The Milwaukee Rep presents "Peter and the Starcatcher"

How a boy became Pan

Oh the cleverness of this play! I've always loved the story of Peter Pan and all derivative stories and movies — probably because I never want to grow up. Also because J.M. Barrie wrote sentences like "When the first baby laughed for the first time, its laugh broke into a thousand pieces and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies." The words, the characters, the familiar imagery of stars and thimbles — they're like a pixie dust all their own, stirring our inner child and whisking us away to Neverland.


At least that's how I feel about Pan. And I love that Peter and the Starcatcher so clearly gets it. The entire play (which is a Peter Pan origin story) wills the audience to imagine along with the actors, who are a single troupe of a dozen or so insanely talented artists playing dozens of characters. The sets are sparse and the costume changes are largely done on stage — some as minor as the change of hat. The rest is left to our imagination, with sound effects and lighting helping us along. Granted I'm no expert — not by long shot! — but I can't think of a more inventively-staged play that I've seen, ever. It was such fun to be drawn into this deliberately playful world of make-believe. 

Should you take your five-year-old? Maybe not. It's all very fast paced, and with all the abrupt character changes it can be a little tricky at first to keep up. But middle-schoolers and older? Definitely. There is some adult humor in the play, but it would sail over a kid's head, no problem. My cohort and I actually stayed for a "talk back" with the actors after the show, and Smee explained that the director really wanted this production to be family-friendly. He said there are ways to push the play even more into the adult realm (depending on how the actors deliver their lines), but they didn't overdo it in this Rep production. And it's true — there's everything from the most base humor (cue the fart jokes) to innuendo to high brow wit. Something for everyone, really. 

Overall, this is an incredibly well-acted, imaginative, goofy, hilarious, clever, and meaningful play. I left feeling like I just want to see it again — immediately — to be immersed in Neverland once more and relive every humorous and heartfelt nuance. Peter and the Starcatcher runs through May 24th at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, so hurry and see it if you can! It's absolute magic.