The following review is based on the Thursday, July 18th performance when William Foon and Camden Kwok played the roles of John and Michael, respectively. These parts are shared with Micah Turner Lee and Reed Epley.
The national, non-Equity tour of Peter Pan, the musical, is currently flying through Hollywood with panache, innocence, and a sensibility aligned with modern-day considerations. In total, it is a fresh-faced epic that is family-friendly and stokes the imaginations of even the most cynical, with ample heaps of fairy dust (and its excitable properties) for all.
Through Sunday, July 28th at the Pantages Theatre, fans of the legendary character, and the imaginative story enveloping him, will be bowled over by the theatrics and heart that will never die insofar as people believe. (Costa Mesa’s Segerstrom Center will also host Neverland’s pride and joy from August 6th through the 18th.) After all, the dazzling narrative between good and evil, represented by the crimson-clad Captain Hook, is still in full-force; however, where this Pan really soars is in the precocious performance of its younger cast, a breathtaking presentation that is on par with Equity national tours, and a weighty wisdom.
Those well-acquainted with the source material will note that problematic depictions of Native Americans are excised, as is “Ugg-a-Wugg” in lieu of the new number, “Friends Forever.” Newer audiences won’t know the difference or be any less entranced than those who were originally introduced to Peter Pan in 1954 when Mary Martin donned the green spandex.
Native American playwright Larissa Fasthorse has revised Barrie’s book and the same applies to the lyrics underlying Morris (Moose) Charlap’s music, which have been re-worded by Amanda Green. Think of it as a natural evolution, the batons for which have been confidently seized by creative minds ready and willing to nudge the high-wired Pan into the spirit of 2024. In pursuit of this, director Lonny Price, choreographer Lorin Latarro, music supervisor Andy Einhorn, and music director Jonathan Marro have adroitly adapted their wares to a staging that is both spiritually nourishing and spectacular where, what would have otherwise been nostalgic, feels new again.
That said, one revision Peter Pan could’ve probably done without is being set in the United States, with allusions to social media and viral videos. Aside from a brief, though jarring mention, the contemporaneity doesn’t further come into play; and, given that this is a tale which mostly takes place in the timeless and nowhere-and-anywhere locale of Neverland, there is little to be gained by intermittently planting Pan stateside.
Notwithstanding that, the musical quickly regains its footing when the swooping Peter makes his grand, applause-prompting entrance through the shutters of the Darling children’s bedroom to reclaim his shadow in the wake of Mr. and Mrs. Darling bidding adieu for the night. Pan meets Wendy, they trade “kisses,” and, on the promise of Wendy being a “mother” to the Lost Boys and telling great stories, happy thoughts are encouraged as John and Michael join the revelry and take flight to the fabled island where its denizens sing “I Won’t Grow Up” and mean it. Hook, Smee, and his band (each with their own instrument) of misfits don’t represent the only conflict, either; Tiger Lily and her group of living-off-the-land familiars are at cross purposes with the Lost Boys. Despite one side claiming purloined pockets, and the other stolen canoes, they both at least agree on opposing the marauding pirates.
Seventeen-year-old Nolan Almeida has taken the reins of Peter Pan — a role which has been historically portrayed by women. Through his child-like affectations and buoyancy, Almeida is a joy to watch when he is flitting around the stage, dueling with his rambunctious shadow (David Bengali has designed splendiferous projections), trying to catch up to the glowing Tinkerbell (appearing like an otherworldly orb thanks to Paul Kieve’s conception), and swashbuckling with sword in hand (Rick Sordelet and Christian Kelly-Sordelet have blocked grand clashes).
Whereas other performers might overdo Pan’s movements, Almeida delights with a controlled abandon, which especially comes through in how effortlessly he somersaults while suspended over the stage (credit also goes to Paul Rubin’s visionary flying sequences). Pan aficionados will also notice that Almeida sings the humanizing “When I Went Home” dirge, which was intended for, but cut from, the 1954 world premiere.
Hawa Kamara portrays the amiable, mature, and funny Wendy (wait until she reveals the ending of Hamlet to Neverland’s residents) whose predilection for adventure is the ultimate enticement to Neverland. With William Foon’s charming John and Camden Kwok’s sweet Michael by her side, the three (alongside Almeida’s Pan) face the digital backdrop behind them, twenty feet in the air, as they glide over Big Ben and into a celestial vista before arriving at their dreamy destination. Suffice it to say, Bengali’s projections, Rubin’s flying touches, and Amith Chandrashaker’s lighting simulate soaring and hurtling so vividly that it’s as close as one can get to actually flying.
The instant Kamara’s Wendy arrives to Neverland with her siblings, it becomes clear that this show is a technical masterpiece. Anna Louizos’s scenery features not only a lovely, lavender bedroom, but the Lost Boys’ lair, vegetative forestry, and the deck of Hook’s Jolly Roger ship. It’s all so lush, substantive, and tangible that there’s no doubting what the eyes are observing.
Augmenting the sense of escapism is the multitalented Cody Garcia who first appears as Mr. Darling — the epitome of staidness and adult resignation — with Mrs. Darling who is realized with love and compassion by Shefali Deshpande.
But where Garcia really earns the audience’s cheers, or jeers, is as the Scottish-accented Captain Hook when each of his character’s numbers (“Hook’s Tango,” “Hook’s Tarantella,” and a possible inspiration for “Gaston” — “Hook’s Waltz”) is more devastatingly entertaining than the last. Garcia saunters like the perfect villain manifested from the page of a comic book, or cartoon, keenly aware of his adversarial persona’s obliviousness. Garcia, too, has a tremendously comical chemistry with Kurt Perry’s not-the-brightest-bulb Smee who quirkily caterwauls any time his Captain brandishes the Croc-caused hook prosthetic near his face.
Hook’s appearance furthermore reminds of Sarafina Bush’s thorough costume design and J. Jared Janas’s wigs, hair, and makeup which actualize a childhood fantasy in the flesh. And, in contrast to properly over-the-top renderings, Bush’s costumes are appropriately subtle as it pertains to Raye Zaragoza’s Tiger Lily and her fellow peers who are determined to keep their dwindling cultures alive. Notably, Zaragoza’s performance steers away from stereotypes and is presented in a respectful, empowered manner.
When the Lost Boys and Tiger Lily’s crew have a song-and-dance-off in the energizing “Friends Forever” finishing Act I, it is not lost on the attendees that Peter Pan is not just about stirring the child in us for the sake of regalement, but to earnestly recall that, as adults, we can learn to be more like children who are more welcoming, unbiased, and not yet jaded by the wear, exasperation, and insularity characterizing older generations. The informed recognition that our differences are, in fact, far overstated is as bittersweet as the last scene in Peter Pan. This lesson, and more, will live in perpetuity as much as Barrie’s eternally youthful boy.
Peter Pan can be seen at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood through Sunday, July 28th; for tickets, visit broadwayinhollywood.com. It can additionally be seen at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa from Tuesday, August 6th through Sunday, August 18th; for tickets to that engagement, visit scfta.org.
