Native American Consultant Talks Preserving the Integrity of PETER PAN LIVE!

As BroadwayWorld.com previously reported, NBC has announced multiple song alterations for their upcoming live broadcast of PETER PAN, starring Allison Williams, Christopher Walker, and Christian Borle. Among the changes, NBC has replaced the song, "Ugg-a-Wugg" with a "more traditionally Native American" song, as Neil Meron said, with the help of Emmy Award-winning composer and Native American consultant Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate.

Tate says the idea of a Native American consultant in a context such as this is fairly new, "It was really interesting," Tate says.

"What NBC is doing, I've never heard of, to go into a musical and tidy up elements of it they felt needed to be addressed. This is kind of a unique event. So none of us have done this... And my experience is that when we look at stuff that was done 100 years ago, there's a lot of stuff that's not necessarily-I'm never really offended by anything, but if you think about how of the times it was, I haven't seen anything cleaned up. They're archived, and they're not really presented anymore."

Of the changes to "Ugg-a-Wugg," he says, "I'll tell you exactly what I helped address. There were three things that I was able to bring to the table to help reconstitute the piece: The first thing is the opening rhythm. There's this very clever col legno that's done with the strings in the very opening that sounds drum-like but also sounds stick-like, which is actually accurate to the Northeastern part of the country with Indians... So we adjusted the opening rhythm so it sounded more authentic. It's a small cleanup. But it moves that rhythm from being generic, and so stereotypical, to something specific, and therefore authentic?

"Yes, and the trick is - to be honest with you, most Americans aren't going to know the difference. But at least we do. Intellectually we know, and musically we know, there was a small adjustment. It still sounds a little stereotypical. That can't go away. Because we were also preserving the integrity of the original compositions and those original compositions were very stereotypical, but they weren't just stereotypical about Indians. They're stereotypical about all kinds of things they address within "Peter Pan." That's musical theater. That's something we accept about musical theater. Musical theater thrives on stereotypes. It just does. It always has. So, that being said, there are still ways you can improve it a little bit to where it has a little more integrity."

Read the rest of the interview here.

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.