Peter Pan

About the show

The Darling nursery As Mr. and Mrs. Darling prepare for an evening out, two of their children, Wendy and John, play at being their parents. When Mrs. Darling notices Michael is left out, she gets him into the game and joins in with all of them watched by the dog Nana, their nursemaid. When Mr. Darling comes in to have his tie tied, he questions having a dog as a nursemaid, but Mrs. Darling defends her. The previous week, while the children slept, Nana saw a boy in the room who flew out of the window before she could catch him, leaving behind his shadow, which Mrs. Darling has put away in a drawer. In spite of this, Mr. Darling still insists on Nana spending the night downstairs tied up. Mrs. Darling and the children sing a lullaby ("Tender Shepherd"). The children fall asleep. A fairy, Tinker Bell, and Peter Pan fly in through the window to look for his shadow. Wendy is awakened by the boy's cries when he is unable to re-attach his shadow and helps him by sewing it back on. Peter is thrilled when his shadow is re-attached ("I've Gotta Crow") and tells her that he lives in Neverland ("Never Never Land") with the Lost Boys. Peter gives her a "kiss" (a button) that Wendy puts around her neck after giving him a "kiss" (a thimble). Wendy wakes her brothers up, and Peter invites them all to Neverland, and promises to teach them to fly. Peter happily launches himself into the air ("I'm Flying"). Peter sprinkles the children with fairy dust and tells them to "think lovely thoughts" ("I'm Flying – Reprise"). The children follow Peter, but Michael goes back when the maid, Liza, comes into the room, giving her some of his fairy dust and inviting her to come to Neverland with them. In later Broadway revivals, the Liza scene is replaced with Peter and the Darling children flying over London on their way to Neverland. Neverland In Neverland, Peter's "Lost Boys" are standing outside their underground lair, wondering when he will return, when they hear Captain Hook and his pirates ("Pirate March"). The boys hide. Hook tells Smee, his right-hand man, that he wants to kill Peter, because he cut off his hand and threw it to a crocodile, which has since then developed a taste for Hook and follows him around. He had to replace his hand with a hook. Luckily for Hook, the crocodile has swallowed a clock that ticks and alerts Hook to its presence. Hook accidentally stumbles upon the entrance to the hideout, and summons Smee and his men to provide background music while he plans the Boys' demise ("Hook's Tango"), a rich cake with poisonous icing. Hook suddenly hears a loud tick-tock; the crocodile appears but Hook escapes. The pirates flee, and the Boys reappear, thinking they are safe. Suddenly, a group of "Indians" appears, led by Tiger Lily ("Indians"). They leave the Boys alone, and go on hunting the pirates. The Lost Boys suddenly spot Wendy in the sky and thinking she is a bird, one of them shoots an arrow. Peter, Michael and John land and think the arrow lodged in her heart, but instead find it stuck in the button Peter gave her and she is not dead. The Lost Boys build a house around her, hoping that she will become their mother ("Wendy"), to which, when she wakes up, she agrees. Hook plants the cake, but Wendy doesn't let the children eat it as she knows it wouldn't be good for them; instead, she tells the Boys stories, including Cinderella. Hook is infuriated that the Boys have found a mother. He plots to kidnap Wendy and the Boys, while Smee and the pirates play another song "Hook's Tarantella". After the pirates leave for their ship, Liza arrives and dances with the animals of Neverland while Peter keeps watch outside the house. A few days pass with everyone having adventures. One day in the forest, after Peter leads the Boys in their anthem ("I Won't Grow Up"), they almost run into the pirates, who have captured Tiger Lily and tie her to a tree. Peter hides and mimics Hook's voice, ordering the men to release her. When Hook arrives, he is enraged and demands that the "spirit of the forest" speak to him. Peter tricks them all into thinking he is Hook, and that the real Hook is a codfish. Hook asks the "spirit" to reveal its true identity. Peter obliges, pretending to be a "beautiful lady" ("Oh, My Mysterious Lady") and Hook and his pirates try to ambush Peter, but they are chased away by Tiger Lily and her tribe of Native Americans. Back at the hideout, Tiger Lily and her tribe are almost shot by the Boys, until Peter reveals the truce between them. They smoke