It is a classic story that is known by many; a young boy refuses to grow up and brings in a few children to share in his life and his adventures for a short while. In 2000, Glenn Casale directed an adaptation of Peter Pan and filmed a performance of it live at the La Mirada Theatre in California. Originally, Peter Pan was written by J.M. Barrie and was later adapted by Glenn Casale himself (“Peter Pan”). While the staged version was directed by Glenn Casale, the film of the production was directed by Glenn Casale and Gary Halvorson. Peter Pan is an American Musical, and I have to say that I expected to see a childish, silly, wonderful musical about the story I loved so dearly growing up. While this was what I ended up watching, I got more than I could have dreamed of. This production of Peter Pan completely exceeded expectations on all fronts. In all aspects of this performance, including sound, lighting, acting, singing, and more, the cast and crew ran a beautiful performance of a well-beloved classic.

We open on the Darling family nursery in London. Mother and Father are headed out for a nice dinner, but Mother is scared. She saw a young boy peering outside their window, which Father thinks to be a little crazy since the nursery is on the fourth floor. Mother has caught the shadow of the boy and thinks the boy will surely come back for it. Spoiler alert: he definitely comes back for his shadow. The boy returns with a fairy, who turns out to be Peter Pan and Tinkerbell. Peter Pan takes the Darling children, John, Wendy, and Michael off to Neverland. Peter tells Wendy that she is to be the new mother to the Lost Boys, who are boys who fell out of their carriages and were never found. Chaos ensues as Pirates, Indians, and the Lost Boys clash over various little tiffs. Captain Hook, leader of the Pirates is determined to take Peter Pan down once and for all, which never happens. In the end, Captain Hook is defeated by Peter Pan, and the Darling children return to their London nursery with the Lost Boys. Mother and Father adopt the Lost Boys, and everything is presumed to be well. We end the musical with a much older Wendy, who has grown up, gotten married, and had a daughter named Jane. Peter returns and is distraught to find that Wendy grew up. He then meets Jane, the daughter, and whisks her off to Neverland for some “spring cleaning” that Wendy promised to do when she was younger. As with most musicals, the most climactic moment came directly at the end of Act I. As the Pirates and Lost Boys are vying for Wendy to be their Mother, Peter Pan tries to convince the dim-witted Pirates to mutiny against Captain Hook by pretending to be Captain Hook himself (via voice, that it). This inevitably fails, and when Captain Hook finds Peter Pan, he stabs him twice with his hook. Peter is in pain, Wendy is terrified for Peter’s life, and no help can be found. Peter uses Pixie Dust to send Wendy away to the Lost Boys and slowly becomes more and more afraid. As the lights dim on Act I, we see Tiger Lily, leader of the Indians, climbing her way to Peter to save him. At this point, however, we do not know if she saves him or not. I cannot even begin to imagine what it must have felt like to have to wait through an intermission to find out what happened. Of course, some people will already have an idea of what happens if they saw the Disney film, but no one could have been truly certain of how this adaptation would have gone. Overall, this musical is about remembering the inner child inside all of us. In every child there is a special je ne sais quoi that seems to die as we get older; however, as Peter Pan shows us, the magic within each and every one of us is always there. When things feel dark, and we feel hopelessly lost, we can always listen to our inner child to light the way home. In this performance, the director chose to stick to the traditional performance. The only possible stylistic decision that might have been changed for this performance was the use of actual flight through the use of harnesses, but I am not entirely certain if earlier performances utilized harnesses for flight or not.

When it comes to the actors themselves, I truly believe the actors should be commended for their acting. Cathy Rigby, at age 48, played the titular role; as a former Olympic Gymnast, Rigby had the flexibility, acrobatic ability, and strength to do all the flips and twists required of Peter Pan. I was completely awe-struck when I did the quick calculation to find that Rigby was in her late 40s when she performed this role. Watching all the acrobatics she did made me a little dizzy, and I too did gymnastics for quite a while. In the terms of acting like a child that never wants to grow up, Cathy Rigby did an excellent job of portraying exactly what I imagined. She had the pride, stubbornness, and naivety that I would expect of someone at the non-descript age of Peter Pan. Opposite Cathy Rigby was Elisa Sagardia as Wendy Darling. Elisa Sagardia, similar to Cathy Rigby, played Wendy exactly as I would have pictured her. She is a child coming into her own as a young woman, and she struggles with the desire to be a “grown up,” as well as wanting to hold on to her youth for as long as possible. I am not sure if Elisa Sagardia is actually British, and I would be willing to bet that she is not, but her accent is pretty decent for the stage. I would not go so far as to say it is a flawless accent, but no one goes to the theatre to see perfection; people go to the theatre to feel something. There’s not much to say on her physicality, because the character of Wendy Darling is not a physical character. In my eyes, Wendy is more of a metaphorical personification of, shall we say, the process of growing up. She represents the duality of wanting to grow up while also being a little scared of what is to come. However, I would definitely say that Elisa Sagardia possesses the emotional depth required of Wendy. The last actress I want to cover in this critique is Dana Solimando, who primarily plays Tiger Lily, leader of the Indian people of Neverland. While she doesn’t have very many lines, she plays Tiger Lily in such a way that I can say Tiger Lily is probably my favorite character in the musical. Dana Solimando’s pure strength and grace in portraying Tiger Lily through dance is absolutely jaw-dropping. Without saying a word, Dana Solimando conveys a series of emotions and thoughts through simple, elegant choregraphed steps, and it is beautiful. There is no Dana Solimando on the stage during the performance; the audience only sees Tiger Lily. The movements, and the sheer power in her few lines, bring a mesmerizing force to the character that simply cannot be put into words.

