Between Maude Adams in 1905 and Mary Martin in 1954, there was Leonard Bernstein!
Adams lives in museums today and Martin on an enchanting TV film. Both are known for playing Peter Pan on Broadway.
Bernstein's complete score for Peter Pan was largely unknown until very recently. Conductor Alexander Frey discovered pages of Bernstein's music cut from the original production.
Let me start at the beginning.
Bernstein wrote the music and lyrics for a 1950 Broadway production of J.M. Barrie's beloved "lost boy" Peter Pan. Bernstein was already a Broadway baby, thanks to Fancy Free and On the Town.
The 1950 show was an all-star production with two Hollywood greats in the leading roles. Jean Arthur would play Peter. And Captain Hook? Would you believe Boris Karloff?
Bernstein wrote five songs, including the beautiful "Build My House," "Pirate's Song," "Peter Peter" and "Plank Round."
But there were some problems with that starry cast. Neither Arthur nor Karloff could sing. Karloff, of course, had that famous speaking voice, so he could respectably intone.
The loveliest song went to Marcia Henderson as Wendy.
You can hear hints of Candide in Bernstein's songs for Peter Pan. The restored score has delightful music through which one can fly, imagine and throw fairy dust.
Peter Pan opened on Broadway on April 24, 1950, and ran for 321 performances — not a bad run almost 70 years ago, if not the smash Bernstein expected.
“Leonard Bernstein has taken time off from serious work,” wrote Brooks Atkinson in The New York Times, “to write a melodic, colorful, and dramatic score that is not afraid to be simple in spirit.”
Even with the Bernstein name, Peter Pan was upstaged by Martin's performance in another Peter Pan production with music by Moose Charlap and Jule Styne.
Martin opened on Broadway in 1954. Television productions of Charlap's Peter Pan aired in 1955, 1956 and 1960. Reruns lived for many years. To my generation, Martin was Peter Pan.
That was then. Bernstein's Peter Pan has finally been recorded completely.
The Bernstein estate has given conductor Alexander Frey access to all of Bernstein's sketches. The result is a new recording with the songs used on Broadway, and all of the musical continuity — flight music, shadow dances, fight songs and a theme for Tinkerbell included.
What would Peter Pan be without a theme for Tinkerbell?
This new recording is worth seeking out for an hour of delight.
Leading up to the 100th anniversary of Leonard Bernstein's birthday on Aug. 25, 2018, Classical 101 is celebrating A Bernstein Summer on air and online.
