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“So come with me, where dreams are born, and time is never planned. Just think of happy things, and your heart will fly on wings, forever, in Never, Never Land!”

Peter Pan is a musical adaptation of J. M. Barrie's 1904 play Peter Pan and Barrie's own novelization of it, Peter and Wendy. The musical version of Peter Pan opened on October 20, 1954 at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York for a planned limited run of 152 performances. The show had been sold to NBC, which ensured that it was a financial success despite the limited run. It played its final performance on February 26, 1955. The original Broadway production, starring Mary Martin as Peter and Cyril Ritchard as Captain Hook, earned Tony Awards for both stars. Peter Pan has been revived many times most notably with Sandy Duncan and Cathy Rigby in the title role.

We knew we wanted to do a family friendly show this year but also try something new for us.  We also knew we had a very young cast this year, there are only 11 upperclassmen as opposed to 24 underclassmen in the cast. When discussing shows the idea of Peter Pan was at first joked about since the technical aspects are so challenging. That conversation quickly turned into Faith saying “Why can't we..." And here we are.

Of course choosing such a show required bringing in professional riggers, flight choreography and sword fight coordinators. I wanted our West Milford students to work with the best.  The snow has added an even bigger challenge to this. Upon writing this, we have already had to cancel 7 rehearsals because of the snow.  The days our flight choreographer was here we had the biggest snowstorm in years. Yet we persevered and found a way, through sheer will power and lots of hard work, to make sure Peter and the Darling children could fly away to Never, Neverland.

I would like to take a moment to thank all of the amazing people who have worked so tirelessly to make this production come to life. There are so many of you that I won't start naming names for fear I will leave someone out. From my amazing creative team, who I would be lost without,  to every last person who had a hand in making this show happen, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.   I am overwhelmed and humbled by the people dedicated to making this production a success.

I would also like to take a moment to thank all of our audience for supporting our productions.  Without this truly supportive community we would never be able to provide our students with such a rewarding experience year after year.

To the Cast and Crew- You worked above and beyond to make this show come together. Always remember:

"Dreams do come true, if only we wish hard enough."  J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan

Yours truly,

Heather Burns