As far as the scenic aspect of the performance goes, I do not really have any complements or critiques. The set was appropriate for the performance. It was not harmful to the production, but it was not as breathtaking as I feel it could have been. However, upon further review, perhaps this was intentional. If the focus of the audience was completely taken by the set, then there would be no room for the audience to witness the true magic of the production: the action. The true magic of Peter Pan is that location does not matter. Time does not matter. The only thing that matters are friends and family, and what we do when we are all together. Therefore, upon further reflection, the mere “mediocrity” of the set and the “mediocre” use of the stage was simply brilliant. I hold props in the same regard as the set and stage usage. While it was not necessarily helpful or harmful, it was genius in the sense that it held the audience focus on the acting of the actors who were bringing true magic through the use of “make believe.” “Make believe,” of course, being the true nature of Peter Pan.

            Not to sound like a broken record, but the same held true for costumes. They were true to the time, which is early 1900s in London, but the costumes themselves were nothing special. The Darling children wore traditional nightclothes, the Indians of Neverland wore tan fabrics as if to mimic animal hides, the Pirates of Neverland wore tattered clothes in various colors (nothing too vibrant, of course), the Lost Boys wore scrappy clothes in muted colors, and Mother and Father are essentially dressed up to the nines for their nice dinner out on the town. The costumes fit the time, so that they are not distracting, but they do not necessarily do anything specific for the characters themselves.

            The next technical aspect I would like to discuss is the lighting. This is the one area where I have any sort of critique. I would like to preface my critique by saying that it is such a minor issue, but with a performance this “high scale,” I feel that a nit-picky critique is warranted. Early in the show, Mother claims to have caught the shadow of a young potential intruder, who we discover is Peter Pan. When Peter enters the Darling family nursery, he flies around the room and eventually flies back toward the window. When he flies back toward the window, we see the shadow of Cathy Rigby for a fleeting second. While this could be due to lighting angle, sheer unavoidability, or just camera angle, this pulled me out for a second. Peter’s shadow is supposed to be missing, so in my point of view, I should not see a shadow from Peter yet. Other than this miniscule, little comment, the lighting for the performance was absolutely spectacular. When Peter gets his shadow back, the use of lighting to “project” the shadow is phenomenal. Lighting was used brilliantly in this show.

            Since Peter Pan is a musical, this could not be a true Theatrical Critique without addressing the music, songs, and underscoring of the musical. My favorite note that I would like to make on the music of Peter Pan is on the light-heartedness of the entire musical. The twinkling percussion used to mark the movements of Tinkerbell, the light, fun build-up to the entrance of Peter himself, and the tight, bouncy drumline in the Peace dance between the Indians and the Lost Boys are just three examples of how music is used to show the childish joy that Peter Pan is supposed to give to the audience. Even the songs themselves mimic the world of children. The songs are primarily sung in unison, only using basic harmonies in a few places. Even songs sung by adult characters are still primarily sung in unison, as to simplify the music of the show and bring attention to the simplicity to childhood joy and wonder. The underscoring was kept to a minimum compared to most other musicals, but when underscoring was used, it was powerful. Underscoring helped bring a touch of tension and suspense to the beginning of the musical when the audience wondered who the potential intruder was. From all of the technical aspects I reviewed in this critique, I believe music was used the best. Music was the most focus-consuming (in a good way), and music brought the musical to life. I could not have asked for a better soundtrack for this musical.

            There is not a proper vocabulary to express what I feel, so I am simply going to word it like this: I really, really, really needed to watch this musical. Watching Peter Pan was the gentle kick I needed to remember that my inner child is still part of me. There is always a part of me that will stay young forever, and I can rely on that part of me when I need to. Just because part of me is a child does not mean I am incapable. I can do anything I set my mind to, but I do not need to lose all sense of joy, fun, and hope in the process. This play is important because, as I have stated ad nauseum, it focuses on looking through the eyes of children. It focuses on seeing joy, hope, passion, compassion, and wonder through the eyes of those we often do not think to consider. At the end of the day, Peter Pan is a classic masterpiece, and I believe everyone should see it. It is a 2-hour trip to childhood joy and wonder, and that is something everyone could use right about now.

Sources:

“Peter Pan.” IMDb, IMDb.com, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0255873/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm.