Peter and the Starcatcher

In this day and age where we have multi-million dollar musicals with special effects and elaborate set designs, it's refreshing to see a stripped down version of theatre where imagination is celebrated.  This is the experience when you see Peter and the Starcatcher.  Well, granting it's actually a play with music not a musical but nonetheless......

Peter and the Starcatcher is based on a book by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson.  It is a prequel to the story of Peter Pan which was adapted on stage by Rick Elice.  A delightful play filled with lots of silliness and throw backs to present day pop culture, you'll find yourself giggling through out the show.  There is such playfulness with the staging of the play by Alex Timbers and Roger Rees that makes use of simple props such as a rope to pull your imagination and participate in the journey.  It was such a joy to get to experience that inventiveness of stipped down, pure theatre magic!

Adam Chanler-Berat plays Peter, the boy who never grew up, while Celia Keenan-Bolger is Molly the starcatcher.  The team of Christian Borle and Kevin Del Aguila as Blach Stache and Smee respectively.  They are a hoot!  Christian Borle chews up the scenery practically making his co-actors restrain themselves from giggling on stage.  You could see their shoulders shaking during his last monologue.  It's no wonder he just won the Tony for Best Featured Actor in a Play. 

It's difficult to specifically say what makes this a good play and the byline on the theatre doors actually says it all, "You must experience it for yourself"!

Other photos that I took that afternoon:



*  Oh, celebrity sighting at the show:  2 rows in front of us was Joanna Coles, Editor-in-Chief of Marie Claire or more famously the "Tim Gunn" of Project Runway All Stars

The Stuff Stars are Made Of

Peter and the Starcatcher is based on the novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson.  Like Wicked, it's the fanciful origin story of a popular character.  There's a bit of The 39 Steps thrown in, with 12 actors playing various roles, except for the Boy-Later-Known-as Peter Pan (Adam Chanler-Berat) and Molly Aster (Celia Keenan-Bolger).  The staging is whimsical, the clever dialogue interspersed with songs and dancing.  Can you name a show that managed to sneak in an Ayn Rand reference?

Molly's father has been tasked by Queen Victoria (God save her) with bringing a treasure chest to a remote island.  And where there's treasure, there's marauders.  High jinks on the high seas ensue. It is up to the feisty girl and the orphan boys in the HMS Neverland to save the day. 

The intrepid Molly is played by a winsome Ms. Keenan-Bolger.  Mr. Chanler-Berat goes from a sad, distrustful boy to an unlikely and brave hero.  The cruel pirate Black Stache is played by an over-the-top Christian Borle, who managed to crack up himself and his fellow cast members as he probably ad-libbed and hilariously hammed it up.  Other stand outs include Teddy Bergman as Fighting Prawn, Arnie Burton as Molly's nanny Mrs. Bumbrake, and Kevin del Aguila as Smee.

While the first act could have used some trimming, everything does imaginatively fall into place by the second act.  We meet Mr. Smee, the crocodile, island natives, find out how the mermaids and Tinker Bell came to be, and why the Boy didn't want to grow up. I don't want to spoil your enjoyment of this show so I won't go into too much detail.  I will stick to strongly urging you to go see this delightful show.  It will make your spirit soar.

Catch up with the Stars

Pinky, Mike, and I saw the delightful Peter and the Starcatcher this past Saturday.  Watch out for our review.  In the meantime, here's a special thank you from the cast.

Peter and the Starcatcher