When Shafali Deshpande was 13 years old, she was part of the ensemble in a community theater production of Peter Pan. It was her first time onstage in a musical and she loved it.
In the years that followed she became a recording artist and actress on stage and in film and television. During the pandemic she turned back to musical theater and now with 240 performances on the road she has come full circle, starring as Mrs. Darling in a new adaptation of the beloved classic.
It will open at Broadway at the Hobby Center next week and while most of its beloved songs (“I Won’t Grow Up,” “I Gotta Crow,” “I’m Flying”) are intact, and yes there is flying, expect to see some changes. Playwright Larissa FastHorse (The Thanksgiving Play) has reset the story to modern times with the more present day attitudes that may go with them.
Such as: not only does Mrs. Darling get a somewhat more nuanced depiction beyond wife and mother who had little to say, but she now has (gasp) a job.
“She’s a working mother; she’s juggling all these different aspects of life, while still being a very loving wife and mother. She’s kind of the glue that holds the family together. Mr. Darling is very huffy; he’s working all the time; he’s not really paying attention to the kids,” Deshpande says.
“Wendy is also a rounder character. She wants to be a surgeon. She’s making a tik toc video at the beginning of the play. It’s very much a modern take. It’s nice to not have this flat one-sided character anymore. “
Deshpande also gets to play a pirate and a member of the indigenous tribe which also saw its own set of adjustments.
“What they’ve done with the indigenous tribe is it’s no longer a Native American tribe solely. They’ve basically taken the identity and background of the actor and they’ve built the indigenous character based around that. All of us portray the indigenous people from the lands that we’re from. So I play a character of the Bo tribe of the Andaman Islands which is off the coast of India. So essentially we’re not appropriating he caricatures or the stereotypes that are harmful. “
“[Larissa FastHorse] did an amazing job preserving all of the stuff that we love about Peter Pan, the magic, the flying, Wendy, Michael, John,Hook, Peter Pan. These are the things we’re all so familiar with. But she kind of tackled the misogyny and the racism that exists.”
Asked if there are ever glitches, Deshpande laughs. “Like any other liver performance we’re going to run into things sometime. We’ve had shows where there’s been noflying, maybe a sound glitch. The power went out when we’ve had some weather stuff. The power’s gone out twice now. We just gotta kind of roll with the punches.”
She considers this version of Peter Pan to be “historic,” and that was a big factor in wanting to be in the show.
“Anyone can see themselves on stage and anyone can believe a little boy can fly through the window and take them to this magical place with all these adventures.”
Performances are scheduled for October 1-6 at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 1:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. Sunday at the Hobby Center, 800 Bagby. For more information, call 713-315-2525 or visit thehobbycenter.org or broadwayatthehobbycenter.com. $35-$105.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
