Peter Pan
As a senior in high school, I once spent so much time researching a term paper (on 1950s theater, as it happens) that I gave myself only 24 hours to write 50 pages. So I wasn’t completely shocked when my teacher handed it back to me with the following comments: “A for research, C for writing. Let’s talk.” This ignominious experience came back to me while I was watching Peter Pan at the Theater at Madison Square Garden, which gets a B+ for production and a D for total theatergoing experience. Let’s talk, indeed!
The reason for the latter grade, while deeply disturbing, also seems easily correctable. Starting the show promptly, as MSG insists on doing, is a nice idea in theory; but it proves to be extremely problematic when so many members of the audience aren’t promptly seated — due to their own lateness, the lack of ushers, and/or the vastness of the space. I certainly didn’t appreciate having my favorite song in the show, “Neverland” — which comes about 20 minutes into Act I — interrupted by a family who had to be seated mid-row in the middle of the number.
Moreover, the decision to place the intermission at the end of the first of the three acts — a mere 30 minutes after the start of the show — may be logical in terms of plot but is impractical under the circumstances. Overall, to describe this event as a theatergoing experience is almost a misnomer. With cotton candy and sparklers being sold in the aisles, can the audience be blamed for thinking they’re at the circus, where talking during the show isn’t the same sort of faux pas as it is at a Broadway musical?
What’s doubly sad is that the Peter Pan company — especially its star and guiding light, Cathy Rigby — does a good job with this classic musical. (The show is billed as Rigby’s farewell tour — and, unlike Cher, I think she means it!) Indeed, Rigby should be a considered an inspiration to anyone who finds his or her longtime job boring. Despite having played the role of Peter, the boy who won’t grow up, more than 2,500 times, she brings complete conviction to every aspect of her performance. She even keeps her English accent intact while singing the beautiful Charlap-Leigh/Comden-Green-Styne score. And what can one say about her still-remarkable acrobatics on the ground and in the air? Yes, she has both a figurative and literal leg up on the rest of us, thanks to her training as an Olympic gymnast; still, to see any 52-year-old move with such dexterity is thrilling.
Though nothing else in the production quite rises to Rigby’s level, Broadway veteran James Clow is effective as the evil Captain Hook and the stuffy Mr. Darling, Tracy Lore is supremely charming as his wife, and Elisa Sagardia has some lovely moments as Wendy. The ensemble, which handily executes Patti Colombo’s decent-enough choreography, also deserves praise for switching so quickly from pirates to Indians and then back again, over and over.
The final major drawback of this Peter Pan is that it simply doesn’t seem big enough in terms of performance, scenery, and even orchestrations. If that was my experience from my seat in the VIP section (right behind actor Michael York!), I can only imagine how small the show must feel to those seated towards the back of this too-large auditorium. I suspect that small fry won’t notice all of these shortcomings as they’re transported by Rigby and the story, but the big kids (of all ages) may well be disappointed.
