This weekend, Newtown High School will present the musical Peter Pan. While the students are busy rehearsing, building scenery and perfecting systems for flying young actors across the stage, the budding theatre artists probably have not had much time to reflect upon the rich heritage of this beloved story. They may also be surprised to learn that a significant component of that heritage resides in nearby New Haven.
The legacy of J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan owes much to Walt Disney, whose 1953 animated film has left an indelible impression on many generations, and it is, for better or worse, the definitive version in the minds of the public. While some would argue that Disney's animated films degrade if not destroy literature, I would counter that precisely because Mr. Disney and his studio had a gift for beautifully realizing classic and contemporary stories, and because they are so popular, his films act as a gateway to deeper reading and appreciation of the original texts which might otherwise have fallen into obscurity. While many of us may get to J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan by way of the beloved Disney film, once we arrive we are rewarded with a delightful and imaginative story with a rich, distinctive history.
Maria Tatar, professor of literature and folklore at Harvard University is the editor of W. W. Norton's The Annotated Peter Pan, The Centennial Edition. This splendid edition has (as the name promises) an annotated copy of Barrie's text, beautiful illustrations from earlier editions, and a number of additional articles and information that celebrate this work in a broader cultural context.
Of particular interest, Ms. Tatar meticulously chronicles Barrie's development of Peter Pan from secondary character in a novel to feature player in his own story. She notes that the character Peter Pan debuted in Barrie's novel of 1902 The Little White Bird. In this novel, Peter Pan is a seven day old boy who has a number of adventures in Kensington Gardens. Those adventures were subsequently published separately in 1906 under the title Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens.
In between these offerings, Barrie wrote a play which premiered in 1904 called Peter Pan or The Boy Who Would Not Grow Up. While the play enjoyed popular productions for years, it was not published until 1928. Tatar notes that during that time, the script underwent many revisions by Barrie. Barrie's notes and revisions still exist, which brings us to the fascinating connection this work has to our home state. Ms. Tatar notes that many of his early scripts "are preserved in the J. M. Barrie archive at [Yale's] Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library in New Haven, Connecticut where the bulk of Barrie's papers are stored."
Just as the Newtown High School students are making discoveries during their rehearsal process, J. M. Barrie made numerous discoveries during the many rehearsal processes from a century ago. I think it is cool that after a rehearsal or performance, the high school students need only to turn right onto Route 34, where a 30 minute car ride will convey them to the front door of the institution that holds and preserves the discoveries that J. M. Barrie made over a century ago.
Happily, Peter Pan's development did not end on the stage. In 1911 Barrie published Peter and Wendy, which in time would be renamed Peter Pan. This is the story that would become the inspiration for a bus company, a brand of peanut butter and numerous adaptations for stage and screen including the beloved Disney movie, a play with incidental music by none other than Leonard Bernstein, and the musical that will be performed at Newtown High School.
There is another part of the Peter Pan legacy that resides in New Haven. Before Barrie wrote any of the Peter Pan stories, he published a scrapbook of sorts chronicling the adventures he had one summer with Arthur Llewelyn Davies and his three sons. In 1901, the Davies family was vacationing close to where Barrie and his wife were also on holiday. Barrie was taking a break after toiling on a play called Quality Street, which was being produced in America by the great (if not infamous) Charles Frohman. Barrie and the Llewelyn boys had numerous pretend "adventures" that summer which Barrie lovingly photographed. These involved a shipwreck, wicked pirates, tiger hunts, forest treks and other such adventures. These boyish frolics would eventually manifest in Barrie's Neverland.
One day last week, I found myself near New Haven with a couple of hours to kill. I visited the Beinecke and asked if I could see The Boy Castaways of Black Lake Island. Anyone can view materials at the Beinecke. You need to have two forms of photo identification and you must leave coats, bags, folders, writing instruments and any object that might plausibly be used for theft or destruction in a locker. Had I planned my visit, I could have registered online, but the librarians helped me do that onsite. Within ten minutes of my request, they brought me The Boy Castaways.
The book is stored in an archival quality box. I was given the box, the book and three pieces of foam on which to rest the book. I was then invited to enter the Reading Room where I spent a half hour with this literary treasure.
The cover was a beautiful deep maroon color. And one of the front papers had a note signed by J. M. Barrie himself: "There was one other copy of this book only and it was lost in a railway train in 1901. J M B 1933." The photos were in excellent condition and conveyed the sense of whimsical adventure of the Davies brothers that summer. It was terribly exciting for me to hold and peruse this extraordinary relic from the world of Peter Pan. It seemed so alive even though it was fashioned five years before my grandmother was born and for a few brief minutes, I felt like I was part of the legacy that is Peter Pan.
Often when we participate in theatre, whether it be onstage, behind the scenes, or in the audience, we are in a sense traveling back in time, as we bring our collective past to life. The Newtown High school students will soon take their place on the Peter Pan timeline as they participate in this dramaturgical journey that began in England over a century ago, and whose seminal works are in repose just a few miles away from their homes, in the archives of Yale University. I am slightly envious of the students, but all the same, I wish them well in their journey to Neverland.
-Martin Blanco
March 14, 2014
The Newtown High School production of Peter Pan runs Thursday, March 20 – Saturday March 22 at 7pm and Sunday, March 23rd at 2pm. Tickets can be purchased at the door. General admission is $16, $12 for students and senior citizens.
Martin Blanco is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama and a member of SDC - the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. He is a full time stay at home parent and is also a co-producer of Newtown's The Flagpole Radio Café, www.flagpoleproductions.org .