A Peter Pan revival is set to hit Broadway with major changes to the story’s cast of "Indian" characters and a new emphasis on misogyny.
According to Playbill, Native American playwright Larissa FastHorse and director Lonny Price are working on a "radically new and inclusive version" of the classic children’s story, made famous by The Walt Disney Company in 1953.
Price admitted that he has been trying to get a revival of Peter Pan together for years. He said that while he always found the story moving and beautiful, he knew a contemporary production of the fairy tale would need to address a "big stain of a problem" related to indigenous culture.
When Peter Pan arrives in Neverland with the children, they encounter the Lost Boys, Captain Hook, and a group of "Indians." After an initial confrontation, Peter Pan and the gang eventually form a partnership with the tribe. They then perform a "Ugg-a-Wugg" dance and singing number that includes lyrics meant to sound like an Indigenous dialect.
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"It was very hurtful," FastHorse said of the script. "Why are Native people the only ones that can’t seem to master English—everyone else has. There’s an assumption that we exist as something to be hunted and fought with and battled and killed. To see our reality put out there as something fun and silly was difficult."
FastHorse also took issue with a character synopsis for Tiger Lilly, who is described as "the belle of the Henny Penny tribe, whose braves would all have her to wife, but she wards them off with a hatchet."
"That’s rape culture," FastHorse said. "There are a lot of things that really shocked me that we’ve been letting kids read this."
Price eventually convinced FastHorse to join the production after admitting she wanted nothing to do with it.
He became convinced of her ability to work on the musical after seeing "The Thanksgiving Play," a satirical play about a group of White, progressive schoolteachers attempting to hold a Thanksgiving pageant. It is the first Broadway play produced by a Native American.
"It was so witty. It was so smart. It was so clearly addressing PC issues in a way that wasn’t pedantic," Price said.
The duo stressed that they are committed to telling the story of Peter Pan in a way that "doesn’t cause harm."
Some of the changes include swapping the "Indians" for a collection of Indigenous cultures worldwide. FastHorse revealed to Playbill that the new characters are "keeping their culture alive until maybe one day they can find a way to bring it back."
FastHorse also said the new Broadway play would examine misogyny in a way not present in the original story. New songs and scenes have been created for Wendy and Tiger Lily, who never spoke with one another outside of Peter Pan’s presence in the initial story.
The Broadway musical will also now take place in the United States in modern day.
"My goal in this was that every child that comes to this show will leave the theater and believe they can look out their window and see Peter fly by. "Not a Victorian child’s window, not a wealthy child’s window, not a White child’s window. They can believe their window, that Peter will come to them," FastHorse said.
