I saw the matinee yesterday (Dec. 10) at the Ordway in St. Paul. While it definitely was not advertised, this was still a preview performance. Peter Pan technically opens on Dec. 14, according to the playbill. The main giveaway was the director and his team sitting in the audience taking notes.
Regardless, I loved the show. The casting is absolutely wonderful. Nolan Almeida as Peter was fantastic. His top-notch singing voice really brought this musical into the 21st century. (Oddly enough, when the show started, he had this thick Cockney-like accent that was very odd. Can anyone help me understand that?!?) I loved all of the performances. Unfortunately, I’ve never seen any other versions of this musical so I can’t speak much on the updated script, however, I really enjoyed it all.
The set is way more advanced than what I was expecting. It ‘flies’ all over as we move along from the bedroom, to the forest, and beyond. The flying alone is incredibly intricate as at once there was actively 4 flying all over this stage. It was breathtaking seeing all of that come to life.
The only thing that was a little off for me was the runtime. Act One dragged on and was like almost 90 minutes; however, Act Two was approximately 45 minutes, which I wasn’t expecting.
All in all, I loved this show and will hopefully catch it again before it ‘flies’ out of town before the end of the year. Do yourself a favor and check out Peter Pan as it begins its official tour in February. If anyone else has seen Peter Pan, I’m intrigued to see what you thought.