Peter Pan (1954 Broadway Version)Script, Piano/Vocal Score & show details

Full synopsis

Act One

While Mr. and Mrs. Darling are bustling about, preparing for an evening on the town, their two eldest children, Wendy and John, pretend to be them. Mrs. Darling finds her youngest, Michael, is left out of the game. She scoops him up and joins in while their nursemaid, Nana the dog, watches ("1, 2, 3"). Searching for someone to tie his tie, Mr. Darling enters and questions, as he always does, using a dog as a nursemaid. As she always does, Mrs. Darling defends Nana by pointing to the previous week, when the furry companion alerted the family to a boy who had snuck into the room. Nana would have caught him, too, but he flew out the window. She did manage to catch his shadow, however, which Mrs. Darling tucked away in a drawer. Mr. Darling insists that Nana spend the night downstairs. To calm her babes, Mrs. Darling sings a lullaby that is eventually sleepily sung by the children ("Tender Shepherd").

Now fast asleep, the children don't notice Tinker Bell, a fairy, and Peter Pan's entrance by flight through the window. Tinker Bell leads Peter to his shadow's hiding place. Unable to reattach it successfully with soap, Peter begins to cry, which wakes Wendy. Peter explains, and Wendy offers to sew his shadow to his foot. Thrilled that his shadow is reattached, Peter bounces about the room ("I've Gotta Crow"). Peter then describes to Wendy the way that fairies are born and die, leading him to introduce his fairy friend, Tinkerbell (who spent the last few minutes accidentally shut in the drawer where Peter's shadow was hidden). Whether it's her recent entrapment or her jealousy, Tinkerbell simply will not be polite.

Ever curious and adventuresome, Wendy asks Peter from where he comes. He describes the place where "dreams are born and time is never planned" ("Never Never Land"). This is where Peter is the leader of a gang of forgotten children known as The Lost Boys, to whom he tells the stories he hears Mrs. Darling tell her children before bedtime. Wendy says that she will tell Peter and the Lost Boys all of the stories that she knows if he will let her, Michael and John come along to Never Land, to which Peter agrees. Wendy excitedly awakens her brothers, and Peter teaches them all how to fly ("I'm Flying"). Peter then covers the kids in fairy dust and tells them to "think lovely thoughts," and the children are soon flying just like Peter ("I'm Flying – Reprise"). The children follow Peter towards the second star to the right, but Michael doubles back when Liza comes into the room. Sprinkling her with fairy dust, Michael invites her along, but speeds away before he can see whether she will or not. They're off to Never Land!

Act Two

As Peter's Lost Boys stand outside their underground lair, wondering when their leader will return, they hear Captain Hook and his pirates approaching ("Pirate Song"). Quickly, the boys hide just in time to be missed by Captain James Hook, his sidekick, Smee, and the rest of the horrible pirates. Hook exclaims his desperation to kill Peter because he is the one who cut off Hook's hand and threw it to a crocodile, which has developed a taste for Hook and follows him around, hoping to eat more of him. Luckily for Hook, the crocodile has swallowed a clock that ticks and will alert Hook to its presence. During his soliloquy, Hook accidentally stumbles upon the entrance to the Lost Boys' hideout and summons Smee and his men to provide background music while he plans the Boys' demise: a rich cake with poisonous icing ("Hook's Tango"). Suddenly, the Croc's ticking can be heard, making the pirates flee. Thinking they are safe, the Boys reemerge but are driven back into hiding when a group of Indians appear, led by Tiger Lily ("Indians"). Leaving the Boys alone, the Indians pursue the pirates.

The Boys see Wendy flying through the sky and, confusing her for a bird, one of the Boys fires an arrow. Peter, Michael and John land, finding the arrow lodged in Wendy's heart. She's not dead but she cannot be moved into the hideout, so the Lost Boys build a house around her, hoping that she will agree to be their mother ("Wendy"). When she wakes up, she gleefully agrees. Later, Hook discreetly returns and plants the cake, but Wendy thinks it too rich for the Boys; instead, she promises to tell them stories. Infuriated that the Boys have found a mother, Hook plots to kidnap Wendy and the Boys ("Tarantella").

Liza arrives just after the pirates leave and does a ballet with the animals of Never Land while Peter sleeps outside the house.

