Why Is Peter Pan Played By Women?

Peter Pan is supposed to be a young boy who still has his baby teeth. In stage productions, the actor playing Peter Pan would have to be on stage and in rehearsals for much longer than child labor laws would permit, which means either hire multiple child male actors to take turns playing Peter, or hire an adult female who resembles a young boy.

When the play was written, audiences still loved to see women playing young men!

Largely because in the era of long skirts and multiple petticoats, male viewers found the sight of young women wearing tights and showing the shape of their legs and bums deeply moving.

Because having a Peter is Panned.

Not in Peter and Starcatchers, he was played by adorbs Adam Chandler-Berat.

[quote]In stage productions, the actor playing Peter Pan would have to be on stage and in rehearsals for much longer than child labor laws would permit,

Correct, this is why they never made productions of things like "Little Orphan Annie," or "Oliver Twist."

Actually, R5, it seems that R1 is correct: child labor laws in 1904, when the played premiered, would not have permitted an actual child to play the role. Because of that, it became a tradition for the role to be played by a woman.

I thought Peter Pan was a young teen the age of Wendy, not a young boy. Why would Wendy want to fuck a young boy?

"Peter Pan" is only an a pet name. An abbreviation. It's short for: Peter Pan-Poly-Demi-Boi. Why d'ya reckon he never grew up?

Isn't there some "Peter Pan Curse" tied to any male that ever plays the role?

[quote]Unfortunately this society has all but deified the gender boundaries they've established, especially the rules of what boys should and should not enjoy doing. This is why little girls are praised for interest in "boyish" activities, while boys who do the opposite are seldom tolerated. So such a character, by his fairy-like qualities and elfin appearance, represents a literal blaspheme against their "god". No wonder few stage productions have dared to cast a male for this character, despite the many talented actors, songwriters, and directors available! (Only a few like Disney and more recently PJ Hogan have had the guts to do so.) Yet it is for these very reasons that this character suits me perfectly. Besides, the God of Love that Jesus spoke of is the only one I serve. Too bad modern religion seems to have often missed that entire point!

That's right, OP. That Peter Pan you saw when growing up was a woman. What's more, she doesn't really fly. Peter Pan is a woman swinging on a wire.

Except that child labor laws don't explain all the other examples of children starring in plays.

It also doesn't explain the many young looking boys who could've played it.

Such BS. You could get an 18 year old boy who looks much younger to play him. On TV they have 30 years olds playing Jr. high-schoolers.

Let’s face it if Alison Williams can play him, anyone can including my grandmother.

Judging from the performance broadcast on NBC, that's a damned big "if" you have raised, R14.

I would definitely cast a boy to play Peter.

A 2003 film version had a boyish youth playing Peter. Not bad, though Jason Isaacs as both Captain Hook and Mr. Darling was the standout.

And Robin Williams played a grownup Peter in Spielberg’s “Hook” (1991). (Cheer up. Originally, Michael Jackson announced he was going to play Peter Pan with Spielberg directing. What kind of a travesty would that have been!)

Another reason women are better suited is that male actors wouldn’t have the right singing voice for a musical version, and we all know there’ve been several of those.

R17, you don’t remember my name? I was the fucking lead!

If child labor laws kept them from using a child to play Peter... how were they able to put actual children on the stage to play Wendy and her brothers?

No, there had to be another reason, probably starting with the fact that they wanted a reliable, professional, charismatic adult with box-office drawing power in the leading role, not some kid who might act like a kid.

R19 Well that would rule out Sandy Duncan and Cathy Rigby who made a career out touring with the show.

Answer is really simple; Peter Pan (as in original play) was cast with a female lead for many reasons.

First and foremost you are casting a theatrical release that hopes to make money. Casting some unknown child actor (then) and hoping he (or she) would be able to pull off 8 shows a week (2 matinees) , and draw crowds to seats would be a stretch.

Next as has been proven in many media since and now; it is easier to cast an actress with a certain body type, of a certain age, and particular look as a youthful male (or boy) then finding a young man.

Musical version of Peter Pan kept tradition of stage play in casting females in that role (Mary Martin, Sandy Duncan, etc.....

For both play and musical versions you also have to consider the voice. Female voice can easily sound like that of a male youth; OTOH not all males past puberty can produce a "boyish" voice.

OTOH that other male youth of stage plays Puck, of Midsummer's Night Dream has consistently been cast with young men or boys primaarily since Shakespeare's day.

Mickey Rooney, Ian Holm, Stanley Tucci, Laurence Olivier, Sebastian de Souza, among others all have done Puck on stage or screen.

...back in 1904 when the show debuted, kids under the age of 14 were prohibited by law from performing on a British stage after 9pm. This wouldn’t necessarily be a huge problem for casting Peter — but if Peter was played by a teenage boy, then the rest of the cast would need to be “scaled down,” meaning that characters like The Lost Boys would need to be played by even younger boys, and Wendy by a girl rather than a woman, and inevitably we’d be dealing with kids under the age of 14. Casting a grown man in the part seemed a tad creepy, but also would’ve been a strain on the already-challenging affair of making Peter Pan fly using rope and stage wizardry. Thus playwright James M. Barrie requested that they cast a woman.

Puck is a smallish part, not the lead. I played Puck in a college production back in the day. (Way back.)

Not always OP

Name after Pan, the flute-playing god. Nudge nudge wink wink.

Here is Pan teaching a “young friend.”

R17 Sumpter & Isaacs had such creepy chemistry in the 2003 adaptation. Even mainstream critics of the time pointed it out.

R23, if kids under 14 couldn't be on stage after 9pm, how did they mount a production filled with Lost Boys and Darling siblings?

