Citadel makes Peter Pan prequel fly
A slow boat to Rundoon may not be your preferred mode of transportation. But after taking in the Citadel’s latest production, Peter and the Starcatcher, a rickety ship populated with manic pirates and big-bloomered nannies seems the best route ever to straight on till morning.
The Tony-award winning play, based on humorist Dave Barry’s book of the same name and written by Rick Elice, models itself as a prequel to the Peter Pan story, with beloved characters such as the boy who won’t grow up and his reluctant “Mother.”
Certainly the audience is able to recognize and appreciate the skeleton of this familiar story, which at its core explores the bittersweet exit from childhood with which most of us are happily acquainted.
But observers clustered around the thrust stage in the Maclab need not concern themselves overly with the moment when Peter retreats, and Wendy (or in this case, Molly) moves along to assume the gifts and sorrows of adulthood. The chemistry between the elusive Peter (Oscar Derkx) and our hero Molly (Andrea Rankin) stops short of tipping the audience toward tears.
But here’s the truth: who really cares? This production is a joyful, comic romp, afire with site gags, men hilariously dressed as women, clever costumes and props, and an elastic pirate with a silly moustache.
Molly arrives at a bustling port to begin our story, alongside her father, Lord Leonard Aster (Doug Mertz) and her nanny Mrs. Bumbrake (the delightfully cast Garett Ross, who also plays a dotty mermaid in Act Two).
Two identical trunks are also delivered. One holds a precious, even dangerous cargo, star stuff, that Lord Aster must deliver via a speedy ship called the Wasp to the island of Rundoon, where it will be destroyed. The other trunk is loaded with sand and meant to be cargo on a ramshackle ship, the Neverland.
Of course, the trunks are switched and a merry chase ensues.
Director James MacDonald creates an immersive world for the audience with the Maclab stage. Characters tear up and down the steps of the theatre and around its upper reaches. One of the funniest jokes of the night happens virtually in the lap of the audience when Lord Aster moves among the seats as he tries desperately to connect with his daughter via a magic amulet.
“Can you hear me now? What about now?” he says, mimicking the ubiquitous frustration of a thwarted cellphone conversation.
But the biggest belly laughs of the night belong to Farren Timoteo — nothing short of genius as Black Stache, who is Captain Hook before he lost his hand. You may recognize this big local talent from other Citadel productions such as Alice Through the Looking-Glass, or Monty Python’s Spamalot. It’s hard to know whether Timoteo’s gift rests in his body (which moves like a snake or a jack-in-the-box, as need be), in his wide-eyed grin, or his impeccable delivery of Elice’s sharp dialogue, dotted with clever anachronisms and nods to the audience.
“We haven’t got all night, Smee,” says Timeteo while admonishing his sidekick’s tardiness. “People have paid for nannies and parking.”
The show bills itself as fun for the whole family, and certainly the stuffed toy cat that gets hurled regularly about the stage appeals to the childlike among us. The bumbling Smee (the top shelf likes of Peter Fernandes) is a total charmer for all ages. Still, it would take a mighty precocious eight-year-old to even follow the action, much less appreciate the complexity of the language in Peter and the Starcatcher.
The show gallops scene to scene, and there’s little time to nail the plot line, troubling to the pedants among us struggling with the difference between port and starboard. Which trunk is that? Weren’t those pirates just on the other ship? Is that mermaid speaking with a Scottish accent, or what?
Just relax. Elbow your seatmate gleefully when the soundtrack from Downton Abbey intones. Split your sides at the mermaid’s bikini top — crafted from a cheese grater. Embrace the fact that cannelloni is a really funny word (and kudos to Stephanie Wolfe for her portrayal of the Italian-cuisine obsessed Fighting Prawn).
Every once in a while, something profound will whiz by.
“You fail, so you try again,” says our rock solid Molly.
Grab those wee pearls, and feel lucky. You’ve just learned what’s so special about star stuff.