I have only seen the play Peter and the Starcatcher one time before but I was not impressed with the material so I was a little anxious when I was invited to review it again for The Empress Theatre’s latest production. Fortunately, while I still do have issues with the play itself they did all they could to bring a playful energy to their staging that I do appreciate.

The cast is all solid with them embracing the playful nature of the production. Alexander Richardson gets the most juicy part as Stache but I really enjoyed Gwen Jonsson as Smee especially her puppetry work with the parrot. Koda Smith and Camille Bassett are both sweet and endearing as Peter and Molly respectively.

Directed by Beth Bruner I love how everything felt like it was part of a children’s imagination. Most of the props are things made from other things- a brush made into a microphone, a twister wheel used to steer a ship etc. If you think about it that’s how kids play- combining lores, playing dress-up and imagining items are different than they are. It’s charming and helps forgive problems in the script.

Speaking of those issues particularly in Act 1 with 2 separate narrations going on it can be very confusing what is happening and even who the characters are. I wish I had a paper program that might provide a little insight into what is happening but alas we are left to seemingly pure randomness. In Act 2 things start to coalesce a little better with the pirate Stache and Peter Pan after the same trunk of treasure. We also get the Easter eggs to Peter Pan with Stache losing his hand, introduction of The Lost Boys and the discovery of Neverland.

All that said, the production at The Empress did all they could to make this unwieldly play work. If you are looking for something to take your kids to that might inspire some creativity from them it is a good choice. Unfortunately the run ends tonight but they have Murdered to Death murder mystery coming soon. Information on tickets can be found here.

Peter and the Starcatcher is a play by Rick Elice based on the novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. It provides backstory to the characters of J.M. Barrie’s Peter and Wendy which is both a play and novel. It first opened on Broadway in 2012 and then an Off-Broadway run in 2013.

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