Peter and the Starcatcher Bends the Rules and the Dress Code
The Tony-Award-winning Peter and the Starcatcher, now playing at the BDT Stage in Boulder, is a coming-of-age adventure story about a nameless orphan (played by Jack Barton), who is inspired by a rare and ambitious girl named Molly (Sarah Grover), and how he became the extraordinary and long-celebrated hero that is the ‘Boy Who Would Not Grow Up.’
The play opens on the dock of Portsmouth, where two ships — the Wasp and the Neverland— are about to set sail. Lord Aster (Brian Burron) and the Wasp’s Captain Scott (Brian Jackson) are preparing to carry out a special ‘trunk-delivery’ mission for the Queen of England. While the Neverland ship carries another trunk that is said to contain magical “starstuff,” Slank (Joel Silverman) — evil captain of the Neverland — conspires to switch the two trunks. Once at sea, we are introduced to the most feared pirate, Black Stache and his swashbuckling sidekick Smee, played by the accomplished and very entertaining duo Scott Beyette and Wayne Kennedy.
For a play, Peter and the Starcatcher has a lot of sophisticated, grown-up humor, but fear not noble, sea dweller — there’s plenty of suitable fun for all ages. Most of the more mature laughs in the story will ‘sail’ right over the younger heads in the audience, but anything that might not is pretty innocuous.
The show is chock-full of slapstick humor, fart jokes, stage trickery, melodramatic choreography, and plot twists that will keep kids engaged while adults snicker at numerous pop culture references and double entendres about Philip Glass operas, Starbucks, and Michael Jackson’s dance moves. Very funny, clever, and something you wouldn’t expect from a show that’s supposed to be set in the late 1800s. The play’s pure silliness at times made me feel as if Monty Python flew his circus to the island of Neverland and began running amok, which made for an evening of fun and enjoyable entertainment.
The cast of Peter and the Starcatcher — directed by acclaimed local favorite Nick Sugar — is a gifted ensemble of talented performers who effortlessly switch from narrating the story to playing any number of different and unforgettable characters from sailors, pirates, and naval officers to native islanders, captive orphans, and even a mermaid or two.
Interestingly, in doing some research on the story’s history, I learned that starting back in 1924, the theatrical role of Peter Pan has almost exclusively been portrayed by a female and ever since, casting a woman in the role has become the norm.
In nearly every film adaptation, however, Peter has been played by a male.
And in Peter and the Starcatcher, the role of Mrs. Bumbrake, Molly’s faithful nanny, and not the role of Peter, is cross-gender casted and so goes BDT’s version. Bob Hoppe plays Mrs. Bumbrake, a strict yet flirty Brit who is prone to alliteration when ‘they’ speak.
One might wonder if Mrs. Bumbrake being cross-cast is a nod to the tradition that started back in 1924 or if it’s “gender-bending,” a form of social activism created to breakdown rigid and oppressive gender stereotypes — think nurses, nannies, firemen, and even pirates. Or, perhaps, could it be a reaction to, and protest of, homophobia, transphobia, or misogyny?
“At the top of the show, the audience is asked to imagine that planks and ropes become a ship and other set pieces,” explains Director Nick Sugar. “So it makes perfect sense to allow them to imagine an actor with a rag on top of his head becomes a charming nanny.” The role of Mrs. Bumbrake, “was originally played by a woman, but as the storyline evolved, a male actor was cast into the role making Molly the only [biological] female character on stage. Having only one female among the cast of men made a stronger statement of how much women have had to evolve in a male-dominated society. This made the idea that Molly’s character was ‘against impossible odds’ even stronger by the end of the show, as her father points out.”
Other notable performances include the nanny-smitten Alf (RJ Wagner), Fighting Prawn and leader of the Mollusk Tribe (Matt Gnojek), the pork-loving Ted (Chas Lederer), and his wannabe-leader friend, Prentiss (Ben Griffin).
I believe that Barrie’s original work, as well as Peter and the Starcatcher, strives to free us — if only for just a moment — from the notions and confines imposed by the past, our culture, and religion and encourages us to stretch and wrap our brains around the idea that anything is possible.
Cock-a-doodle-doo-tiramisu!
