Swan Lake

Peter Pan

Synopses

Swan Lake

In a kingdom far, far away, it is Prince Siegfried's twenty-first birthday. The queen has told him he must choose a bride at his birthday celebration tomorrow night. Distraught that he may not marry for love, Siegfried takes his crossbow into the woods to hunt. Deep in the forest, he sees a flock of swans preparing to settle by the lakeside. Just as he draws his bow and aims, the swan before him transforms into a beautiful woman. She is the princess Odette, kidnapped and cursed along with the other swans by the evil sorcerer von Rothbart. She is doomed to be swan by day, maiden by night, until a prince swears his love to her. Just as Siegfried prepares to pledge an oath of love, von Rothbart appears. When Siegfried aims his crossbow, Odette throws herself in front of Rothbart. If the sorcerer dies before the spell is broken, she will be cursed forever. Siegfried flees to escape von Rothbart's fury, determined to find a way to free Odette, now a swan once more.

The next night, at Siegfried's ball, two fair princesses arrive in hopes of winning the prince's favor. Their countrymen perform for the court, and the princesses themselves dance with prince. Siegfried, remembering Odette, turns them away, telling his mother he wishes to marry for love. Just then, von Rothbart, disguised as a handsome count, bursts into the court with his daughter Odile, bewitched to look exactly like Odette, but dressed in black rather than white. Believing this to be Odette, Siegfried swears an oath of undying love to Odile. At that moment, Rothbart cackles with laughter and reveals the true Odette crying hopelessly, for she is now lost to her curse forever. Odile disappears, Rothbart leaves triumphantly, and Prince Siegfried collapses, tortured with grief.

Siegfried searches madly for Odette, finding her near the lake. Rothbart revels in his victory, mocking Siegfried's promise until Odette vows to kill herself in order to break his powers. Ignoring Siegfried's pleas, she drowns herself, destroying the evil sorcerer. Desperate to be with his love, Siegfried dives into the lake after Odette. In death, the lovers are reunited, and the prince and princess face a new dawn.

Peter Pan

It is evening in London, and Mr. and Mrs. Darling are preparing to go to a dinner party. As Mrs. Darling tidies up the nursery she spies a young boy, and while he escapes, she manages to snatch up his shadow and hide it. Later in the evening, the children are playing before bed. Mr. Darling interrupts playtime and tucks them in for the night. After the children have fallen asleep, a strange flash of light begins darting around the room, followed by the appearance of the young boy, who flies into the nursery looking for his shadow. However, upon finding it the boy is unable to reattach it. He introduces himself as Peter Pan, leader of the Lost Boys, and his friend as Tinkerbell, a fairy. Tinkerbell wakes up John and the youngest of the Darlings, Michael, sprinkles all three children with fairy dust, and they fly away towards Neverland.

Meanwhile, in Neverland, where no one ever grows up, the Lost Boys play and hide from the pirates and their dastardly leader Captain Hook. Ages ago, Peter cut off Hook's hand and fed it to a crocodile, who follows Hook to this day, hoping for the rest of him. The Indians, led by the beautiful Tiger Lily, hunt the elusive Neverbird. The Lost Boys eagerly await Peter's return, and take aim at a beautiful creature in the sky. Unaware that this is Peter's new friend, they fire their arrows and knock Wendy out of the sky. After the boys realize what they've done, Wendy recovers and her brothers arrive in the jungle.

As a group of mermaids sing and sun themselves on rocks in the lagoon, the children play with a kite until the wind carries it away. The pirates arrive by boat and a fierce fight ensues. Peter and Wendy return to the lagoon looking for one another, only to be swept up in a terrible storm, leaving Peter injured. Peter is left stranded on a rock as the water rises until the Neverbird arrives and brings him back to shore. Peter breaks up a fight between the Lost Boys and sends them to bed. Wendy and Peter dance, but when Wendy tells Peter to take his medicine, he becomes defiant and leaves, leaving Wendy to herself.

The pirates abduct the children, Indians, and Lost Boys, but when they fail to catch Peter, Hook poisons his medicine instead. Tinkerbell tries to warn him, but he will not listen and she drinks the poison herself. She can only be brought back to life by the sound of hands clapping to say "I do believe in fairies!"

On board the Jolly Roger, the pirates celebrate the capture of their enemies and the death of Peter Pan, and force them to walk the plank. Peter arrives just in the nick of time and a great battle ensues. Peter and the Boys are victorious and Hook leaps into the jaws of the crocodile, who celebrates with gusto. The victors rejoice and Peter, The Lost Boys, and the children fly back to London.

Mr. and Mrs. Darling, alone in the nursery longing for their children, are surprised by Peter's appearance at the window. He tries to bar the window to prevent the children from returning, but is moved by Mrs. Darling's distress and steps aside. The family is reunited, and doubled in size, as Mr. and Mrs. Darling welcome the Lost Boys into their care. Wendy asks Peter to stay, too, but he refuses, unwilling to grow up. The two say farewell and Wendy watches as Peter flies off to have more adventures in Neverland.