"I'm not scared because everyone is working to the best of their ability," Williams told The New York Post. "I am really type A in this preparation. And the other thing is that my biggest training ground is improv. I'll know how to handle things if something goes wrong. The myriad things that can go wrong is why most of America will tune in."
America will have the chance to tune in Dec. 4 at 8 PM ET. The musical will also star Christopher Walken as Captain Hook, five-time Tony Award nominee Kelli O'Hara (The Bridges of Madison County) as Mrs. Darling, Tony Award winner Christian Borle (Peter and the Starcatcher) as Mr. Darling and Smee, Taylor Louderman (Bring It On) as Wendy and Alanna Saunders (Gypsy) as Tiger Lily.
About Williams co-star Walken told the Post, "She's wonderful. She's beautiful. She's very believable as Peter. And she has a beautiful voice."
Neil Meron, who is co-producing with Craig Zadan, added, "We love the fact that she's new. We love the fact that she's on the rise, no pun intended. And to have her in combination with the coolest of the cool, Mr. Christopher Walken, seems like the right DNA for this project."
And, what about that flying? Williams said, "The hardest thing is to face direction. You're on an axis, your spinning around in circles. They determine how high you go, side-to-side. It's up to you to face a certain direction. Each is incredibly difficult and requires a lot of practice."
Check out the photo of Williams as Peter Pan below:
The original Broadway production of Peter Pan, directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins and featuring the songs “I’m Flying,” “I’ve Gotta Crow,” “I Won’t Grow Up,” and “Never Never Land,” opened on Broadway in 1954. The show had a book by J.M. Barrie and a score by Mark “Moose” Charlap and Carolyn Leigh, with additional songs by Jule Styne and Betty Comden and Adolph Green. It starred Mary Martin as Peter and Cyril Ritchard as Captain Hook, both of whom won Tony Awards for their performances.
Martin and Ritchard reprised their Broadway roles in a live telecast of the production, which aired on NBC in 1955. The production was so popular that NBC followed it in 1956 with a second live telecast — and in 1960 with a videotaped version, both also starring Martin and Ritchard. The 1960 videotaped version was rebroadcast in 1963, 1966 and 1973 and was released on home video in 1990.
Read Playbill.com's article "Who Should Play Wendy Darling in "Peter Pan" here.
Read Playbill.com's article "Who Should Play Captain Hook" here.
Read Playbill.com's article on who should play Peter in NBC's "Peter Pan" here.
