[NEohioPAL] Review of "Peter Pan: The Musical Adventure" at Mercury Summer Stock

[Bob Abelman]

Mercury Summer Stock offers a brilliantly re-imagined 'Peter Pan'

 

Bob Abelman

News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times Courier

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics 

 

 

Every local theater has a mission statement that defines its artistic vision which, in turn, influences which plays are produced and how they are approached.  Rarely has a play better matched a mission than "Peter Pan: The Musical Adventure" at Mercury Summer Stock.

 

This musical is based on J.M. Barrie's 1904 play "Peter Pan, or the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up" and his 1911 novel "Peter and Wendy."  They also inspired the 1954 Tony Award-winning Broadway production of "Peter Pan" starring Mary Martin, its 1979 Tony Award-winning revival starring Sandy Duncan, the 1990 and 1997 Tony Award-winning revivals starring Cathy Rigby (who, miraculously, toured as Peter until her 62nd birthday), and the 2009 Tony Award-winning "Peter and the Starcatcher."  

 

These works all feature a mischievous boy who can fly, who never ages, and who spends his never-ending childhood adventuring on the small island of Neverland as the leader of the lost boys.  His interactions with mermaids, Native Americans, fairies, pirates, and three ordinary children from the outside world are chock-full of imagination and family-friendly fantasy. 

 

"Peter Pan: The Musical Adventure" is a less-known version of this story, which was written by Willis Hall with 21 new songs - most of them delightful and a few, like the ballad "Just Beyond the Stars," gorgeous - by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe.  They also wrote the music for Broadway's "Mary Poppins."  

 

It can be argued that "Peter Pan: The Musical Adventure" is a lesser version as well, considering that it has won no major awards, is rarely produced, and Cathy Rigby is nowhere to be found.  The show opened in Copenhagen in 1996 (not New York or London), appeared as a 2001 broadcast on the BBC and, after revision, played for a year at a repertory theater in Birmingham, England.    

 

It is, in fact, just another retelling of a beautiful but all-too-familiar tale.  

 

As produced by Mercury Summer Stock, however - whose artistic mission is to "create extraordinary theatrical experiences" - this musical becomes something most certainly extraordinary.  Indeed, in the hands of lost boy director Pierre-Jacques Brault and Pan-esque performer Brian Marshall, both founders of Mercury, this production is absolutely breathtaking.

 

As with all their shows, "Peter Pan" is infused with unbridled imagination, unbound energy, and unparalleled talent in lieu of an unlimited budget.

 

Gone is elaborate scenery and sedentary set pieces, replaced by an inventive and highly stylized representation of locations with everyday objects, such as clocks and windows panes, manned and animated.  All this is bathed in dramatic and fantastic lighting designed by Rob Peck, which purposefully casts Peter's shadow on the theater walls throughout the show.  

 

All this engages an audience in ways more concrete and less imaginative stagecraft does not. 

 

Gone are the wires to create flight for Peter (a brilliant Brian Marshall), Wendy (an enchanting Kelly Monaghan), Michael (John Cugel) and John (JR Heckman), replaced by Brault's astoundingly creative choreography to simulate the absence of gravity.  Their transport to the second star to the right and straight on 'till morning is as delightful as it is innovative.

 

Gone is the flittering spotlight and flickering of assorted high notes on a piano to represent the playful fairy Tinkerbell.  Here she is portrayed by a gorgeous and graceful ballerina (Brittany Basenback, with Zachary Pfeil's doing the lifting).  Nana the dog is a puppet handled by Liza, the maid (Elicia Bryant).

 

Reinforcing the childhood innocence on which this play is dependent, characters living in the real world appear in white undergarments.  More fanciful costuming, designed by Lindsey Vandevier and occasionally converting into scenery, is limited to Neverland.

  

Another Mercury trademark is that its productions fill the rafters with gorgeous voices that offer beautifully blended harmonies.  Such is the case here, supported by a wonderful five-piece orchestra under Eddie Carney's direction.  

  

The villainous Captain Hook/Mr. Darling is played perfectly and with a hint of Tim Curry by Eric van Baars, with stellar performances also turned in by silver-throated Dana Aber (alternating with Melissa Sills) as Mrs. Darling, Hester Lewellen as the omnipresent Storyteller, and Dani Apple as Tiger Lilly.  

 

The rambunctious lost boys are played by Kirk Eichelberger, Jr., Seth Hunter, Max Joseph, Danny DiMarino, Joseph Alvey and Kevin Lauver.  The swashbuckling slapstick pirates are Demarco Sleeper, Jonathan Bova, Trey Gilpin, Joseph Virgo, Jason Falkofsky, Kelvette Beacham and David Petrovic.

 

The secret to everlasting childhood, we are told in this play, is to let your imagination fly and never land.  If it isn't already, these words should be in Mercury Summer Stock's mission statement.

 

 "Peter Pan: A Musical Adventure" continues through August 17 at Regina Hall on the Notre Dame College campus, South Euclid.  For tickets, $15 to $18, call 216-771-5862 or visit http://tickets.ticketforce.com.
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