Peter and the Starcatcher / Lost Boys at DreamWrights Center for Community Arts

The worst Peter Pan prequel I've ever seen was a two-part SyFy Channel miniseries called Neverland, in which Neverland is posited to be a planet where time stands still, reached by opening portals caused by striking magic golden balls.

Neverland, of course, is not exactly a place where time stands still, nor a place you can reach with magic portals. Neverland is slightly different for every child, because it is wherever all imaginary childhood adventures take place. Back in the 1950s, Disney tried to make Neverland easier to apprehend with clear directions on how to get there: "Second star to the right, and straight on till morning." But J.M. Barrie's original words are slightly different: "Second to the right, and straight on till morning." Second what to the right? Could be anything. Consequently, Neverland may be much closer to us than we dream, or even more hopelessly elusive.

Peter Pan actually began as a play by Barrie, which he then rewrote as a book. So it is altogether appropriate that Peter and the Starcatcher, which I read as a book ages ago, ended up as a stage production. But I fear capturing the magic of Neverland at DreamWrights may remain elusive.

With Gregory DeCandia at the helm directing, Peter and the Starcatcher is, admittedly, an admirable production with hidden depths. The show begins with no curtain, backstage clearly visible behind the sparse set of boxes and paint buckets. By the end, we have been transported into a lush, multi-story Neverland with trees, rocks, and mountains; the action has utilized more of the theater space than I've seen used in any other DreamWrights production; and "starstuff" has come to life in a simple but unexpected and delightful way.

Rose Detar as the young heroine Molly is probably the highlight of the show. There's nothing particularly surprising in her performance as the plucky tomboy who wants to help her father save the world on behalf of Queen Victoria, but she perfectly inhabits the archetype, and, in a show with a lot of lines, has one stand-out monologue in particular suggesting life without marriage might be all right if you can just find friends to do it with. (The other actors are having fun as well. I had a frustrating time trying to understand David Feuerstein at times, whose villainous Black Stache is as hammy and greasy as you'd expect; but I have to shout out the show's other pirate captain, Sophia DiMercurio, who I hope still has a voice after dropping hers about five octaves to submerge herself in being the short-lived, middle-aged Captain Slank.)

Unfortunately, the show is not entirely comprised of lush sets and monologues about friendship and marriage (although a song about mermaids comes close). It's a fairly long show with a somewhat confusing and complicated plot, magic amulets and duplicate treasure chests, two ships chasing each other, and a large cast of characters who switch between acting the story and narrating it in the 3rd person. The actors all have individual flair, but the show as a whole gets bogged down in too many moving parts, lacking an overall feel of rhythm and cohesion.

But where Peter and the Starcatcher falls into the forgivable trap of creating literal explanations for every part of Peter Pan's lore (its take on Hook losing his hand is a riotously amusing retcon), I had my expectations pleasantly exceeded by Kate Brennan's Lost Boys, a world premiere companion musical that had its second and final performance on Saturday afternoon. We're still in Neverland, but the show clocks in at under an hour, has a single location, and is touchingly abstract. In Brennan's vision -- closer, I think, to Barrie's (though Peter doesn't make an appearance) -- Neverland seems to be no mere magic island, but a metaphysical border on the edge of reality where a few lonesome travelers who found their way there hide from Time itself. With a distinctly modern musical accompaniment, they welcome a new arrival -- V Desautels' "Wonderer" -- with reflections on breathing and emotions, and find that they might have something to learn about their own identities as well. Written in rhyme, Lost Boys allows language to come to the forefront instead of losing itself in a bevy of ideas like a child playing make-believe. In that way, it is the more adult show, but perhaps the better one. I half-wonder if this short piece could be the basis for a children's EP, and I certainly hope it gets more attention in the future.

Your last chance to see Peter and the Starcatcher at DreamWrights Center for Community Arts in York is Sunday, December 18th at 3PM. Tickets are available HERE.