Broadway Vets Kelli O'Hara & Christian Borle Know You Want Something to Go Wrong During Peter Pan Live!

Are the Broadway vets in NBC's live broadcast of Peter Pan Live! nervous something will go wrong during the performance? There is a lot at stake: last year the network’s telecast of The Sound of Music drew 22 million viewers, while the 1955 live Peter Pan broadcast garnered a whopping 65 million viewers. Nevertheless, Broadway alums Kelli O’Hara and Christian Borle are cool and confident about the possibility of an on-air mishap.

“I am a live theater person,” says five-time Tony nominee O’Hara, who plays Mrs. Darling. “There is no contingency plan; you will see anything that happens. You will go through it with us.”

Tony winner Christian Borle, who plays both Smee and Mr. Darling notes that the biggest question marks in the show are the dog playing Nana and the children. "There's no live audience, so there’s no audience to react and throw [the dog] off. We’re going to be in an enclosed space, and he’ll know the drill. It’s going to feel for him—unless he feels our nervous energy—just like any other day. And then the children," he laughs. "Well, that’s a whole other thing.

Whatever happens, O’Hara says she’ll love it. “We come from that world of the show will go on and we’ll make it work. It’ll be fun,” she says. 

"I think people want to see a couple of little things go wrong to see what happens,” Borle adds.

O’Hara quickly interjects, “Little things! Nothing big! These people know what they’re doing.”

Peter Pan Live!, starring Allison Williams and Christopher Walken, airs on December 4 at 8PM EST.