Week 14: Peter Pan (1953)

Have you read J.M. Barrie's book adaptation (it was a play first!) of Peter Pan? If the answer is no, you're doing it all wrong. I know, you're not a "reader" and honestly, I'm not either, but I'm trying, and this book has the power to truly captivate. Barrie has, perhaps, the most distinctive and magical voice of any writer I have ever encountered. For that reason alone, you should go buy the book and at least give it a try, because it's really quite phenomenal.

Now that that's out there, let's chat about Disney's take on Peter Pan. 

This was a rather exciting week for me, because it had easily been ten years since I last saw this gem in its entirety. I attempted to watch it a few years ago when I was at Disney World, but after a 14+ hour day of park going, who could blame me for falling asleep? In any case, I was so thrilled to know that this movie was coming up on my list that I went out and bought it a month ago. Yeah, I splurged for the Blu-Ray/DVD combo. Who do you think I am?

Oddly enough, with all the delays in my schedule, it so happened that I watched this movie the week after my 23rd birthday, the very same week that Boston, my current home, was attacked by the marathon bombers. These events made my viewing feel a little deeper than it probably would have been otherwise, because it's hard not to wish for a life of eternal youthful bliss when everything around you is completely out of control. So, for a time I was able to escape reality and that was nice and needed.

It's easy to see why Peter Pan is among Disney's most popular films, because it really has a lot going for it. It has fully-realized characters, a compelling plot, and the magic of Disney animation. The older I get, the more intrigued I am with the characters of Peter and Hook. There's something so interesting about their rivalry, because they share a decent number of similarities. They're the leaders of their respective groups, they invest a serious amount of time in trying to outdo the other, and they ultimately want to control the small island where they reside. Another thing they share, more so in the book is the desire for a mother figure. Ultimately, two such similar beings cannot coexist, because otherwise the rivalry wouldn't exist and, fittingly, this is where the plot comes in. Wendy, to Peter's mind, fits the bill of a motherly figure. She's old enough to understand the traditional duties of a mother, but not so old that she can't sense a great adventure. Hence, he invites her to Neverland and allows her two young brothers passage. As for the magic of Disney animation, there are plenty of memorable moments. I will always remember Peter, Wendy, John, and Michael flying around the nursery and over London to the tune of "You Can Fly." In that vein, who doesn't cry a little for Nana as she waves goodbye to the children?

I will say, however, that one area where the film comes up short (for me) is in its ability to really capture the voice Barrie gives to the story. I don't know whether the insertion of a narrative voice  throughout the whole film could have aided this shortcoming or not, but it's something that immediately came to my mind. The narrator only provides the opening introductions. On the other hand, I have seen a few film adaptations of Peter Pan and I don't think I'm biased in saying that this one comes the closest of them all. It may also be the most faithful of them all, too. But my concern is more for capturing Barrie's tone than it is for replicating his plot. That aside, I do love this movie and have since my childhood. Remember the story of how my mom went on to hide our copy of Peter Pan? Yep.

Above I mentioned one of my favorite moments from the film, when the children fly for the first time, and I wanted to talk about a couple of others that I've also enjoyed all these years. As a kid, I always wanted to fly in the clouds based on the scene where Peter and the children arrive in Neverland only to be attacked by Hook and his men with a canon. That always seemed like it had the potential to be a great game, albeit dangerous. Then there's Smee accidentally shaving the seagull. Who thought to add that scene? It's so ridiculous and perfect. I love it as much today as I ever have. And how cool is the animation in the scene where Tinkerbell hides behind a leaf as Peter scolds her for not helping Wendy? Lastly, I have a fondness for Wendy's bedtime story that she tells as she cleans off Michael's cheeks and talks to him about their mother. I will say that in the book (I'm that person, ugh), she, too, starts to forget their mother and it's a very interesting turn for her character that Disney might have been able to bring out.

Before I wrap up, let me take a moment to share some interesting facts about this movie. First of all, three cast members from Alice in Wonderland were brought back for this film to voice Wendy, Smee, and Mrs. Darling, they previously played Alice, the White Rabbit, and Alice's sister, respectively. Initially, Disney wanted to make this as his second animated film, which, I know, sounds like a repeated fact, because I said it about Bambi, too. But here's how it really went, Walt Disney wanted to make Peter Pan his follow up to Snow White, but couldn't get the rights, so he turned his attention to Bambi, which got held up and ultimately became the fifth Disney animated release. Disney did, obviously, earn the rights to Peter Pan, but sat on them through the 1940's as he attempted to find a version of the story that he wanted to tell. Finally, this was the last film to be worked on by all nine of "Disney's Nine Old Men," a crew that had started work together on Snow White. Some, of course, stayed on and worked on future released, but this was their last collective work. Lastly, Disney considered having the opening of the film be about Peter's backstory, but decided against it. Good thing, because there's no way he could have compared to Peter and the Starcatcher. Oh... which reminds me, though no film has aptly captured Barrie's voice, Peter and the Starcatcher, a play, certainly has. Ah, yes, the magic of theatre.

Though I've always appreciated Peter Pan, I've grown to enjoy it more and more with time, especially after reading the book and seeing some of the characters pop up on Once Upon a Time. I even dressed as Captain Hook from Once Upon a Time for Halloween this year. Plus, there's also that part about never having to grow up and I've never wished that more than when I had to actually start supporting myself. Overrated.

 Next week: Lady and the Tramp.

Week 13: Alice in Wonderland (1951)

It's amazing to me that by the time I reached Cinderella and Alice in Wonderland, these movies stopped feeling "dated." In spite of having been made over six decades ago, the (restored) animation looks as good as anything Disney put out in the 1990's, which is my gold standard.

