PETER PAN w/ Musical Score on Harp by Leslie McMichael & Performance by The Lovelights!

Harpist-composer Leslie McMichael has toured and played live with classic silent films throughout the U.S. at theatres, museums, and film festivals. Her score for the 1924 Peter Pan premiered at Northwest Film Forum in Seattle and was featured on the public radio show The Score when host Edmund Stone devoted an episode to New Scores for Silent Films. McMichael has received score commissions for silent film, animation, and dance, writing for harp, strings, and toy instruments. She lives on Vashon Island in Washington State. McMichael says "It’s thrilling to go on tour playing my original score live with film screenings. Pairing the visual of film with my music allows my harp playing to meld with the expressive acting so typical of the silent era -- very fun!" 

Look forward to charm and imagination in the introduction and additional special effects that will be provided by The Lovelight Theater of Turners Falls, Massachusetts. They are the creators of the annual Fairy House Day on Ave. A and  Public access T.V. show "The Lovelights",  as well as The Children's Page of the Montague Reporter, and the non-profit art space: Looky Here in Greenfield.

Critical Acclaim

 “McMichael creates a soundscape that is both varied in texture and tone, alternating between the various sounds with cinematic panache ... It’s hard to imagine what the more standard musical accompaniment would have been, now with the harp washing over all the sepia-toned images." -Rivet Magazine

"Leslie's score, though traditional in many ways and entirely faithful to the film, is filled with razzle-dazzle and a sly mischief that is the perfect complement to Peter Pan's onscreen antics.” -Elizabeth Shepherd, Children’s Film Festival Seattle 

About the film

Starring Anna May Wong, Betty Bronson, Ernest Torrence. The 1924 silent film was the first of the many cinematic versions of the story by J.M Barrie, and it remains arguably the best, expertly capturing the childlike innocence and enthralling magic of the tale. Peter Pan’s Dublin-born director Herbert Brenon made over 30 silent films, but most of them remain unknown to modern viewers. The Paramount studio shelved them after “talkies” gained the day; Peter Pan would not be restored or viewable for almost 80 years. Brenon’s film was a close adaptation of the hugely successful stage play of J.M. Barrie’s novel and featured amazing special effects and beguiling imagry. The theatrical tradition of casting petite actresses as Peter Pan began at the very start because it was easier to maneuver them in harnesses around the stage. Barrie himself viewed screen tests and selected relatively unknown teenage actress Betty Bronson as "The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up". For many years it was thought that, like so many other silent films, Peter Pan was lost. However, a 35mm print turned up in the 1950s. The copy has since been restored and released by Martin Scorsese's The Film Foundation.

*Content Warning: please note that the film does contain some problematic stereotypes which reflect imperialist Victorian attitudes from when the novel was written. We hope this experience can provide an opportunity for you to thoughtfully discuss media and representation with your children.