“All children, except one, grow up.”  However, there is still a child within all of us; a part of us that pines for the simplicity and innocence of our infancy.  Nothing is more pure and intriguing than a child’s vivid imagination.  Peter and the Starcatcher successfully captures the rough-and-tumble of child’s play in a new, creative Broadway production, a prequel to J.M. Barrie’s beloved classic Peter Pan.  Adapted from the popular children’s novel of the similar name by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, this play takes viewers on an unforgettable and hilarious adventure to learn how the boy-who-wouldn’t-grow-up came to be.

Peter and the Starcatcher revolves around young Peter (Adam Chanler-Berat), a nameless shy and morose orphan boy at the start of the play.  He is taken aboard the H.M.S Neverland, which is to set sail to the fictitious, foreign island of Rundoon.  Meanwhile, Molly Aster (Celia Keenan-Bolger), a somewhat pretentious young starcatcher, is given a mission by her father to guard a mysterious trunk on the ship, which contains magical and powerful stardust.  Soon after, Molly and Peter’s paths cross and they’re thrown into a whirlwind of an adventure, risking life and limb to protect the contents of the trunk from the evil pirate Black Stache (Matthew Saldivar).

The well-written script is evident from the plethora of laughs that shake the Brooks Atkinson Theatre.  The play is humorous to say the least.  Jokes are mostly based off popular culture, though what really leaves the audience in stitches is the comedic timing.  The humor usually occurs when an actor breaks from the fairytale tone of the play to deliver a line that is totally out of place.  Hence, much of the comedy may not be as obvious to younger teenage viewers.

Told through a well-balanced mixture of narratives, monologues, asides, and dialogues, Peter and the Starcatcher is acted as well as told and created by the incredible cast.  The actors not only become their characters, but also morph into different roles, including the narration and the set.  The play is extremely reminiscent of Shakespearean comedies with the various monologues and asides.  It also reflects old Greek plays with its use of a chorus.

The small cast does a fabulous job portraying childlike characters.  Chanler-Berat perfectly captures the frustration of a youth fed up with the duplicity of grown-ups, while maintaining the immature roughness and cheekiness known to the original Peter Pan.  Keenan-Bolger is a darling Molly (pun not intended), the soon-to-be mother of Wendy.  As the only female in the cast, she brings a sense of tenderness and a maternal side to Molly without losing the childlike nature of her character.  Saldivar is very comical, gaining the majority of the laughs of the evening.  Though the predecessor to Captain Hook, Black Stache is a pleasant surprise: a likeable villain.

Unlike many current Broadway shows, Peter and the Starcatcher makes do with very little.  Lauded with five Tony Awards (four of which for its creative elements), Peter and the Starcatcher proves that it doesn’t take much to create a memorable and successful play.  Both the music and set are sparse.  The music is a mere background soundtrack, mostly cheery tunes that bring us back to our childhoods.  The set is created and built as the story progresses; many times forcing the audience to use its imagination.  For instance, the cast uses bits of rope to indicate rooms, toy ships to portray larger ones, and human movement to create the rocking of the boat.  The scenery is raw, as if created by young hands.  There is no conspicuous theatrical magic.  No wires are needed to lift Molly off the ground.  A seesaw and laws of gravity are enough to create flight in this production.

Peter and the Starcatcher is more of an experience than merely a theatrical production.  Every artistic and directorial decision adds to the childlike character of the play.  Even the theatre has the ambiance of a child’s playground.  The beautiful golden proscenium is decked out with trinkets related to the play or Peter Pan in general.  As the viewer, you feel like you’re looking in on a precious world, a Neverland you could say.  This play is a work of art.  It truly underscores what live theatre should really be about.