I don’t think a show can go wrong when there’s pirates in it, I found myself telling my friend before the opening of Peter and the Starcatcher this past weekend. There are many examples to back up this claim: Pirates of Penzance, Pirates of the Caribbean (I’m still waiting for a stage version of this), and of course, Peter Pan. Let’s be honest, it’s all very cool when the children fly across the stage for the first time in Peter Pan, but the pirates first entrance can just about steal the show.
UofM’s Department of Theatre and Drama’s production of Peter and the Starcatcher lived up to my pirate filled expectations. Jeffrey James Fox as Black Stache and Jack Alberts as Slank battled it out for my favorite- literally, as they have a captain’s “boxing” match near the end of the first act. Each was an energetic and attention-grabbing seafarer. Eventually, we learn that Black Stache, who will go on to become the legendary Captain Hook, really just wants a hero to fight against; a true partnership, if you will. He searches the whole show for such an adversary and finally finds it in the boy he dubs Peter, an orphan.
But the show wouldn’t move along without Molly; a character strikingly similar to her daughter Wendy, but with more gumption than her overtly feminine successor that the audience knows from Peter Pan. Played by Kourtney Bell, who played a spritely and eager apprentice starcatcher, Molly marches about declaring herself the leader. Through her many adventures with Peter and the boys, she ultimately fulfills her mission and is made a full starcatcher. But the adventures are not without their price, as Molly and Peter must part ways. The next time she catches a glimpse of him as he’s flying off to Neverland with her daughter.
Peter and the Starcatcher is a lovely little prequel and the Department of Theatre and Drama put on an enjoyable production. One of my favorite parts was how physical the show is; actors became different parts of the ship. One moment they’re crawling along the floor with a toy boat to show the ship’s course and the next they are lifting and tumbling Peter up and around as he’s thrown overboard- the ensemble becomes the sea itself. It made the transitions seamless and fascinating to watch. The first act takes place on a boat and the second act on an island, the soon to be Neverland, but regardless of where the show is, it was full of anachronisms- which were hilarious instead of disappointing. The intentional way in which they were placed throughout the show- an eggbeater as a microphone, foam noodles for swords- were delivered and incorporated nicely by the actors with an air of “we know you know that this doesn’t belong in a play during Queen Victoria’s reign but…we’re using it anyway”. I laughed often as Peter and the Starcatcher flew to success at the Power Center this past weekend!
