Peter Pan Live!

Though punishingly overlong and occasionally flat-footed, NBC's Thursday broadcast of Peter Pan Live! was another honorably ambitious and sporadically enjoyable attempt to bring the thrill of musical theater into America's living rooms.

Peter Pan Live!, while better in many ways than last year's "Sound of Music Live!," was still uneven, partly because of casting and partly because of the dated source material.

Thursday's live musical on NBC didn't always soar, but it did generally manage to stay off the ground--or at least it did when it stuck closely to the original musical. But when it wandered into new, less-enchanted territory,the production threatened to become, well, earthbound. For those moments when Peter took flight, much of the credit goes to a game performance by Allison Williams as Peter

It was a cautious, please-all production, but it took guts to do it.

Viewers who stuck with Peter Pan Live! for three hours were treated to a technically adequate, charmingly performed night of retro theater-on-television.

A dutiful, perfectly fine, surprisingly dull evening of television.

Nothing went horribly wrong during NBC’s live telecast of the musical Peter Pan. Allison Williams didn’t embarrass herself in the cross-dressing title role.... At the same time, very few things went memorably right, and the sluggish pace dampened the thrills.

Peter Pan Live! wasn’t interesting enough to hate watch.

She [Allison Williams as Peter Pan] pulled it off, but the whole was slick rather than enchanting, well rehearsed rather than goosebump-y.

So neither mess nor magic, which may be the biggest disappointment of them all. If it hadn’t been for Walken, that is, wandering around in that red bandanna and manic daze, banging his tambourine.

Dull, sluggish and frequently lost, Walken had none of the spark you’d expect from the “swiniest swine in the world.”... Allison William’s Peter Pan was more successful but only because she took a very straightforward approach to a role that should have been bubbling with life.

With a Capt. Hook who spent most of his time seated and an opaque Peter, my expectations gradually evaporated. The show seemed like a slowly deflating balloon.

The expansive, kaleidoscopic sets and swiveling camerawork--including an aerial view--didn’t really serve to enhance any of that. At times, Neverland appeared less a magical place than a cut-rate throwback to the days of Sid and Marty Krofft. Stretched to three hours to “eventize” and amortize the proceedings, Peter Pan also had the misfortune to peak early--about 30 minutes in.