Peter Pan Live!

It wasn't perfect by any means--switching between live singing and all those filmed ads killed just about any theatrical energy and flow well before the three hours were up--but the production was colorful and glitch-free. Allison Williams of Girls made a much more committed Peter than Carrie Underwood did a Maria von Trapp in last year's endless Sound of Music Live!, and Christopher Walken's extremely peculiar Captain Hook was a triumph.

So it was a night where Williams and Walken, at disparate ends of the live performance, gave a lot to their roles and to the success of the night. It wasn't flawless (and if you factor in the moments when Walken seemed to be particularly awash in the lights, maybe you'll be crueler about the overall quality), but it was entertaining enough for three hours of live song and dance.

Thursday's live musical on NBC didn't always soar, but it did generally manage to stay off the ground--or at least it did when it stuck closely to the original musical. But when it wandered into new, less-enchanted territory,the production threatened to become, well, earthbound. For those moments when Peter took flight, much of the credit goes to a game performance by Allison Williams as Peter

It was a cautious, please-all production, but it took guts to do it.

So neither mess nor magic, which may be the biggest disappointment of them all. If it hadn’t been for Walken, that is, wandering around in that red bandanna and manic daze, banging his tambourine.

The expansive, kaleidoscopic sets and swiveling camerawork--including an aerial view--didn’t really serve to enhance any of that. At times, Neverland appeared less a magical place than a cut-rate throwback to the days of Sid and Marty Krofft. Stretched to three hours to “eventize” and amortize the proceedings, Peter Pan also had the misfortune to peak early--about 30 minutes in.

For all of its large-scale production numbers danced expertly by an army of Lost Boy twinks and psychedelic sets designed by someone clearly flying high on some strong fairy dust, the most egregious thing about Peter Pan Live! was that it was an inexcusable bore. For three hours.