Peter and The Starcatcher is a wildly theatrical, hilarious and innovative retelling of how an orphan came to be “The Boy Who Never Grew Up” and upends our notion of the century-old legend of Peter Pan. The play is based on the best-selling novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson and is directed by Tony Award® winner Roger Rees (Nicholas Nickleby) and Tony Award® nominee Alex Timbers (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, The Pee-wee Herman Show) and written by Tony Award® nominee Rick Elice (Jersey Boys).
First, let’s be clear, although it’s about Peter Pan, it’s not a kids play per se. Just from the audience make-up, it was overwhelmingly adults which tells you something. It’s definitely for ages 9 and up. That is because the writing is clever, with lots of innuendo, pop culture references and campy but not too campy scenes. All that said, it truly is really laugh out hilarious. It’s hard to describe but all together ingenious is how the actors use a single length of rope to show stairs, walls, etc. The play is broken into two parts, the first part being rather dark as defined by the gloomy staging telling the story of how boy with no name, the other Lost Boys and Wendy meet. The second act brightens up as we they go in search of the ship with the treasure and telling how the boy with no name becomes “Peter.”
There are only twelve actors but they play more than 100 unforgettable characters and while we loved all the actors who seemed to really enjoy playing their roles, the fan favorite and the kid’s favorite was “Black Stache” played by Christian Borle who is currently starring on the NBC show “Smash”, the name alone brought laughs from my daughter and her friend. As you can tell from his name, he has a mustache which provides an air of debonair but his overall campy personality is what makes him memorable and generated the most laughter.
With it’s mix of adult humor, juvenile humor (lots of fart jokes which as you can imagine illicited laughs from the kids), wonderful storytelling, fun songs, clever staging and just the right mix of campiness, this is a must-see play.
Location: Brooks Atkinson Theatre 256 West 47th Street, New York, NY
Tickets: Click here for tickets.
