Event

Peter Pan

Live piano score performed and improvised by Ben Model

J.M. Barrie's play about the boy who refused to grow up has become a stage classic. But nearly forgotten is the original 1924 live-action version, a lavish silent fantasy that captures the fairy tale magic of flying children, wicked pirates, and a wondrous land where kids never grow up. Tomboyish Betty Bronson, with an innocent smile and a mischievous spontaneity, is the eternally adolescent boy while towering Ernest Torrence (the burly comic actor best known as Buster Keaton's gruff father in Steamboat Bill Jr.) plays the flamboyant Captain Hook. This adaptation flies from the Darling nursery to the tangle of the Lost Boys' forest, where elaborate, exaggerated animal costumes wander the trails and a floating ball of fairy light reveals herself as Tinkerbell, a lovely, petite girl in a gossamer gown. Long thought lost, a beautiful 35mm print was recovered. USA, 1924, 104 min., b/w

For over two decades Ben Model has served as resident silent film accompanist for The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Ben composes and improvises all his own scores and performs in a style that both evokes the silent era and reflects a contemporary (and younger) audience's appreciation of music and film scoring. www.BenModel.com