Review Roundup - Did NBC's PETER PAN LIVE Fly with Critics?

After months of hype and anticipation, NBC last night aired its live broadcast of the classic musical PETER PAN. The production starred Allison Williams as the boy who refuses to grow up and Oscar winner Christopher Walken as the villainous Captain Hook. Broadway veterans Kelli O'Hara, Christian Borle and Taylor Louderman also lent their talents to the show along with an all-star creative team.

As viewers shared their opinions of the broadcast through tweets and other social media, BWW has rounded up the reviews from TV critics. Check them out below to see if they believed in fairies!

Matt Tamanini, BroadwayWorld: Meron, Zadan, and Ashford engineered a gorgeous world of bright colors, exciting performances, and magical escapism. The visual and technical quality of PETER PAN far exceeded last year's THE SOUND OF MUSIC. At every turn, we were exposed to another fully-realized Broadway level set, full of trap doors, slides, and whimsy. Though parts looked like an unexplored wing of Willy Wonka's factory, Derek McLane's sets and scenery were exquisite, and added much to the production.

Mark Kennedy, AP: NBC's live telling of J.M. Barrie's classic tale Thursday was an oddly ponderous, disconnected, disjointed and jerky mess. If it had been a Broadway show, it would have gotten the hook (pun intended). It wasn't the small things that broke the spell - ungraceful wire work, clunky transitions, a Tinkerbell that was as annoying as a mosquito and sounded like a wind chime, a tea cup that fell from Peter's head and some technical glitches. "Peter Pan Live!" simply never flew.

Tom Gliatto, PEOPLE: It wasn't perfect by any means - switching between live singing and all those filmed ads killed just about any theatrical energy and flow well before the three hours were up - but the production was colorful and glitch-free.

Brian Lowry, Variety: Stretched to three hours to "eventize" and amortize the proceedings, "Peter Pan" also had the misfortune to peak early - about 30 minutes in, when Peter whisks Wendy (Taylor Louderman) and her brothers off to Neverland - and fly on autopilot thereafter, only catching an updraft during that poignant moment at the end when Peter returns for the adult Wendy (Minnie Driver), who has committed the unforgivable sin of growing up.

Hank Stuever, The Washington Post: "Peter Pan Live's!" one letdown was Christopher Walken as the show's villain pirate, Captain Hook. It was an act of stunt-casting that seemed perfectly appropriate when announced but, in practice, was about as strong as wet cardboard. The 71-year-old Walken perked up some for his final number ("Captain Hook's Waltz"), but he mostly seemed like he was auditioning to be one of those people in the inhaler commercials who have an elephant sitting on their chests.

Pat Cerasaro, BroadwayWorld: No, this was not your parents' or your grandparents' PETER PAN - this was a bold, bright and invaluable new iteration designed to delight a new slew of viewers in much the same way that the original 1955 broadcast brought the world of J.M. Barrie as envisioned by Styne, Comden, Green, Charlap, Leigh and Robbins to a rapt nationwide audience back then.

Alessandra Stanley, The New York Times: "Peter Pan Live!" was a loving, lavish tribute to a beloved musical that offered a new generation of children a chance to use their smartphones to keep Tinkerbell alive. (Peter asked children to clap, but an NBC crawl urged them to also tweet.) It was a cautious, please-all production, but it took guts to do it.

Robert Bianco, USA Today: For those moments when Peter took flight, much of the credit goes to a game performance by Allison Williams as Peter. She's not as skilled a musical-theater performer as Mary Martin, the icon who created the role in the Broadway original and recreated it on TV in two live productions, and a third that remains available on video... But unlike Martin, she's available. And unlike Underwood, she can act - which is a major improvement, and one that allows Peter Pan to be counted as a success.

Tim Goodman: The Hollywood Reporter: Seriously, you can't underestimate the Walken Effect. If you don't like him, well, this was not a three-hour musical for you, because during vast stretches of it Walken seemed to be doing something else entirely than his fellow singers and actors. But for those who love the Cult of Christopher, that level of odd behavior, moments of outright weirdness and his own brand of playing cool in chaos was precisely what made NBC's gambit work.

Kevin Fallon, The Daily Beast: "Wendy" and "Never Grow Up" are just about as charming as large-scale production numbers get, and the cast of Lost Boy dancers sold every pirouette and donkey kick of the rousing choreography. A tamed-down, blessedly less racist production number featuring Tiger Lily and her tribe where "Ugg-a-Wugg" used to be was the strongest example of why filming these live musicals for TV can be a truly elevating and great form of entertainment. And Christopher Walken warbling and doing a little soft-shoe? You haven't lived until you've seen it.

Melissa Maerz, EW: As Wendy, Taylor Louderman was all youth and sweetness. Walken mostly sang-spoke his way through his musical numbers, but his Joan Crawford eyebrows and Dracula-in-velour-pants accent brought out his charm, and the cast of long-haired pirates dancing behind him like Dothraki renegades served as a reminder that the guy is over 70 years old, and he can still scarf-dance with the twentysomethings.

Don Kaplan, New York Daily News: Hook's numbers provided some of the best musical fun on a night when too many numbers felt overextended. "Peter Pan" has never been one of those musicals that scrapes together just enough story to tie songs together. It started as a story and it's still a story - maybe disturbing, maybe confusing, maybe above the pay grade of 7-year-olds, but a story nonetheless. Too many chorus line reprises slow it down. If a new generation of young folks stuck around to get enchanted Thursday, that's great.

Verne Gay, Newsday: In green vest and black tights, Allison Williams -- daughter of "Nightly News" anchor Brian Williams, and a star of HBO's "Girls" -- almost immediately addressed the two outstanding questions that some viewers may have had before going in: Could she sing and dance? (Make that three -- could she fly?) As Peter, the boy who never grows old, and as performed by a 26-year-old actress who has said in interviews that she dreamed of playing this role since age 3, the answers were yes . . . and yes. (And one more yes.)

Sandra Gonzales, Mashable: Speaking of the theater-trained, Christian Borle (Smee/George Darling/Christian Borle's arms), Taylor Louderman (Wendy), Minnie Driver (older Wendy) and Kelli O'Hara (Mrs. Darling) were pretty fantastic. The latter, a five-time Tony nominee, especially sang elegant but captivating circles around the entire cast in the closing minutes of the show, which actually begs the question why the next production can't be helmed by a real Broadway veteran. Yes, yes, star power and all that. But go back and watch those final minutes again, and tell me you wouldn't watch several hours of that.

Photo courtesy of NBC

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