7 most striking things about the Ordway's new 'Peter Pan'

That Ugg will no longer Wugg.

The "Ugg-a-Wugg" song in "Peter Pan" has given plenty of offense and grounded many a revival of the high-flying musical. Playwright Larissa FastHorse has a simple but elegant solution for the stereotypical number traditionally sung by primitive "Indians."

Cut it.

The first Native American woman to have a play on Broadway ("The Thanksgiving Play"), FastHorse has adapted the show for a national tour that launches at St. Paul's Ordway Center. It's her second splashy work in the Twin Cities this fall, after the October premiere of her comedy, "For the People," at the Guthrie Theater.

At first skeptical about taking on "Peter Pan," she has become an ardent fan of the musical about a boy who wants to remain a youngster forever.

"There's a reason 'Peter Pan' has been so beloved for over 100 years as a play and 70 years as a musical," FastHorse said. "It's a great, complicated story about growing up and not growing up and what we gain on both ends. We can all relate to that, plus it's got great music."

That classic also has retrograde elements that have long given offense, including the use of racial slurs and toxic stereotypes. FastHorse and her team, including director Lonny Price — a "Peter Pan" devotee — sought to take out the toxins embedded in beloved elements.

She likened her process to a delicate surgery.

"You can't just cut out Neverland or the pirates," FastHorse said. "So, we had to cull it line by line and page by page, then restructure it. That was jobs one, two and three."

Even so, audiences will recognize the essence of J.M. Barrie's fantasy.

"The things that people love about 'Peter Pan' will still be there, but we want it to be inclusive and not cause harm," FastHorse said.

Here are the seven most striking updates to the Ordway's "Peter Pan."

1. Length cut from three acts to two.

The 1954 musical by composers Jule Styne, Mark Charlap and Trude Rittmann had lyrics by Betty Comden, Adolph Green and Carolyn Leigh, plus a book by Barrie. That work was three hours long with two intermissions.

FastHorse has pared it to two acts and significantly shortened the length of the show.

"Attention spans are different today," she said.

2. Indigenous characters changed.

Many have been nicked. "And you won't notice their absence," FastHorse said.

But Tiger Lily, the Native American princess who gets kidnapped by pirates and is rescued by Peter Pan, remains.

Tiger Lily is just so iconic, cutting her would have left a huge hole in the show, FastHorse said. Instead, she has been reimagined.

"She and her tribe represent different extinct cultures from around the world," FastHorse said.

The playwright and director Price underscore this notion in the casting. The actors playing the "Lost Tribes"-men and -women represent extinct peoples from their regions of the diverse actors' origins.

"We nod to the magic of Neverland where they stay young forever," FastHorse said. "They all came to Neverland to save their culture."

3. Women emboldened.

"It was kind of shocking to see how deeply the misogyny and assumptions about women's roles were baked into this story," FastHorse said. "We kept uncovering layer after layer of beliefs that were like, 'whoa.' Like the only things that make a woman happy are being a mother and good wife. What are we telling girls today?"

4. Sing, sister, sing.

"Believe it or not, in the original, Wendy didn't sing, and Tiger Lily sang the song we cut," FastHorse said. So, she and her team set out to find an opportunity to amplify the show's female voices. They found it with a song.

5. New lyrics added.

Amanda Green, daughter of "Peter Pan" lyricist Adolph Green, culled music from her father's trunk and has written new lyrics for the show. So, this "Peter Pan" will include "We Hate Those Kids," which was cut from the original during pre-Broadway tryouts in San Francisco, and a new number, "Friends Forever."

6. Oh, boy.

"Peter Pan" centers on a teenage boy but the role has most famously been played by award-winning adult women Mary Martin, Sandy Duncan and Cathy Rigby. At the Ordway, 16-year-old Nolan Almeida of Orange County, Calif., has been cast in the title role.

7. Flying through Neverland.

Technology has evolved much in the past century but the way actors "fly" in the theater has changed little over that period. It's still a system of ropes, pulleys and counterweights. Those elements will be used in a theatrical conspiracy to conjure the Ordway's portal into a timeless place called Neverland.

"It was important to us that every child could look out their window and believe that Peter could fly by," FastHorse said. "That's American children of every race, background and class."

'Peter Pan'
When: 7:30 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 2 & 7:30 p.m. Sat., 1:30 & 7 p.m. Sun. Ends Dec. 31.
Where: Ordway Center, 345 Washington St., St. Paul.
Tickets: $46-$163.50. 651-224-4222 or ordway.org.