Cinema Arts Festival Houston 2009

For this performance of Peter Pan, the Festival welcomes Donald Sosin and Joanna Seaton, the legendary silent film accompanists; they will be joined by Paul Reisler, whose Kid Pan Alley project is working with MacGregor Elementary School kids writing original songs to perform at this screening.

This first film version of Peter Pan was one of the most successful and beloved film spectaculars of the silent era. Peter Pan creator J. M. Barrie, apparently seeking to take advantage of the greater visual possibilities of motion pictures, had designed his own fantastical treatment of the story for film, but director Herbert Brenon instead elected to stick very closely to Barrie’s original and wildly popular stage play. Known for its spectacular effects and the camera work of the legendary James Wong Howe, this version is still very much Barrie’s Peter Pan, with the only major change being the somewhat jarring Americanization of the Darling family. Barrie had refused all previous offers to film Peter Pan, but agreed to work with Brenon on condition that he could cast the role of Peter himself. The two agreed upon ballet-trained Betty Bronson (the boy Peter always having been played by a small woman on the stage), who briefly and deservedly won success in Hollywood. Silent film fans may also recognize Asian American actress Anna May Wong in the role of Princess Tiger Lily.

Donald Sosin has been enthralling audiences in the U.S. and Europe for more than 30 years. He performs regularly at the Pordenone Silent Film Festival in Italy and at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and other film exhibition sites in New York, and many of his silent film scores have been released on DVD by Kino Video and other distributors. Joining Sosin will be his partner Joanna Seaton, a singer and actress who has performed at venues throughout the country, including the Kennedy Center and the Rainbow Room. Seaton will open the show with some period songs before the lights go out and the movie magic begins.

Kid Pan Alley, created and operated by Paul Reisler, is a nonprofit organization that promotes creativity in children through songwriting. Children respond to the unique activity by tapping into the creative parts of their imagination, a process that inspires confidence and a belief in collaboration and teamwork that is carried into the rest of their academic performances. This exceptional exposure to musical composition between professional musicians and young children is unique to the organization.