The musical Peter Pan was based off J.M. Barrie's 1904 play Peter Pan and Barrie's novelization of it, Peter and Wendy.

The music was written mostly by Mark "Moose" Charlap, with lyrics by Carolyn Leigh. Additional music was written by Jule Styne, with additional lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green.

The 1954 original Broadway production starred Mary Martin as Peter Pan, a role which she earned a Tony Award for.

NBC broadcasted telecasts of Peter Pan  in 1955, 1956, and 1960 using the same stars as the original Broadway cast. The 1960 telecast was rebroadcast several times. NBC later broadcast another production in 2014, this time using different stars and several new numbers.

Peter Pan is often played by a girl, keeping the tradition also used in productions of the original play. The only male to ever professionally play Peter was Jack Noseworthy, who was an understudy for the role on Broadway.

The original rights to adapt Peter Pan entailed that it would be a play with music. However, after an unsuccessful pre-Broadway tour, Comden, Green, and Styne were hired to add more music and lyrics, turning it into a full-scale musical.

Instead of using the original final scene from the play, the musical uses an additional scene Barrie included in his novelization Peter and Wendy. In this scene, instead of simply letting the children return home, he returns many years later to take Wendy back to Neverland, but after finding she has grown up, takes her daughter instead.

The musical premiered at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco in 1954, opening on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theatre that same year.

The original Broadway production ran for a planned limited run of 152 performances.

NBC presented Peter Pan live on Producer's Showcase as the first full-length Broadway production on color TV.

Mary Martin originated Peter on Broadway in 1954. The 1979 Broadway revival starred Sandy Duncan, and the 1990 revival starred Cathy Rigby.

In the musical, Tinker Bell is represented by a tiny white light, her "dialogue" represented by a celesta in the orchestra.

The original Broadway production won three Tony Awards: Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Mary Martin), Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Cyril Ritchard), and Best Stage Technician (Richard Rodda).