Get hooked on Peter Pan
Royal Winnipeg Ballet offers up a flight of fancy in place of The Nutcracker
Jen Zoratti

For some of you, a holiday season without The Nutcracker is a lot like a holiday season without your great-aunt getting loaded on egg nog and singing dirty versions of Deck the Halls.

We’re talking time-honoured traditions here.

But sometimes it’s nice to see something different — especially something that includes lots of flying and badass pirates.

That’s why the Royal Winnipeg Ballet is mixing things up this holiday season and forsaking The Nutcracker to present the world premiere of Jorden Morris’ adaptation of Peter Pan. This sparkling production of the beloved children’s classic is sure to be a new holiday favourite.

Pass on the nuts?

“We don’t have anything against The Nutcracker,” says RWB artistic director Andre Lewis. “In a market like Winnipeg, it’s nice to give it a rest. Traditionally, we did The Nutcracker every second year, and we plan to bring it back next year. It just helps to rejuvenate it.”

As almost everyone knows, Peter Pan tells the story of a mischievous boy who doesn’t want to grow up. Peter (Yosuke Mino) convinces Wendy (Emily Grizzell) to come to Neverland to be mother to a scruffy group of misfits called the Lost Boys. Navigating through a world filled with adventure, the pair must deal with everything from kidnapped fairies to a showdown with the notorious Captain Hook.

Fanciful stories lends themselves well to ballet, an inherently fanciful medium, but Lewis, of course, has known that for a long time.

“Peter Pan was an idea I brought forward about 10 years ago,” Lewis says. “But there were certain ballets that we wanted to get to right away, like Cinderella and Dracula.”

When it was decided that Clara and the gang would take a rest for the 2006 season, Peter Pan was just the family-friendly show to take the place of The Nutcracker.

Buying a piece of Neverland

James M. Barrie’s fantastical tale has been adapted and readapted from stage to stage all over the world, so the RWB initially considered renting its Neverland. After some consideration, the troupe decided that pre-made sets and costumes would prevent it from presenting a ballet that adhered to the original storyline as much as possible.

“Sometimes people will do a dark Peter or an existential Peter,” Lewis says. “We wanted a more pure and closer adaptation to the story. Ultimately, it was better for us to do it ourselves. And now it’s a ballet we own, which of course opens up the possibility of touring.”

Former company dancer and renowned choreographer Morris was just the person to capture the magic and romance of the famous story. Working with pixies and pirates was no problem for Morris, who choreographed and directed the popular dance-driven children’s show The Toy Castle. Morris didn’t stray too far from the original storyline, but a few subtle differences will breathe some new life into the production.

“The broad strokes of the book are there,” Lewis says, “but there are some differences. Rather than the mermaids, there’s a focus on fairies. Rather than the ‘Indians,’ as they were called, there’s a focus on Tiger Lily and Crocodile, who actually work together to defeat Hook. That might be a slight difference in the storyline, but it’s cleverly done. But all the characters are there: Wendy, John, Michael — they are all there.”

And, of course, so is Tinkerbell.

Rave on, tiny dancer

Made famous by Disney’s bad-girl take on the impertinent pixie, Peter Pan’s right-hand fairy has become just as iconographic as Peter himself. Because of Tink’s small stature, however, many stage adaptations have crammed her cheeky personality (and hilarious hate-on for Wendy) into a simple spotlight that follows Peter around. Thankfully, the RWB has given the role of Tink to principal dancer Vanessa Lawson rather than a big flashlight.

“Yes, absolutely we have a Tinkerbell,” Lewis laughs. “She’s very important. Tinkerbell is certainly part of the book and the movie. It’s done very cleverly and made clear that she’s something very small that magically grows to be human-size.”

With the Tinkerbell problem addressed, Morris turned his eye to Peter. Many directors feel that Peter’s boyishness is better captured by a flat-chested female actor, but Morris decided it would be less confusing to a young audience to cast a male dancer in the role.

“Jorden felt that the role should be taken by a man,” Lewis says. “Peter, after all, is a male. It makes sense. After all, us of the male persuasion are accused of never growing up.”

Actually, RWB company member Mino has the infamous Peter Pan complex to thank for snagging him the role of the boy who never grows up.

“I think I was typecast,” Mino laughs. “I’m like a little kid in the studio.”

It didn’t hurt that the Japanese dancer has experience working with both Morris and ballet geared toward children. Mino danced the part of The Goblin in The Toy Castle, and the similarly mischievous character gave him invaluable preparation for the role of Peter.

It didn’t, however, give him preparation for flying.

To the skies...

“We had our first flight rehearsal yesterday,” Mino says. “I’ve never felt like that before. It’s weird. You feel quite a pull. But now I’m very excited.”

Flight will be a show-stopping aspect of Peter Pan, and the cast has been working hard at making the transition from ground to air as seamless as that from dancer to fantasy character.

“They’re fantastic,” Mino says of his castmates. “When I look at Emily I see Wendy. When I look at Vanessa I see Tinkerbell. It’s fantastic.”

While it’s not be The Nutcracker, Peter Pan should have enough adventure and whimsy to effortlessly win over any audience. After all, most of us have a little part that wants to forsake the adult world and dreams of flying off to “the second star on the right, then straight on till morning.”

“You can be immersed in this story. You can become Peter and Wendy,” Lewis says. “It’s such a delicate, well-written, endearing story. There are universal stories that will always touch you. This is certainly one of them.”