatre, where youcan have a one on one emotional experience with whatis happening on stage. and that truly is one of thestrengths of this production. we found a way inwhich to connect. when we ask people to say "ido. i do believe in fairies.",
we found a way to do that, that really does help connectwithout saying a single word. well i open the bookthat's peter pan, i open the play that'speter pan, and i can almostclose my eyes and see what i want to seein terms of neverland. i can see the actionthat's going to be there. i don't see steps. i don't see all thedancing steps.
i see the pictures of the waywe're going to tell the story. and the first person i goto is the composer, and i go and i find thecomposer philip feeney. and i say, "here! i havethis great adaptation. what are we going todo with it?" and we work together on howwe're going to make this work with the music. and of course the music is goingto start at the beginning and go all the way through.
it's not going to stop, becausethat becomes our words. then we need to find therest of the gang, the rest of the team. and we go out and find ourselvesa wonderful designer for thecostumes. everything that you see issomething that i have to draw, decide the colors, paint. it takes me, to do the workingdrawings, about a month. everything has to be drawn,rightdown to the belaying pins in the ship because they'regoing to turn those.
everything is madespecifically, which means i had to draw everythingspecifically. it's got to be larger than life.it's got to be magical. you know, it's like the mast isnotsitting straight up and down. it's at an angle. there'ssomethingslightly playful about that, you know. but, you don't lookat it and go "hey! there's something wrong with theship!"you don't look at it like that. you look at it like,"that's a fanciful ship." the thing i was aiming forhere, is to have the ship
be the big bang. so at thebeginning of the 3rd act now we see all these piecesfinally assembled as a ship, and it comes down stage at you,and there is hook, which is what we'retrying to emphasize. hook's got his full regalia.he'sright there in your face, right at the top of the ship,you knowcoming right at you. the whole idea of the lightingdesigner is sort of akin to a camera in television, where i sort of tell theaudience whatto look at in the particularshow.
i think the challenge is alwaysmaking what happens on stage match the energy of your vision. there are times whereyou imagine something and you put it on stage andportray it and you go, "oh my god, it's perfect!" andthenthere are times where you look at it and you're like,"nah, it needs to change!" i live to become part of theflow of the show. and if it needed20 cues i'd be happy, and if it needed 2000 cuesi'd be happy.
although i would ask for alittle moretime if we had 2000 cues! - nat sound: i've just got tocheckon the color changer, besides that zxf is good? goingup! this show is challengingbecause its big. its big, there are a lotof lighting cues, the cast is very large, thescenery is very large. so that's the challenge. it'sso large and massive, you have to keep everybody onthe samepage and keep it all going. you know, when michael changeswhat tinkerbell is going towear,
that goes to the costumedesignerand now it's a different color. well then the lighting designerneeds to change that because he's going to putdifferentcolors in the lights and then, if all of a sudden we getthe set and we realize the set is the samecolor as tinkerbell, then you won't see tinkerbellbecauseshe is the same color as the set. so, you have to keepeverybody in the loop on every little minute decisiontomake sure that nothing missed. there is only one questioneverybodyasked me about wanting to dopeter pan.
"will peter fly?" and i said,"of course he'll fly!" -nat sound:standby and go, walk, walk,walk, walk.- never in my mind did i have anydoubtthat we would be able to do it. but what i wanted to do was makeitlook as interesting as possible, so i drew pictures,like a story board. i drew pictures and i want theguys to come this way and this way and i'd likethem to do this and that. then it was a questionof what can we do, how far can we push the dancersand the flying people.
we worked on this storyboardfor weeks and weeks until we eventually arrived at aflying sequence at the end ofact 1 that i think is wonderful,because everything is moving. not just the dancers are flying,but the scenery is moving. there's smoke, there'sspecial effects, so i really think people feellikethey're journeying to neverland. well the goal is always to makeit look simple and easy, and effortless up in the air. but there's a lot of work thatgoesinto making something lookeffortless.
the dancers are great because they have anunderstandingof how their bodies work. they have an ability to learnand adapt quickly, but it's not dance. it's aunique thing unto itself. it's a uniquephysical discipline, so we have to teachthem something new. a new way to move their bodies,anew way to hold themselves and they're weightless.it's free of gravity so they don't have anythingto push off of,
so all that controlis from themselves. and then we also have toteach the operators who are pulling those ropesa whole new skill set as well. and the connection, becausethere is adirect connection between theoperators on the end of the rope and theperformer up in the air. both of those disciplines,both of those actions have to be choreographed,and work at the same time to create that effect of allthosedancers flying to neverland. -nat sound: and hold. and bringthem in.
the first time i took flight,my eyes were just so wide open. i was loving everyminute of it. this flying is pretty hard justbecauseyou are in that uncomfortableharness. to be moving around sort ofat someone else's command, is a really interestingexperience,but it's also really fun. i like heights and i don't getafraid.it's not scary to me at all. ilove it! it's like a rollercoasterwithout a track. even if you're inside a studio,you can feel the wind, you can feel the air rushingpast you. it really isexhilarating.
i know they all tell you it'sreally fun, but it is painful. so i was kind of like,"okay, it's alright i'm not flying. that's fine."(laughs) when i sit out in the audience -which i do, every show, i sit in the audience - andthere'snothing better than to hear thechildren, the laughter, the crying,the emotion. that's when you know,as a performer, and as adirector, or a creator, that you've donewell. that you've done your job wellifyou've connected with youraudience.
and i have to say.when you stand on stage as anactor or a dancer or as any performer,and when the lights go up and the curtain goes upafter the performance and the whole theater isstanding?then you know.
