'Peter Pan Live!' Casts Tony Nominee Kelli O'Hara as Mrs. Darling
NBC is dipping into the well of Broadway's finest to fill its cast for Peter Pan Live!.
Five-time Tony nominee Kelli O'Hara has been cast as Mrs. Darling, the mother of Wendy, John, and Michael Darling, and the wife of bank clerk George Darling (Christian Borle, who will also be playing the role of Mr. Smee).
She joins an absolutely stacked cast that already includes Girls star Allison Williams in the title role (check her out in the green tunic!) and Oscar winner Christopher Walken in the role of Captain Hook.
Of course, O'Hara is more than up to the task of live musical theater, having earned all five of her Tony nominations in just three years. Her nominations are for her performances in The Bridges of Madison County, Nice Work If You Can Get It, South Pacific, The Pajama Game and The Light in the Piazza, although she's not just limited to the Great White Way: on Dec. 31, she makes her opera debut in the New York Metropolitan Opera's production of Franz Lehar's The Merry Widow.
Peter Pan Live! will air December 4th on NBC, and it's already one of the most anticipated events of the season. And with good reason. If this is anything like The Sound of Music Live!, NBC could be looking at another massive primetime success, even while the Broadway show on which this production is based is far less well-known than The Sound of Music. It should be genuinely fascinating to see how this turns out, as it really could go either way, even with the considerable artistic pedigree behind it (including Oscar ceremony producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, and director Rob Ashford).
What do you think of Peter Pan Live? Are you excited? Is Peter Pan the right show to follow-up The Sound of Music? Sound off in the comments!
Credit: NBC