“Lost Boys” from PAN the musical at the Historic Lincoln Theater, September 2013. Book, music and lyrics by Conrad Askland based on “Peter and Wendy” by JM Barrie.
I wrote “PAN the musical” for META Performing Arts, a youth theater non-profit group in Mount Vernon, WA. PAN is a new version of the Peter Pan story that combined audience interaction, songs for children and some high brow musical theater as well. One critic said it was the perfect show for children AND adults to enjoy together.
PAN the musical website at: http://www.PanMusical.com
This “Lost Boys” song is a slight departure from the rest of the music in this Peter Pan musical. I wanted the song to be very fun for the children to perform, open to choreography interpretation and a piece to encourage audience interaction.
For me, and I imagine most other writers who have adapted J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan story, a big challenge was to overcome the boredom that easily sets in before the Darling Children and Peter Pan get to Neverland. The setup sections in the Darling house can seem exceedingly drawn out and tedious. I did create sound effects years ago for the straight play version of Peter Pan and I think it took al complete 30-35 minutes before they children even got to Neverland. Neverland is where things start to get fun.
So the Lost Boys song is also an opportunity to shake the audience up and make a clear announcement that the games have begun (along with making many edits to the preceding sections to speed up our arrival to Neverland).
If I just heard this one song from PAN, I would probably think: “Ok, just another Peter Pan musical.” But where this piece fits in my PAN score and script make a very nice delineation between high brow musical theater to something that’s very easy to digest for a contemporary audience.
PAN is a very lucrative show for theater groups to perform. It draws a large audience and delivers on expectations to both children and adults. If a children’s theater group is having financial trouble then this is a good show to regain financial footing. The show also has wonderful teachable acting moments for a wide variety of characters and acting styles.