A few days later, Peter leads the Boys in their anthem ("I Won't Grow Up"), almost running into the pirates, who arrive with Tiger Lily slung over their shoulders. Peter hides and, seeing them tie the poor princess to a tree, throws his voice in mimicry of the Captain and convinces the men to let her go. Not a moment later, Hook arrives, becomes enraged at the news of her release and demands that the forest speak to him. Peter proceeds to convince the pirate gang that he is Hook and that the Captain they see before them is a codfish. The pirates abandon Hook, but Hook convinces the "spirit" to reveal its true identity. Peter obliges, disguising himself as a beautiful lady ("Oh, My Mysterious Lady"). Catching onto this trick, Hook tries to ambush Peter with the help of the returned pirates, but they are all chased away by Tiger Lily and her Indians.

Back at the hideout, The Lost Boys are roused to fighting positions as Tiger Lily and the Indians rush in. In the knick of time, Peter enters and reveals the truce between them and, smoking a peace pipe, they vow eternal friendship ("Ugg-a-Wugg"). Tiger Lily and her Indians leave to stand guard around the house above while Peter sings a lullaby to Wendy and the Boys ("Distant Melody"). This inspires Michael and John to ask to return home, and Wendy admits being homesick, as well. When all The Boys voice a longing for parents, Wendy offers hers to all of them, much to their excitement. Everyone's excitement except for Peter, that is, who says he will not go because he knows he will grow up if he does. Wendy tells him she will come back once a year to do his spring cleaning.

Unbeknownst to those in the hideout, the pirates attack, subduing the Indians and giving Peter a fake all-clear signal. Peter sadly sends Wendy, her brothers and the Lost Boys on their way. Before leaving, Wendy sets out Peter's medicine for him to take before bed. After she tearfully leaves, a deceivingly stoic Peter throws himself on a bed and cries himself to sleep while, simultaneously, Wendy and the boys are captured by the pirates. Once the boys and Wendy are carried off to the pirate ship, Hook sneaks into the lair and poisons Peter's medicine. Tinker Bell awakens Peter, tells him of the ambush, and warns him about the poison, but he waves her off as he prepares for a rescue. Desperate, she drinks the poison herself. Dying, she tells Peter that, if every boy and girl who believes in fairies would clap their hands, she could live. Peter asks anyone who can hear his voice to believe and clap their hands. They do, and Tinker Bell is saved. Peter grabs his sword and heads off to rescue Wendy and the Boys.

Act Three

Hook revels in his success ("Hook's Waltz"). As the plank is prepared, Hook hears the tick-tock of the crocodile and panics. It is actually Peter with a clock, and, while Hook cowers, Peter and the Boys help the Indians, the animals and Liza onto the ship to hide. Peter hides in a closet and kills two pirates Hook sends in. The pirates then carry the Boys in and force the pretending-to-be-scared Boys to investigate. Peter, disguising himself as a pirate, sneaks among the villains and joins in with the pirates, speculating that Peter killed all the Boys. Hook believes that the ship is now cursed and, thinking Wendy is the source, commands her to walk the plank. Peter ditches his disguise as the Indians and animals attack, as well as the Boys, who are alive and armed. The pirates are entertainingly defeated, and Peter challenges Hook to a duel and defeats him. In a final effort to avenge his severed hand, Hook threatens to blow up the ship with a bomb, but Peter has brought the real crocodile on board. Frantically, Hook abandons ship. Peter catches the dropped bomb and tosses it in the sea after Hook. The bomb explodes, and everyone sings Peter's praises ("I've Gotta Crow – Reprise"). Before everyone heads off to London, Liza asks Peter to teach her to crow ("I Gotta Crow – Reprise 2").

Back home, a worried Mr. and Mrs. Darling have waited by the nursery window every night, hoping for their children to return. The children silently reappear and sing to their mother ("Tender Shepherd"). Joyous over their return, the Darlings happily agree to adopt the Lost Boys ("We Will Grow Up"). While the new gargantuan family celebrates, Wendy prays to the window that Peter will return to her.

Suddenly, we are at the same nursery, only many years later. Much to the surprise of a grown-up Wendy, Peter has returned. She informs him that she cannot come to Never Land for spring cleaning because she has grown up; she is married and has a daughter of her own now, Jane. Peter begins to cry, and Wendy leaves the room at the sound of her husband's voice. Awaken by the boy's crying, Jane introduces herself to Peter and reveals that she knows him through her mother's stories. She has been waiting for him to come take her to Never Land and to learn to fly. Peter, now happy again, throws fairy dust on her. As they are about to leave, Wendy tries to stop them as she expresses a newfound desire to go back with Jane. Peter, however, reminds her that she is now grown-up and cannot find Never Land; she must let Jane go. Peter and her daughter leap out the window and disappear into the night as Wendy looks on ("Finale: Never Never Land – Reprise").