NBC's next musical: 'Peter Pan'

And let the theater-buff debates begin: NBC has chosen "Peter Pan" is its next musical, for broadcast Dec. 4 of this year. Of course, this becomes the sequel — so to speak — to NBC's spectacular success with "The Sound of Music" this past December, starring Carrie Underwood.

Casting was not announced Sunday for this production — nor was venue, although NBC certainly appeared to have a good experience with the Grumman Studios in Bethpage.  I'm told no decision yet on venue but that Grumman is under consideration.

Cathy Rigby, above, made this role hers in more recent years — in fact, it's kind of hard to think of anyone BUT Rigby in the role (Sandy Duncan! Sorry, Sandy Duncan fans...) -- but there is certainly no indication that NBC has settled on anyone for the lead at this point. Mary Martin made this an iconic role on Broadway nearly 60 years ago. I've posted some clips below with Rigby, thanks to the web, which has preserved her performance. Rigby was superb, and always will be. (Her first Broadway Pan role, reprised a number of times since, was in 1990, but I think she first played Peter way back in early '70s.) Posted below check out some of Rigby's performance, to jog memories. And the great Mary Martin .?.?.

"Peter Pan" had a brief Broadway run back in the mid-50s with Mary Martin and features some reasonably iconic songs by Mark “Moose” Charlap and Carolyn Lee, with additional material by Jule Styne,  Betty Comden and Adolph Green. (Styne's "Never Never Land" is an enduring Broadway musical classic...) "Pan" is perhaps not as well-known as "The Sound of Music," which of course had the benefit of Robert Wise's wonderful big screen adaptation to reach a multigenerational audience over the decades. It is still a wonder of the stage with some beautiful music. This should be a winner for NBC too — though how much a winner will depend on the casting of Peter.

"Pan" features, most notably, the airborne performance of the star which poses certain risks and rewards, neither of which need to be elaborated upon here.

Notes and quotes from NBC who are returning to Oscar showrunners Craig Zadan and Neil Meron for this one:

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Moreover, this production aired live on NBC all those years ago, so consider this initiative something of a return to the Golden Age of television when anything seemed possible, even the live telecast of a Broadway musical .?.?.

Here's what NBC had to say about that:

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