I mentioned a few posts ago that I was set designing a production of Alice in Wonderland and that that process had thrown this whole operation off the tracks. Well, six weeks (seven?) later I am still behind, so I'm gonna chalk it up to a character flaw. I also promised photographs from the production - and I have a few - but I cannot yet deliver the full-out production photos as I am still waiting to receive them from a friend. More on those photos at the end.

Though I remember Alice from my childhood, it's not a movie that I'm incredibly familiar with nor - please don't throw stones! - frond of and that probably has a lot to do with the fact that it's not my mom's favorite movie. We owned a great many of what I now know as the "Disney Classics," but we didn't own them all, because my mom figured that she didn't want to be overexposed to the movies she didn't like. In fairness, my brothers and I were known to watch a few movies, namely Peter Pan and The Little Mermaid, on a daily basis for weeks at a time, so the logic was rather ingenious. Of course, her wisdom was limitless and, for a stretch, certain movies would go mysteriously "missing" until the craze had worn off. Moms are just smart like that.

I suppose a more legitimate reason for having not been a major Alice fan (in case I proved nothing to you with the above digression about my mother) is the narrative. It's all about story, again. Having experienced other tellings of Alice, I can honestly say that Disney's take is not my favorite. Please, don't get me started on Tim Burton's version! While the story is befuddling enough on its own, Disney is not able to make enough sense of it to create near as cohesive of a work as others have. This is where I mention that the version of the show I set designed, written by Eva Le Gallienne and Florida Friebus is my favorite adaptation out there. Also, FYI, I have never read the source material. It's worth mentioning that Disney attempts to do is make a singular film based on Alice in Wonderland, while pulling in elements from Through the Looking Glass, which kind of confuses things. And damn if that oyster scene doesn't still make my head spin. What is that about, really? In the end, the narrative of Disney's Alice in Wonderland harkens back to the company's earlier package films, which suffer from miniature arcs as opposed to an overaching story arc. Maybe if the idea of the Queen of Hearts was introduced sooner and she was a presence that was felt throughout the story my opinion would be higher, but it is what it is. 

Similarly, Alice just isn't one of the more compelling heroines Disney has given us. That's not to say there's anything necessarily wrong with her, it's just that her driving force is boredom brought on by school lessons. With Cinderella we have a young woman hoping to avoid a terrible fate brought on by an evil stepmother, Aladdin is a poor beggar just trying to scrape by, and Belle is trapped by the circumstances of her small provincial (and gossipy) town. Maybe it's just apples and oranges. Maybe not. More than that her motivations are a bit strange. It has always felt odd to me that she followed the White Rabbit, who never showed her much interest or attention to begin with. And then she has a lot of emotional breakdowns! I don't doubt that my growing experience with kids has affected my negative reaction to her tears. 

At the risk of becoming a whiner myself, it's time to discuss the good. I'm not the only one who loves the scene with the flowers, right? I think of all the strange encounters Alice has in this movie, this one stands above the rest. It's visually striking and it's musical. For me, it has the magic Disney touch, because it feels very unique. The moment when Alice is falling into Wonderland is pretty great, too. I also have to mention that while the Queen of Hearts is not nearly as prominent in the story as she could be, she will always be my standard of what that character should be and, I think, is hard to get right. So, props to Disney. 

Those are my thoughts on the film (I guess there weren't a whole lot, or I wrote this blog too long after having watched the movie). Next week comes Peter Pan, who has been enjoying a resurgence in my mind as of late.

Finally, if you're curious to see how I envisioned Alice, here are a few snapshots of the process to tide you over!

The whole process of designing started in December, but it was not until late February that actual construction and painting began. Ideally, building should have started much sooner, but there were budget issues. What can I say? It's hard to design an inexpensive show! And we only had $800, which was crazy. One of the first things we painted were some pre-existing black rehearsal cubes. Three sides on each were painted as seen below, while the other three were made to look like dice. Seen in the picture is my friend, Nadav, who directed the show. Directors who help paint are my absolute favorite and Nadav's already pretty awesome to begin with.

Painting the stage, which was an insane task, started only six days before the show was set to open. Being that the set would have to be a unit set (meaning no major set changes), I decided to create a very elaborate floor design. Below, I am creating a charcoal outline on the stage based on an earlier sketch I had done.

Within the span of 24-hours the stage started to take shape, but it still had a long way to go! And that was before the periaktoi (seen beyond the stage) scraped large portions of the stage. Luckily, both issues were addressed... eventually!

The periaktoi were a huge undertaking. I had the crazy idea to paint a variety of different images on each of the six faces of the four periaktoi. For those of you doing the math, yes, that's 24 different faces to paint, each measuring 4'x6'. But I had a lot of help, because alums, actors, and production staff members alike chipped in. Below, my friend, Julia (left), and an actor from the show are helping to stencil the outline of an over-sized queen chess piece.

My friend, Cara, one of the aforementioned alums, came in to help me. Below, we celebrate the completion of what was to become the Queen of Hearts' rose trellis. It was an optical illusion at first, so we strategically placed some fake vines later. I have something of an obsession with plants on stage thanks to some work I did on a show called, Yerma.

In spite of innumerable setbacks and a generally insane set design, the show was ready to go on opening night. It only took an overnighter by my scenic charge, Zoe, and me. When we finally went home it was 9am... and snowing.  

The best part was that when all was said and done, the show actually turned a profit. And sold out two of its three performances. Bam.