The city where America's very first theatrical "Peter Pan" was born will soon be welcoming the latest in a distinguished line of actresses playing "the boy who would not grow up."
Former Olympic gymnast Cathy Rigby, whose new production of the musical version of Sir James M. Barrie's classic is drawing raves in its cross-country tour, will be in Salt Lake City for eight performances of "Peter Pan" from Sept. 5 through 9 at the Capitol Theatre.Tickets are available at the Salt Palace box office and all Smith'sTix outlets.
Don't look for any parallels between the life of Cathy Rigby and Utah native Maude Adams, who was one of the nation's most famous actresses from the late 1800s until her semi-retirement in 1918.
Adams, who was the inspiration for the romantic film, "Somewhere in Time," made her first appearance on stage at the age of nine months as a babe in arms during a production of "The Lost Child" in Salt Lake City, where her parents, James and Annie Adams, were both actors. Adams performed the title role of "Peter Pan" in the play's initial non-musical productions in 1904 (the same year Barrie's play premiered in London), then again in 1912 and 1915.
Of course, Adams' and other productions of "Peter Pan" until the mid-1950s were straight drama. No music. Few, if any, special effects.
It was in 1954 when the musical score was added and the famous Foy family's patented rigging allowed Peter to literally fly up and across the stage and even over the audience, in some cases.
While flying through the air with the greatest of ease is second nature to Cathy Rigby (she won eight gold medals for her gymnastic prowess), she didn't take up acting until 12 years ago - in a lip-synched arena production of "Peter Pan."
"That was more like a Disney On Ice production," Rigby told us last week during a telephone interview from Cupertino, Calif., near San Jose, where she was performing "Peter Pan" at the Flint Center.
Rigby was looking forward to returning to Salt Lake City and she noted that, as a frequent ABC-TV color commentator for major gymnastic competitions, she was aware of the great strides the University of Utah gymnastics teams have made with the sport.
Rigby's new touring production is being billed as the 35th anniversary tour of the 1954 Broadway musical version, which starred Mary Martin, and was presented as a limited 16-week run due to Martin's other commitments. (This version, re-staged again in 1955 and 1956 for two-hour live NBC television specials, was recently made available on videotape.)
Other famous Peter Pans have included Marilyn Miller, Eve Le Gallienne and Jean Arthur (who appeared in America's longest-running non-musical production of the show - 321 performances - with Boris Karloff as Captain Hook), and Sandy Duncan in the 550-performance musical version in 1979-80.
Rigby's newly mounted production, which incorporates additional dialogue from Barrie's novel, premiered on Dec. 18, 1989, at the Colonial Theatre in Boston.
Kevin Kelly, one of the East Coast's toughest critics, who has almost the same "make it or break it" clout as Frank Rich does in New York City, was practically doing headstands in raving about her performance.
"She accomplishes midair magic that neither Mary Martin nor Sandy Duncan would ever dare," said Kelly, who also gave Rigby high marks for her musical comedy skills and her singing ("wonderfully, with precision, with range, with style").
"Reminding the audience of her background as a gymnast, this Peter Pan catapults herself around the stage with youthful ease," reported Variety in its review of the show's recent monthlong run at the Pantages Theatre in downtown Los Angeles.
And critics in Memphis, St. Louis, Atlanta, San Francisco, Cleveland and other cities on its 50-city tour (expanded from the original 30 stops) have been echoing the same sentiments.
But Rigby's still excited - and maybe a little nervous - about taking the show to Broadway in December.
"That's the Olympics of theater," she said. "The show has been well-received, but in New York you jump into another league of tough critics. It's somewhat intimidating, but exciting."
Rigby and her husband, Thomas P. McCoy, are producing the show.
Following her earlier productions of "Peter Pan," she said "we wanted to do our own and we knew what audiences were looking for."
McCoy hired the director (Fran Soeder) and the technical and backstage crews, and he runs the business end of the show.
"We went back to the Barrie book and found a lot of things that were so fascinating but had been deleted (from the original play). In reading his notes, we found that Captain Hook is not supposed to be slapstick, but someone you're really afraid of. He's mean and manipulative with a wirey sense of humor on the side.
"There's also an attitude change on Peter Pan himself, who is not only a boy who wants adventure and fun, but has a bittersweet side to him," said Rigby.
The newly enhanced script delves a little more deeply into why Peter fled to Neverland and about his mother deserting him.
"Kids in the audience sit a little more on the edges of their seats in this production and in the scenes with Peter and all his Lost Boys, the kids are as quiet as can be," she noted. "The response has been very good."
Rigby commented that the changes in the script make the story a little more interesting for adults, as well. Those who think they're just dragging their children to a kiddy show end up finding a little more substance than they expected.
"We can't compete with movies and Spielberg for special effects, so we need to capture their attention and imagination with a good story and I think we've done that. There's a little more depth to the story and the show is not just one big production number after another," she said.
Rigby, a 36-year-old mother of four, takes some of her children on the road with her. The show's recent monthlong engagement at the Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles was a welcome stop - since she lives in Fullerton. Her parents and several siblings still live in Southern California, too.
Coming from a family of five (Cathy's right in the middle), she took up gymnastics at the age of 10 and was the only one of her brothers and sisters to be fanatical about it. Her family was very supportive of her gymnastics efforts.
Rigby's two younger children, 10 and 5 years of age, travel with her full time. The production, which has a large number of youngsters in the cast, includes a tutor who conducts classes for all of the children on days when there are no matinees. Her oldest son, Bucky, is going into high school and is staying home with McCoy; and her next-oldest, Ryan, tours with Mom off and on but is home now because of activities he's involved with.
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(Additional information)
Tickets available for 8 performances
Performances of the touring production of "Peter Pan" will be Wednesday through through Saturday, Sept. 5-8, at 7:30 p.m., with matinees on Thursday and Saturday, Sept. 6 and 8, at 2 p.m., and Sunday, Sept. 9, at 1 and 5:30 p.m.
Tickets range from $18.50 to $32.50, depending on performance time and seat location (main floor, grand tier and box seats are most expensive, with mezzanine and balcony seating on the lower end).
There will be no discounts for children.
Tickets are available at the Salt Palace box office (where there is no additional service charge) and all Smith'sTix outlets, where a surcharge is added to the tickets.
Group discounts are available only at the main Salt Palace Center box office.
The Salt Lake City engagement of "Peter Pan" is being presented by The Children's Center, which receives a portion of all proceeds from the ticket sales. This is in keeping with the tradition started by author James M. Barrie, who assigned his royalties to the London Children's Hospital. The hospital continues to receive income from "Peter Pan" more than 50 years after Sir Barrie's death.
All seats on opening night, being sponsored by KSTU-TV, Ch. 13, are $2.50 off the regular price.
For telephone ticket orders call 363-7681. For group sales, call 262-4895.