J.M. Barrie’s “Peter Pan” inhabits a prominent place in popular culture, even over a century after its publication. Numerous stage and film adaptations have kept the story of the boy who never grows up fresh, the most famous rendition being the 1953 Disney animated film.
Last week, alumna Chelsea Krause’s original play “Peter and Tink” was brought to life by director James Winter and a talented cast and crew.
Before becoming the eternal boy, Peter is an ordinary child who wishes to escape the drudgery of orphanage life and gets his wish granted when the fairy Tinkerbell visits him one night. Though it is against fairy law to bring outsiders to Neverland, Tinkerbell’s pity for the boy convinces her to take him along. Yet their excursion is complicated when they learn of a plot to destroy all the fairies, a plot being cooked up by Captain James Hook. Learning that his plans can only come to fruition if Hook obtains three ingredients for an evil potion, Peter and Tinkerbell race against time to save Neverland.
Krause’s script bares closer relation to Disney and the 1991 Robin Williams film “Hook” than it does to the original novel. Overall, the tone is light and comical; however, there are moments of genuine emotion, done with a feather light touch which keeps them from running over into gushy territory. The comedy is paced well, firing the funny business out quickly, but also slowly enough that it does not exhaust the audience. The hilarity is balanced out by the earthy tones of the costumes and sets; anything more eye-popping would have made the whole production descend into camp.
As for the performances, there was not a bad or even average one in the cast. Every single actor threw themselves into their parts with much gusto, summoning cartoon-like energy as they bounded about the stage. Even the most minor of characters made an impression, a hard feat when the main characters themselves are so charming.
Special mention must also be given to the lighting and fight choreography. There were stunning uses of silhouette throughout, used to best effect in a flashback sequence explaining Hook’s backstory. The sword fights were fantastic, directed by professional fight choreographer Erick Wolfe.
As for flaws, there were few. The portrayal of the Native American-coded characters are potentially problematic with their Hulk speak and “hows,” though their portrayal is not in the same league as the one in the Disney picture, which was just plain offensive. Your mileage may vary. Also the few musical interludes were nice but disrupted the flow of the production a little bit as well.
In the end though, this was a fantastic production from the material to the execution. It will certainly be hard to top come the 2015-2016 season, though I look forward to seeing more from the theatre department.