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BIRTH OF BARRIE
James Matthew Barrie is born at Kirriemuir in Angus, Scotland. SEE MORE: THE LIFE OF J.M. BARRIE -
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A HISTORY OF J.M. BARRIE'S PETER PAN ON PAGE, STAGE, AND SCREEN
Timeline prepared for the 2014 UMass Amherst production of J.M. Barrie's PETER PAN, directed by Brianna Sloane.
April 10, 11, 12, 18 at 8 p.m.
April 12 and 19 at 2 p.m.
School matinee April 17 at 10 a.m. [Amy Brooks, Production Dramaturg] -
THE LOST BOYS: FOUND
Barrie meets Sylvia Llewelyn Davies, her husband George, and their children. George Jr., Jack, Peter, Michael, and Nicholas will become Barrie's playmates, fellow storytellers, and inspirations in an emerging series of games involving an elusive child-hero and his nemesis, a sinister and swarthy pirate captain. SEE MORE: BARRIE AND THE LLEWLYN DAVIES BOYS -
THE LITTLE WHITE BIRD
Peter Pan makes his first published apperance in THE LITTLE WHITE BIRD, OR ADVENTURES IN KENSINGTON GARDENS, a collection based on Barrie's fanciful adventures with the Llewelyn Davies boys. When we first meet him, Peter (called a "Betwixt-and-Between" by local birds) is a naked baby astride a goat in Kensington Gardens, befriending children who linger there after-hours. The 1-week-old Pan's fate is sealed when he attempts to fly home to his mother--and finds the window barred. -
PAN PREMIERES
PETER PAN, OR THE BOY WHO WOULD NOT GROW UP premieres at London's Duke of York Theatre. Nina Boucicault is the first professional actor to play Peter, establishing a century-long tradition of casting women in the role. As not even Peter is immune to time's pull, he has aged from baby to youth since leaving Kensington Gardens for the Never Land. -
FLYING TO AMERICA
PETER PAN opens on Broadway, starring Maude Adams as Peter. -
PETER PAN IN KENSINGTON GARDENS
Peter's chapter in THE LITTLE WHITE BIRD is re-released as PETER PAN IN KENSINGTON GARDENS to capitalize on the play's overwhelming success. SEE MORE: PETER PAN IN KENSINGTON GARDENS -
WHEN WENDY GREW UP
For one performance only, Barrie authorizes the inclusion of a special addendum to the play. The alternate ending, WHEN WENDY GREW UP: AN AFTERTHOUGHT, is our first glimpse at an adult Wendy with her own daughter and a newly-mature--if somewhat heartbroken--regard for Peter, who has forgotten the existence of Tinker Bell and Captain Hook. -
PETER AND WENDY
Peter's adventures in Neverland are adapted by Barrie into a full-length novel, PETER AND WENDY. Though Edwardian illustrators tailor their pantings to standards of modesty, Barrie describes the now 10-to-12 year old as "a lovely boy, clad in skeleton leaves and the juices that ooze out of trees; but the most entrancing thing about him was that he had all his first teeth." SEE MORE: PETER AND WENDY -
PETER IN HOLLYWOOD
Peter makes his first screen appearance in a silent film, PETER PAN, featuring a screenplay by Barrie and starring Betty Bronson as Peter and Anna May Wong as Tiger Lily. Most notably, this film is the first fully-realized characterization of Tinker Bell. SEE MORE: PETER PAN (1924) -
THE PLAY IN PRINT
PETER PAN is first published in THE PLAYS OF J.M. BARRIE. -
PETER ON GREAT ORMOND STREET
Barrie passes PETER PAN's copyright to the Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital. SEE MORE: PETER AND THE GOSH -
DEATH OF BARRIE
J.M. Barrie dies and is buried in his hometown of Kirriemuir. -
DISNEY NETS FLYING BOY
Disney's animated PETER PAN premieres, forever cementing in the public imagination a cartoon vision of Barrie's characters. SEE MORE: DISNEY'S PETER PAN -
PETER ON TV
The Broadway musical version of PETER PAN airs on network television, starring Mary Martin as Peter and Cyril Ritchard as Hook. The televised musical role of Peter will be reprised by Cathy Rigby (1974) and Sandy Duncan (1979). SEE MORE: PETER PAN MUSICAL -
HOOK
Robin Williams portrays a yuppie adult-amnesiac Pan in Steven Spielberg's film HOOK. Dustin Hoffman is the title character; Julia Roberts's mental disorder during production leads the crew to dub the film "Tinker Hell". SEE MORE: HOOK -
PUPPET PAN
Visionary theater troupe Mabou Mines premieres PETER AND WENDY, a fantasia "[o]n an all-white set representing an Edwardian nursery...using bunraku-style puppets and scraps of cloth and paper, in a minimalist dreamscape. True to the haunting qualities of J.M. Barrie's novel (itself a re-writing of the stage-play), the world of this play is essentially wistful." SEE MORE: PETER AND WENDY AT MABOU MINES -
P.J. HOGAN'S PETER
A new film adaptation by Australian director P.J. Hogan restores much of Barrie's imagery and aesthetic; notably Peter's leafy costume, Wendy's occasional bridling under Peter's yoke, and Hook's inherent sophistication and sex appeal (see also: Jason Isaacs). SEE MORE: P.J. HOGAN'S PETER PAN -
PETER AND THE STARCATCHERS (NOVEL)
Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson publish PETER AND THE STARCATCHERS. The bestselling YA novel provides an alternative backstory for Peter and serves as a prequel to Barrie's novel PETER AND WENDY; in this version, Peter is described as orange-haired and blue-eyed, approximately 12-to-14 years old.SEE MORE: PETER AND THE STARCATCHERS -
FINDING NEVERLAND
Marc Forster releases the J.M. Barrie biopic FINDING NEVERLAND. SEE MORE: FINDING NEVERLAND -
PETER PAN IN SCARLET
PP IN SCARLET (Geraldine McCaughrean) is published as the official sequel to PETER & WENDY. The book "continues the story of the Lost Boys, the Darling family, and Peter Pan, in 1926...and following WWI" (Wikipedia). Notable here is Peter's near-total transformation into Hook when he dons the pirate's coat.SEE MORE: PETER PAN IN SCARLET -
PETER AND THE STARCATCHER (PLAY)
This stage adaptation of the Barry/Pearson novel premieres at the La Jolla Playhouse in California, running from February 13-March 8, 2009. The Broadway production (2012-present) will be nominated for nine Tony Awards. SEE MORE: PETER AND THE STARCATCHER -
PETER IN BERLIN
Avant-garde director Robert Wilson's PETER PAN opens with the Berliner Ensemble, in collaboration with Brooklyn trip-hop musicians CocoRosie. Wilson says of his jagged, leather-swaddled Peter: "It’s a very cruel, dark story, very different from the Disney world. I think that Peter Pan is a prism of very many personas, the dark sides of the character and the lighter sides, and how they somehow support each other." SEE MORE: BERLINER PETER. -
PETER AT UMASS
A new vision of Pan: PETER PAN (dir. Brianna Sloane) opens in the Rand Theater at UMass Amherst.
