Peter and the Starcatcher

Reviewers were practically pooping themselves to talk about how genius the Peter Pan prequel Peter and the Starcatcher was. I continued to resist the show for literally as long as possible. When I finally broke down and decided to go, I went online and got the single last ticket that wasn’t sold out. So what cause the ruckus and excitement? Well…I’m not totally sure.

This is a totally cute show that offers up a fun possible backstory for Peter Pan. It’s Wicked-lite. By which I mean less original than Wicked but also less shrieky and annoying. It’s also staged for about .1% of what that megamusical probably cost—it’s all ropes and ladders and “theater magic” instead of big set pieces and lame effects. I expected that part of things to be thoroughly charming, but it was all just less fresh and exciting than I expected.

None of this is the cast’s fault. As the boy who would be Peter Pan, Adam Chanler-Berat is adorable and innocent. As the girl who led him to become Peter, saving his life and bringing him to Neverland, Celia Keenan-Bolger is wonderfully sweet with just the right amount of preteen sass. And as the pirate who becomes Captain Hook, Christian Borle was delightfully slapstick and over-the-top. So what went wrong?

Here’s one thing: I would be happy to never again see a show with wildly anachronistic jokes awkwardly and cheaply shoved in. It’s really a children’s show (even if it’s likely a children’s show for adults). We did not need a Tea Party joke. Too easy, folks. Too easy. And too out of place in terms of time period, in terms of tone, and in terms of taste. Which is the sort of thing that continues to pop up throughout the show, preventing me from ever feeling like I truly engaged. A joke that I was much more entertained by was the line, “He’s more elusive than the melody in a Phillip Glass opera.” But that’s a great line…for a different show.

The writers had source material to work from, and there’s a great story there. It’s just disguised by a lot of cheap jokes and lame sight-gags. Did we need the whole cast in drag as mermaids at the beginning of the second act? Not really.

I’m all for low-humor, bad drag, and all-out silliness, but it never gelled with the story that was actually being presented, so I felt curiously short-changed by a show that had a lot of potential. I couldn’t love this just because I wanted to, but I really DID want to. Ah well! I’ve been on a great streak, so one disappointment is hardly the end of the world. It’s just a pain when it’s so hugely hyped.