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Video: When PETER PAN GOES WRONG Goes Wrong...
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May 17, 2024
Peter Pan Goes Wrong is now going right on Broadway! The play is now in previews and will open on Wednesday, April 19th at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. Ahead of opening night, we checked in to find out what happens when Peter Pan Goes Wrong... goes wrong.
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Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World
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The creators that gave us the Tony and Olivier Award winning The Play That Goes Wrong are back with their latest
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Peter Pan Goes Wrong. It begins performances on March 17th at the Ethel Barrymore Theater
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and I caught up with them here at the legendary Sardi's. We know that things go wrong in this play
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but has something really gone wrong during a performance that you've done of this show
0:24
Yeah, I mean, so much. So much has gone horribly wrong. Not horribly wrong, wonderfully wrong, let's say
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Why don't you start, because I've got so many- I don't know what I'm allowed to say. Yeah
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The thing about something going wrong in this show is it actually is going right, if that makes sense
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So if that joke doesn't come, then actually it's just you telling the story really well
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So you know that someone's supposed to be knocked out there, but because they're not, what's the play that goes right
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And actually in the rehearsal, that's what you do. You do what should, how the show should have been
0:57
so you know what you should be expecting, so you know where the joke's supposed to be, yeah
1:02
I think one time a door handle actually did come off, and so there was a bit of trying to enter
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and actually not being able to, it not being a joke, but the thing is, with these kind of plays
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no one really notices. You just assume that it's part of it, so that's kind of great
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For you. Plenty, but I'll never tell. They've got to come and see what's real and what's not. Yeah
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Peter Pan, I mean, there's- Where do we start? I once, I think this is okay to say
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this was not on Broadway, but this was when we were touring. My, I do some flying in it
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and one of my wires came off while I was flying, and that was the most terrifying experience of my life
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So what happened is while I was standing, I kind of, you have two wires that are here
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I suddenly went onto my side, was kind of hanging there. The people who were flying me panicked
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so just dropped me, because they were like, we don't know what to do. Let go of me, and I landed on the set
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I was perfectly fine, but my God, what a thrill. It's just not a roller coaster I asked to be on
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Yeah, I would say actually, I think, I don't know if I'm getting this right
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but I think the first time they did it at Pleasance in London, I came to watch, and the very first show, there was a fire alarm
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just before it was about to start, and so everyone had to evacuate the theater
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But obviously the problem with doing a goes wrong show is that everyone just thinks it's a part of the show
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and I had this play that goes wrong out here. I made my Broadway debut halfway through the show
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because Henry Shields got injured in act one, and it took, I would say, 20 minutes of the second act
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for people to start going, oh, I think the smaller guy is doing the rest of it
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and I don't think it is a part of it. It's almost impossible to convince the audience that something has genuinely gone wrong
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What we did on tour when we were doing Peter Pan Goes Wrong, whenever we had to do a show stop, you'd get the audience outside, clapping
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because they think it's part of the show. So we had to start coming out and doing an improv set
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to kind of keep them entertained while backstage someone was on fire or whatever
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So much. The first time we ever did Peter Pan Goes Wrong, I broke my foot almost immediately in the first show
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So I was out for like a month, and it was just doing really stupid dancing
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I broke my foot. And I actually have a broken foot in that picture
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But it's how I met my husband, so lovely. I don't know
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I won both ways. It's great. When we originally did it, we had a bit of a skeleton crew
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doing things for the first time. Our set was very like, looked great, but very jagged in nature
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And me and the flyman were like, yeah, let's experiment. So my shins took a beating
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They're still scarred. They're still scarred. I was just like, yeah, sure
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It's an extra joke where Peter Pan's tights are just matted with blood. Sure, that's okay
3:47
We won't be doing that this time. But yeah, so that. For me, I think mine happened like off-Broadway
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The curtain decided it wanted to be a part of the show that night. It was one of the characters, one of the players
4:00
and we literally couldn't do the show. So we had to like pause the show
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which never happens in the world of Midship. So that was particularly fun
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There was a moment in the play that goes wrong where the clock wanted to take center stage
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and it wasn't its time. But again, like it's just, you're surrounded by people
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that are like, whoop, whoop, and on with the- We'll pull the clock back
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Yeah, we got it. Like, yeah, there's always a way to fix the things
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that go wrong that go right. And then the audience gets to see, you know, a very unique experience
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