(L-R) Christian Borle, Arnie Burton, Celia Keenan-Bolger, and Adam Chanler-Beratbr> (Photo: O&M Co.)

Moving from a 200-seat downtown theater to a Broadway house is as challenging as getting the best of nasty pirate. Peter and the Starcatcher seemed to have uptown ambitions right from the start as indicated by its opening at the venue that was the incubator for Rent and that Disney Theatrical Productions was one of the producers. It didn't hurt to have a name-brand playwright like Rick Elice with a still-running Broadway hit, Jersey Boys, to his credit. The mostly ecstatic praises for the show's imaginative vision and excellent ensemble gave it the muscular " legs" needed to make the Broadway move a somewhat less risky proposition.

Elice's play is based on Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson's children's novel which developed a back story for J. M. Barrie's ever popular saga about the never aging, ever beloved Peter Pan and the Darling family. Except for a welcome 10 minute trim and some minor diddling with the text and staging directors Roger Rees and Alex Timbers have moved Peter and the Starcatcher to the Brook Atkinson with its downtown edge intact. The reason the diddling is barely noticeable is that the show fits as comfortably into its uptown home, as it did the one downtown. As it didn't look like a big show squeezed into the intimate New York Theatre Workshop, it doesn't feel too small in its more spacious, less intimate new home. The ability of the play itself to fill all those seats for an extended run is another matter, but I'll get to that later.

Rees and Timbers are fortunate to have retained all but one of the amazingly talented and versatile ensemble. That's 12 actors to play 50 characters and help to establish the multiple story threads with a ladder, a rope and other simple and home-made looking props.

Even before the high profile name recognition that came with his being a regular in the TV musical Smash, Christian Borle stood out as the aptly named Stache (short for the moustache sported by Groucho Marx, memories of whose looks and sharp humor Borle's Stache evokes). He's better and funnier than ever this time around. I could watch the scene where we see how he became Captain Hook a third time!.

Adam Chanler-Berat has, if anything, deepened the vulnerability of the nameless boy who becomes Peter Pan. Ceilia Keenan-Bolger is again adorably smart as Molly, the only girl on board though I still wish she could fly just a bit higher. She's actually the second Keenan-Bolger to be in a boy-centric off to on Broadway show. Brother Andrew plays Crutchie in the recently opened musical, Newsies. The one new cast member in Peter and the Starcatcher, Rick Holmes as Lord Aster, deserves the same high marks as the rest of the ensemble.

The 2-man band (Marco Pagula and Dean Prouty) has not been enlarged as was the case for Once, another NYTW show that recently made it to Broadway. But then is a musical and Peter and the Starcatcher is a play that happens to include songs and musical theater elements, notably a high kicking chorus line number with the ensemble in glitzy mermaid costumes. Steven Hoggert, whose movement choreography is a major plus in Once, handles the mermaid show stopper with equal panache, which is also true for the musical accompaniment. The musicians' most impressive contributions are again the sound affects that heighten the mood of the narrative. A special round of applause is also due to Jeff Croiter for his lighting which seems even richer now than previously.

To get back to this play's successful physical transition to a Broadway house and whether the same can be said for the play itself, While whimsical charm is a big plus, the tendency to let the whimsy and clever allusions get out of hand has come along with all the positive elements. The super simplicity of the first part and the shift to more sophisticated more Broadway-ish stagecraft for the second act, tend to result in something of a split personality. Though the low-tech story staging of the initial scenes can charm the child within the adult audience, it's not all that child friendly. Children accustomed to a lot of graphic details, are likely to be confused as to what's going on, at least if they're younnger than ten.

Actually, for the downtown premiere the marketing people stated that the adaptation of the children's novel was written to appeal to adults who weren't too jaded to get back in touch with the child within them. This segments the theater going adults, into those who will be respond to thrilled to this colorful story telling concept, and those for whom some, of the show's cleverness seems a bit too made up to really let story take them out of their adult selves.

Given the structural resemblance to Wicked, a prequel to The Wizard of Oz, adults are now invited to bring kids aged 10 and up. Judging from the audience at the preview I attended, a lot of moms and dads are bringing much younger kids — ignoring the age appropriate suggestion in the belief that any show about Peter Pan should work for any age — and perhaps also expecting this to be more musical than play. I sat next to two families with six kids well below the suggested age. Sure enough, the kids fidgeted, the mothers were more concerned with their fidgeting than the show, and everybody left at intermission. A somewhat older boy and his mother who moved into one of the empty seats were much happier with what they saw.

Since my NYTW review with more details about the interlocking adventures still applies. I've re-posted it below the Broadway production notes and suggest you continue reading by clicking here

Broadway Production Notes Peter and the Starcatcher
Written by Rick Elice
Directed by Roger Rees and Alex Timbers
Based upon the novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson
Cast: Adam Chanler-Berat (Peter), Christian Borle (Black Stache), Celia Keenan-Bolger (Molly), Teddy Bergman (Fighting Prawn), Arnie Burton (Mrs. Bumbrake), Matt D’Amico (Slank), Hawking Clam (Fizz), Brandon Dirden (Captain Scott), Carson Elrod (Prentiss), Kevin Del Aguila (Smee), Greg Hildreth (Alf), Rick Holmes (Lord Aster), David Rossmer (Ted)
Music by Wayne Barker
Movement by Steven Hoggett
Music direction by Marco Paguia
Set design by Donyale Werle
Costume design by Paloma Young
Lighting design by Jeff Croiter
Sound design by Darron L. West
Stage Manager: Clifford Schwartz
Rrunning Time: 2 hours and 20 minutes with 1 intermission
Reviewed by Elyse Sommer at April 12, 2011 press preview
Closing 1/20/13
New York Theatre Workshop review and production notes

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