Friday, May 16, 2003 | 8:49 a.m.
What: Nevada Ballet Theatre's "Peter Pan."
When: 8 p.m. today; 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday; 1 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. Sunday.
Where: UNLV's Judy Bayley Theatre.
Tickets: $60, $40, $25.
Information: 895-2787.
"Peter Pan," James M. Barrie's captivating boy who's determined to "never grow up," began sprinkling pixie dust on enchanted theater audiences in 1904. Since then, he and his companions in Never Neverland -- the capricious Tinker Bell, infamous Captain Hook -- who lost a hand to a clock-ticking crocodile, Tiger Lily and the three Darling children -- have entertained in a Disney movie (1953), a Jerome Robbins musical with the legendary Mary Martin (1954), an NBC TV special (1955) and a Steven Spielberg film, "Hook," in 1991.
Nevada Ballet Theatre Artistic Director Bruce Steivel transformed the favorite tale into a charming ballet in 2000. NBT will stage its third production of "Peter Pan" today through Sunday in matinee and evening performances at Judy Bayley Theatre at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
"I always wanted to do a children's story," Steivel said, "but, as it turned out, it has appealed to everybody -- 4 to 94. All of us have a Peter Pan complex, so we see ourselves reliving our childhood, escaping the realities of growing up."
Music for the production is by Thomas Semanski, who scored the ballets "Dracula" and "Beauty and the Beast."
Steivel also enhances the whimsy of the story with a tango by Hook and the crocodile and dancing fish, mermaids and dragonflies.
Costumes and sets by Catherine Irving add enchantment. Irving also designed the costumes for NBT productions of "Sleeping Beauty" and "Joplin."
"Bruce wanted to stay with the basic story," she said. "He was looking for something really mystical, a magical, artistic feeling without getting too Disney or too cartoony." The crocodile tail can swish back and forth, up and down, because it's made in foam segments. Manipulating the head can be daunting because it sticks out so far in front. Once the croc's teeth caught in Hook's wig and pulled it off during their tango.
Mermaids have lavishly sequined fish tails. The females have iridescent fins. The men's unitards are hand-painted to look like scales.
Dragonflies wear geisha wigs with antennae. Because they fly on double wires and can flip and tumble in the air, their wings are attached to their legs and arms so they won't get caught in the wires.
Flying is in the hands of Las Vegas-based ZFX, aided by NBT dancers, and they have their hands full: Wendy Darling (danced by both Elena Shokhina and Natalia Chapourskaya), her two brothers, John (John Surdick) and Michael (Boyko Loutchev), Peter Pan (shared by Kyu Dong Kwak and Dereck Townsend), the dragonflies and Indian maidens all fly.
"The harness is a series of buckles and clips," Townsend said. "It's very restricting when you're dancing. You have to get used to it and the extra weight -- 3 to 4 pounds.
"We're accustomed to gravity and walking on the ground," he said. "It's totally different in the air. You're using different muscles and get very sore. Those of us on one wire can do only vertical moves, pirouettes and turns, fly on the diagonal, corner to corner. One of the hardest parts is to not just hang there like a sack of potatoes.
"I love the reaction of the kids in the audience," he remarked. "I'm 30, so when 8- and 9-year-olds get a kick out of it, I'm doing my job right."
"You have to look like you're really flying," added Surdick -- who, as John Darling, wears the traditional top hat and round-rimmed glasses and carries an umbrella. "You have to hold up your back and can't relax. You point your feet and hit ballet poses because they look good, like you're doing a big jump. But adrenaline is an amazing thing. It keeps you going."
Loutchev, 28, gets a kick out of playing 5-year-old Michael. "I make everybody laugh," he said. "I have kid's hair and makeup and run around in pj's and act as silly as possible. It's not difficult, not for my personality anyway.'
Back on the ground, Nana the dog -- Aragorn Berner -- and the crocodile -- Leonide Kofhchayev -- have other challenges. Very hot costumes and "dancing" on all fours.
"It's hot! But it's fun," Berner said. "I go out and shake a leg, say 'hi' to people. It fits my personality. I also get a break from the dog suit when I help fly people."
Kofhchayev is crawling most of the time, lashing his tail. His relief is his tango with Hook when he stands up in ballroom position. "He's scared of me because I want to eat him," Kofhchayev joked.
To prepare for his role as Capt. Hook, Roy Gan watched a videotape of "Hook."
"I play him as a bit of a dandy, rather vain," he said. "My tango with the croc is very funny. I fall off the plank after a sword fight with Peter, and there's the croc waiting for me!"
archive
