NBC names ‘Peter Pan’ follow-up to ‘The Sound of Music Live’

Did you really think that NBC was going to rest on their laurels following the success of “The sound of Music Live,” and not want to create another prospective musical for 2014? If so, we wonder just what sort of land without music you live in.

The network today confirmed at their TCA panel that “Peter Pan” is going to be the next ambitious project that they take on, and the casting process is going to be underway shortly to ensure that they have the right people in place here in order to ensure another hit. One thing that is somewhat interesting is that a man is deliberately going to be cast for the role of Pan, which is notable thanks to the fact that the stage role has been traditionally played by women over the years.

In a statement, network programming head Robert Greenblatt had the following to say about the move:

“We’re very pleased to be underway on Peter Pan as our next live holiday musical for the whole family. We were all delighted to see how The Sound of Music Live! struck such a chord in December and brought nearly 19 million people to the live telecast plus another several million viewers over the weekend. In the hopes that lightning strikes twice, we think we’ve landed on another great Broadway musical — which ironically also starred Mary Martin — that is a timeless classic for all audiences, young and old, who just never want to grow up.”

NBC will surely hire another big star, but don’t expect that to be Carrie Underwood yet again. They’ll need to figure out someone else equally famous to be a draw, and make this into some sort of holiday spectacular that gets fans excited.

This is not the first time that television has decided to do something with the Peter Pan story. The character was featured prominently on “Once Upon a Time”

Photo: NBC