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Peter Land | |
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| Born | Peter Oliver White (1953-07-09)9 July 1953 (age 71) Taihape, New Zealand |
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Peter Land (born 9 July 1953) is a New Zealand actor and singer known for hisclassical acting with theRoyal National Theatre and theRoyal Shakespeare Company as well as appearances in many musicals.
Born Peter Oliver White inTaihape, he is the third child of Dr Allan Neil White, appointedMember of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to medicine and the community in theNew Zealand 2007 New Year Honours,[1] and Molly Louise Copeland, whose maiden name provided Land with his last name. Land was educated atPalmerston North Boys' High School,Victoria University of Wellington (graduating from the Drama Department) andToi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School, from where he graduated with a Diploma in Acting in 1975.[2] Land achieved notable stage success after moving to England in October 1977.
HisWest End musical debut was as Freddy inMy Fair Lady in 1979–1980 at the Adelphi Theatre.[3] This was followed by seasons at theRoyal National Theatre inLife of Galileo withSir Michael Gambon and theRoyal Shakespeare Company inThe Winter's Tale withPatrick Stewart, Proteus inThe Two Gentlemen of Verona (1982) andAll's Well That Ends Well withDame Peggy Ashcroft (1982).[4]
Equally at home in musicals with roles such as Cliff inCabaret, Andre inThe Phantom of the Opera, Snodgrass inPickwick, Savory inOne Touch of Venus[5] and in 2007 asCaptain Hook "brilliantly played with a flamboyant, nervous energy and drolly self-guying swagger" in a new adaptation ofJ. M. Barrie'sPeter Pan.[6] In this production, he sang the first stage performance of "Captain Hook's Soliloquy", composed by Leonard Bernstein in 1950 and given its world premiere in concert by baritoneLawrence Tibbett.
He first appeared on British television in theSecret Army series[7] as Erich Devouglaar, a Flemish youth destined for the Eastern Front, while for CBS in 1985, he appeared as Mr. Brent, a 'dream broker', in a season 1 episode ofThe Twilight Zone, calledWish Bank.
In June 2008 Land appeared asRené Auberjonois's brother Beralde inMolière'sThe Imaginary Invalid, at theShakespeare Theatre Company in Washington D.C. directed byKeith Baxter.[8][9]
In 2010/11 Land was back at The King's Head Theatre (renamed London's Little Opera House) debuting as The Bonze in OperaUpClose's radical reinterpretation of Puccini'sMadam Butterfly directed byAdam Spreadbury-Maher.
He appeared inNow or Never, his one-man cabaret show directed by Gillian Lynne, dedicated to the victims of the2011 Canterbury earthquake in New Zealand in London at the King's Head Theatre in 2011.[10] An updated version ran at New York's Off-Broadway York Theatre in February 2012.[11][12]
In 2013 Land played a "leanly rapacious capitalist" inJerry Herman'sDear World in the West End at the Charing Cross Theatre. The musical starringBetty Buckley was directed and choreographed by Gillian Lynne.[13]
He appeared in the Off-Broadway production ofRuthless! as Sylvia St. Croix in 2015.[14]
Land marrieddirector andchoreographerGillian Lynne in 1980.[15]
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