Pan-demic

I must say I never really got Peter Pan. I've not read the novel and although I have seen the play in several incarnations on stage and screen, I have never really bought into the sentiment of it all. It's world of nursery games, thimble kisses, Red Indians and pirates was never part of my childhood and while I appreciate the narrative, it has always struck me as a cloying, saccharine affair - a sentimental relic of the turn of the last century. 

When Lost Boyopened at the Finborough at the beginning of January, my eyes were opened somewhat. Phil Willmott’s take on the ‘Peter Pan’ legend looks at the idea that many of the novel’s first readers were slaughtered in World War I. Central to Willmott’s adaptation is George Llewelyn Davies, the young man on who JM Barrie based the character of Peter and who died leading his troops into battle in Flanders.

In his musical, Willmott draws parallels between the gay abandon by which Peter leads the Lost Boys into battle with the pirates and the gung-ho spirit by which young men signed up to certain death in the trenches. Willmott’s Pan is forced to grow up, just like all the other Lost Boys who have found jobs in the city but spend Friday nights carousing on the wrong side of Hyde Park until they valiantly sign up to protect King and country.

This new musical is the real deal, marred only by the restrictions of budget but still making the most of the space and talent on offer. Lost Boy is a musical of possibilities with a strong, cliché free score more reminiscent of Broadway than the West End and a riveting book – it’s always comes down to the book - that addresses issues from male bonding to revenge, all within the confines of characters created by JM Barrie.

Lost Boy has now transferred to the Charing Cross until February 15. I am looking forward to checking it out and seeing how it looks on a bigger stage.