Did they scour the world for teenagers under five feet tall?

[quote] if kids under 14 couldn't be on stage after 9pm, how did they mount a production filled with Lost Boys and Darling siblings?

I can answer that. the production would be done by 9pm. It appeals mostly to children, and children could not stay up late. It would start early.

r28, I would imagine that's what happened. Recall that after the calamitous Boer War (1899-1902), there were claims that too many potential conscripts were rejected because they were too short and underweight, so I imagine it would not have been difficult to find 14/15/16 year old boys and girls who were short for their ages.

Add it to the list of dumb idiotic out of date traditions this world has. Peter Pan, the original tranny.

Peter Pan should always be played by a barely legal twink and there should always be a gratuitous full frontal nude scene.

r32 = Jerry Sandusky

Ruth Gordon made her broadway stage debut in Peter Pan as one of the Lost Boys in 1915 - she was 19; they didn't cast kids.

In 1915, Gordon appeared as an extra in silent films that were shot in Fort Lee, New Jersey, including as a dancer in The Whirl of Life, a film based on the lives of Vernon and Irene Castle.[7] That same year, she made her Broadway debut in a revival of Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, in the role of Nibs (one of the Lost Boys), appearing onstage with Maude Adams and earning a favorable mention from the powerful critic Alexander Woollcott. Woollcott, who described her favorably as "ever so gay", would become her friend and mentor. -Wikipedia

[quote] earning a favorable mention from the powerful critic Alexander Woollcott. Woollcott, who described her favorably as "ever so gay", would become her friend and mentor.

They were definitely fucking.

R35 She was fucking producer Sam Harris. Woollcott was immediately consigned to the friend zone.

I love you, r10. I totally forgot about that person! Laughed for a minute straight. Didn’t Howard Stern have him on his show?

Holy shit, Jeremy Sumpter has actually had a lot of work over the years. I figured Peter Pan would the apex of his career.

[quote]Correct, this is why they never made productions of things like "Little Orphan Annie," or "Oliver Twist."

In England and New York there are complex child labor restrictions that change depending on one's age, the complexity of the role, whether it's a school night, etc. So producers circumvent this by either hiring actors older than their characters, double or triple casting the juvenile roles, or in the case of Peter Pan, hiring petite women to sing and dance and fly across the stage.

Andrea McArdle was 14 when she played 11-year-old Annie on the Broadway stage. When she took it to the West End, she shared the role with 12-year-old Ann Marie Gwatkin, in order to abide by the stricter English child labor laws.

Keith Hamshere was also 14 when he originated the role of 9-year-old Oliver in "Oliver!" on the West End. Fifteen-year-old Bruce Prochnik played him on Broadway two years later.

The trend within the past few decades is to cast juveniles a little closer to the ages of the characters they are portraying. So you get four actors playing Billy Elliot, four to six playing Matilda, several dozen playing the child animals in The Lion King, etc.

Was this what is termed a breeches role?

Bobby Driscoll, who voiced Peter in the Disney cartoon version, had a sad death from a drug overdose in New York.

Here's Levi Miller, who recently played Peter in "Pan," an attempt to create Peter's origin story. His career is going well so far.

R35, I thought Alexander Woolcott was gay? So a "trouser role" wouldnt have been enough to interest him in a girl, even if she looked exceptionally gay.

And yes, women in "trouser roles" went back centuries, but did rather lose their popularity during the early 20th, when girls began showing their legs and wearing pants in the real world. The thrill was gone after that, although one can still see "Der Rosencavalier" of "The Marriage of Figaro".

Because fucking your leading child sounds worse than fucking your leading lady.

Yet it never makes Hook seem less gay.

R18 Ah Jeremy Sumpter, one of the most pedo lusted-after roles since Tadzio in Death in Venice. I can't even imagine the fan mail, which was hopefully screened like crazy by his management.

R45 There are entire sites devoted to a young Jeremy Sumpter which is bizarre considering that movie came out almost two decades ago.

He grew up nicely and clearly loves the smell of fresh baked cookies.

R47 Emphasis on "young". Jeremy was all of 14 at the time.

What version was this from and was it really this homoerotic or was that done in editing?

That's from the TV show "Once Upon A Time."

Ah Peter Pan, the boy who never grew up or said no.

R47 He was 13 when it was filmed in late 2002; 14 when it was released a year later.

[quote]And yes, women in "trouser roles" went back centuries.

Not that far back. Young men used to play women's roles in Shakespeare's time because women were forbidden to act on the stage. That changed sometime between the 1600s and 1800s.

Jeremy Sumpter was the most beautiful Peter Pan!

I've done Peter Pan four times in my career. Our best Peter, hands down, was a 19-year-old African American woman. Audiences loved her! One of the problems with casting a young guy as Peter is that by the time they're old enough to handle the acting, their voices have changed.

The original Peter was Nina Boucicault, who was 37 at the time!

SHE/SHIM/SHEY!!!!!!!!

Literal violence!

Pirates are cultural appropriation!!

Tiger Lily is an OPPRESSED SEX WORKER OF COLOR!!

[quote] Why Is Peter Pan Played By Women?

Actors Equity, Rose.

Maybe I’m missing something but I find Peter Pan as a character, revolting. Like Holden Caulfield. Grow up and stop whining. Sorry real life isn’t a fairytale and people and the world are disappointing. Boo hoo.

OMG!!! ARE YOU TELLING ME PETER PAN WAS A TEEN BOY WITH HAIRY PUSSY????

Mind. Blown.

You know what this means... Peter Pan is going to become the branding icon for the TransMan community!