Amanda Green, Neil Meron Talk New Songs, Expanded Lyrics for PETER PAN LIVE!

In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Broadway composer Amanda Green and PETER PAN LIVE executive producer Neil Meron chat about expanding the lyrics to classic songs such as "I Won't Grow Up" and "I'm Flying," for NBC's upcoming live broadcast of the musical classic.

Green is the daughter of one of Peter Pan's original lyricists, Adolph Green, and has an impressive list of theater credits of her own, including the recent Broadway musical 'Hands On a Hardbody.' Commenting on choosing Green for the job of adding new lyrics to familiar numbers, Meron explains, "It fleshed out the show. It deepened the characters, it kind of drove plot more-which good songs do in musicals. Amanda was just wonderful in capturing the spirit of her father and [Green's partner] Betty Comden."

The creative team also decided to add new songs to the show, including "Vengeance," described as "an entrance song for Captain Hook," adapted from "Ambition" from the musical Do Re Mi; "Only Pretend," a new song for Wendy which expresses her feelings for Pan, adapted from "I Know About Love," also from Do Re Mi; and "A Wonderful World Without Peter," a duet featuring Hook and Peter adapted from "Something's Always Happening On The River" from Say Darling.

Also new will be a reprise of "Only Pretend," performed by Mrs. Darling, and "When I Went Home," a song for Peter written Moose Charlap and Carolyn Leigh that originally appeared in the 1954 out-of-town try-out, but was later cut.
Says Meron, "When ["Home"] was sung originally in the show, according to history books, there was a very, very quiet, subdued reaction to it, because it was kind of melancholy. We felt that would work for our production, because we wanted to go into our characters a little bit more. We wanted to show a little bit of what went on inside of Peter. We restored the song, and it's gorgeous."

Figuring out which songs to use and which songs to change was a very involved process. "We were looking for that type of melody that we loved, that we thought would fit into the fabric of Peter Pan, which led us to shows like Say Darling and Do Re Mi," Meron said. "They were perfect, perfect shows in which to take those melodies and have Amanda do her magic. We batted around a lot of songs over the course of several weeks, and Amanda would be tireless in terms of crafting lyrics, being a team player, and really understanding the character-because it's so much a part of her history too."

Green tells EW that she remembers hearing her father singing "Captain Hook" "a hundred times," referring to it as "part of the fabric of my life." She explained how she adapted the tune to better fit the current Captain Hook, portrayed by Christopher Walken, "we thought it would be fun to write a song that highlighted his particular gifts," Green said. "We all wanted to give him funny and eccentric words and ideas."

Having a Broadway vet like Kelli O'Hara on set also influenced the score for the upcoming production. Comments Meron, "Truth of the matter is, [we] have one of the greatest talents in musical theater working today. We'd be fools not to take advantage of her great talent. We don't like to think of ourselves as fools. There are a couple of musical surprises from Kelli, bits and pieces throughout the show."

A touchy number in the score is "Ugg-a-Wugg," considered by many to have offensive undertones. The song is now called "True Blood Brothers," a lyric in the original version. Explains Meron, "Amanda has consulted with our Native American consultant [Jerod Tate], just in terms of replacing 'Ugg-a-Wugg' with something more traditionally Native American-which has been approved by them and the rights holders. Now and forever, this will hopefully be the version [in the show].

While not sure how fans of the show will react to the musical changes, Meron concludes they can only hope for the best. "We hope that our version is really successful. If people want to adopt our changes, then it's just going to be a lot of flattery for the people that created this new version. We enhanced something that was already great and made it even more musically richer."

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Allison Williams will portray Peter Pan in the highly anticipated PETER PAN LIVE on NBC.The 'Girls' star takes on the role of the boy who refuses to grow up and who is forced to confront the villainous Captain Hook, played by Oscar winner Christopher Walken when the J.M. Barrie's classic musical comes to NBC on Thursday, Dec. 4 at 8 p.m. (ET/PT).

Craig Zadan and Neil Meron will executive produce the broadcast. The duo are accomplished in both television and film, having earned 103 Emmy nominations. They were the driving force behind several stage-to-screen musicals, including the film version of "Hairspray" and TV adaptation of "Cinderella," as well as executive producing the NBCdrama "Smash," which earned a Golden Globe nomination. They were also nominated for a Tony Award in 2011 for "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" and also produced the revival of "Promises, Promises" to the Broadway stage in 2010. In addition, the duo executive produced the 2002 Oscar-winning film "Chicago."

Emmy nominated for "The Sound of Music Live!," director Rob Ashford won an Emmy as a choreographer for the "81st Annual Academy Awards" and earned a Directors Guild of America nomination for "The Sound of Music Live!" He won a Tony for "Thoroughly Modern Millie" in 2002 and has received nominations for seven other productions, including "Cry-Baby," "The Wedding Singer" and "Evita."

Glenn Weiss, who will serve as director for live television, has won 10 Emmys as both a director and executive producer on the TONY AWARDS telecasts. He has also won five DGA Awards for his work on the Tonys.

Musical director David Chase was Emmy nominated for "The Sound of Music Live!" and is one of the busiest music directors working on Broadway today. He was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2013 for the cast album of the show "Nice Work If You Can Get It." He has an extensive Broadway resume, collaborating on such productions as "Damn Yankees," "Billy Elliot: The Musical" and "The Music Man." His current projects include "Rogers and Hammerstein's Cinderella" and he will serve as music supervisor for "Finding Neverland," which is inspired by the Johnny Depp film and will arrive on Broadway in March.

Always sought after on Broadway for his incredible sets, production designer Derek McLane is an Emmy winner for his work on the 2014 Oscar telecast and was nominated for the 2013 Oscars broadcast. He also won a Tony in 2009 for the play "33 Variations" and has three other nominations. His vast array of credits include the revivals of "Grease," "Barefoot in the Park" and "Ragtime," and original productions of "Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo," "Nice Work If You Can Get It" and "Beautiful: The Carole King Musical."

Costume designer Catherine Zuber is a seven-time Tony winner for her efforts on such productions as "The Light in the Piazza," "The Coast of Utopia" and "The Royal Family." Her voluminous credits include the revivals of "The Rose Tattoo," "The Twelfth Night" and "South Pacific," as well as original productions of "Doubt," "Cry-Baby" and "The Bridges of Madison County." She will also serve as costume designer for the upcoming revival of "The King and I."

Lighting designer Robert A. Dickinson has won 19 Emmys for his work on such projects as the Olympic Games, and several telecasts of both THE GRAMMYS and Oscars.