a peace pipe and vow eternal friendship ("Ugg-a-Wugg"). Tiger Lily and her Indians leave to stand guard around the house above. Wendy asks Peter to sing the Boys a lullaby ("Distant Melody") based on the classic fairy tale Cinderella. Michael and John want to return home, and Wendy admits to being homesick, too. The Boys wish they had parents, and Wendy offers hers to all of them. Everyone is excited about being adopted, except Peter, who says he will not go because he knows he will grow up if he does. Wendy tells him she will come back once a year to do his spring cleaning. The pirates attack and subdue the Indians. They give Peter a fake all-clear signal, so Peter sadly sends Wendy, her brothers, and the Lost Boys on their way. Before she leaves, Wendy sets out Peter's "medicine" (a drop of water) for him to take before bed. After she tearfully leaves, Peter, who pretended not to care, throws himself on a bed and cries himself to sleep. As they leave the underground house, Wendy and the boys are captured by the pirates. Hook then sneaks into the lair and poisons Peter's "medicine". Tinker Bell awakens Peter, tells him of the ambush, and warns him about the poison, but he waves her off as he prepares for a rescue. Desperate, she drinks the poison herself. Dying, she tells Peter that if every boy and girl who believes in fairies would clap their hands, she would live. Peter asks the audience to believe and clap their hands. They do, and Tinker Bell is saved. Peter grabs his dagger and heads off to rescue Wendy and the Boys. The Jolly Roger Hook revels in his success ("Hook's Waltz"). As the plank is prepared, Hook hears the tick-tock of the crocodile and panics. It is actually Peter with a clock, and while Hook cowers Peter and the Boys help the Indians, the animals and Liza onto the ship and hide. Peter hides in a closet and kills two pirates Hook sends in. A third pirate, Starkey, refuses to obey Hook's order to go in and jumps overboard. The pirates then carry the Boys in, and the Boys pretend to be afraid as they are carried in. Peter disguises himself as a pirate, and the pirates think the "doodle-doo" (named so because Peter still crows after killing the pirates) killed all the Boys. Hook believes the ship is now cursed, and everyone thinks Wendy is the source. The pirates push Wendy to the plank. Peter ditches his disguise and the Indians and animals attack, as well as the Boys who are alive and armed. The pirates are all defeated, and Peter challenges Hook to a duel and defeats him. Hook threatens to blow up the ship with a bomb, but runs into the real crocodile (whom Peter also brought on the ship). Peter catches the dropped bomb and tosses it in the sea after Hook slides down the plank (which is shaped like a slide) with the crocodile chasing behind him. As Peter puts his fingers in his ears, the bomb explodes and Hook is eaten by the crocodile. Everyone sings Peter's praises ("Finale: I've Gotta Crow" [reprise]). Before the Darling children and the Lost Boys go to London, Liza asks Peter to teach her to crow ("Finale: I've Gotta Crow" [2nd reprise]). Back home, the Darlings sit by the nursery window night after night, hoping for the return of their children. The children silently reappear and sing to their mother ("Tender Shepherd" [reprise]). The Darlings happily agree to adopt the Lost Boys ("Finale: We Will Grow Up"). Wendy promises to wait for Peter, hoping that one day he will return for her. Years pass, and Peter returns to the nursery, surprising a much older Wendy, who no longer expected him. He has come to take her to Neverland for Spring cleaning, but she declines as she is now grown up; married with a daughter of her own, Jane. Peter starts to cry, and Wendy leaves the room at the sound of her husband's offstage voice. Jane awakes and, like her mother before her, asks, "Boy, why are you crying?" Peter introduces himself, but Jane knows all about him from her mother's stories. She has been waiting for him to come take her to Neverland and to learn to fly. Peter, now happy again, throws fairy dust on her, but as they are about to leave, Wendy tries to stop them, saying, "Oh, if only I could go with you!" In the most poignant moment of the show, Peter answers with a sad but understanding smile, "You can't. You see, Wendy... you're too grown up" and so Wendy reluctantly lets Jane go, "just for Spring cleaning." Her daughter and the "boy who wouldn't grow up" fly off into the night as Wendy watches from the window. ("Finale: Never Never Land [Reprise]")