Posted: 12/19/23 at 8:21am
Currently at the Ordway, beginning an extensive national tour (so I can’t see NYC in its immediate future). Early word is positive, but I’m curious about the changes introduced.
Posted: 12/20/23 at 6:58pm
Both the Broadway World and the Theatermania posted reviews were raves.
Posted: 12/20/23 at 7:07pm
Took a quick look at the Ordway Facebook page and it also seems like the Star Tribune gave it a great review, though it's behind a paywall unfortunately. But the Pioneer Press one doesn't seem to require subscribing and is also a pretty great review for the tour. https://www.twincities.com/2023/12/15/this-updated-peter-pan-will-still-delight-ordway-music-theater-audiences/
Posted: 12/21/23 at 7:39pm
I saw the show a couple of weeks ago when it was still in previews. I’m impartial as I’ve never seen any past iterations of this musical, but I loved it! The sets, tech, and the cast is absolutely wonderful. I truthfully enjoyed this show and plan on seeing it once again before it leaves town. I’d recommend seeing it somewhere along the tour. If anything for the sets alone. I hope this helps!
Posted: 12/22/23 at 12:48am
I saw the tour this week and didn’t love it. The scenic design and special effects were incredible, as was Hawa Kamara who played Wendy, but overall found the show mediocre.
The energy on stage felt low, pacing was too slow, and there were some puzzling directorial choices. Why was the babysitter wearing Beats headphones? Why did Peter Pan have a New York accent and nobody else did? Why weren’t there more laugh lines added in, since they updated the script?
It wasn’t awful by any means. But no one in the audience gave it a standing ovation, which should be telling.
Posted: 12/22/23 at 4:23am
"Both the Broadway World and the Theatermania posted reviews were raves." Wow, cool! I'll read it. Thanks
Updated On: 12/22/23 at 04:23 AM
Posted: 2/26/24 at 11:22am
Just saw the new Peter Pan last night at the Hippodrome in Baltimore. I was pleasantly surprised, overall. I had low expectations heading into it, but came out smiling and enjoyed the evening for sure. The Hippodrome had Frozen tour through this past season, and personally I liked Pan much more than I did Frozen.
They toed the line pretty well between a kid's show and a show for all ages. The stage work was impressive at times, using giant screens imaginatively to compliment the characters flying from wires. I thought Cody Garcia as Captain Hook was GREAT. Cody had a perfect flippant yet lovable villain attitude that commanded the stage. Young Reed Epley was adorable and talented, stealing the scenes many times. Amazing young lad to have so many lines and dance moves and songs for such a young kid ... never missed a beat!
A tad disappointed that they didn't set Mr. Smee loose to really be a bigger stage presence. They could get much more comedy from that character than they do. He is still there and is still funny, but I think they undersold Smee quite a bit. The songs pushed along the story line, but weren't jarring and memorable enough to have me singing them for the next month or two like some shows.
Overall, a very solid show. If it is coming to a city near you, it is worth a watch IMO.
Posted: 4/3/24 at 11:32pm
Saw the new Peter Pan tour. It's kid friendly without the violence or romantic undercurrents of some of the darker film versions. The young man playing Peter is basically channeling an asexual Jack Kelly. The songs sit well on his voice and he performs mid-air somersaults with aplomb. The tween girls screamed for him at the curtain call.
The new book muddles Wendy's arc by making her too overpowered at the start. A sword fighting med student feminist with an iPad. Setting the prologue in 2024 raises unwanted questions. Tiger Lily and her tribe have a new backstory, and a song from Subways are for Sleeping, but they lack personality. As far as rewrites go, I actually miss some from the dreadful NBC production. "Only Pretend" (revised from Do Re Mi) was a lovely addition that is not present here.
The weakest aspect is the choreography. Both the dancing and fight scenes are clumsy. Set pieces like the rescue of Tiger Lily are confusingly staged. Watching the young cast muddle through these moments is the closest the show gets to a school production.
Posted: 1/9/25 at 2:30pm
At the risk of sounding like a total old grumpy person, I receive an email from TPAC in Nashville about my upcoming performance of this tour, and this paragraph was included:
A MESSAGE FROM THE TOUR: We need your help to make sure the trip to Neverland is a joyous one for all. Our request is to allow children to be children through this whole experience. This means kids may be chatty or wander around or laugh loudly or cheer. Please help us protect this experience by refraining from quieting our audiences in any way. Neverland is for the children. We invite you to embrace the fun of eternal childhood and let the children lead the way.
I've never seen any message like this before, and definitely not part of our season tickets. I'm all for laughing loudly and cheering, but "chatty or wandering children" is certainly not how I want to spend my evening. Sadly, that same email made it clear that there are no refunds or exchanges at this point.
Posted: 1/9/25 at 9:49pm
It reads more like a plea to adults to not get into fights with other adults at the children's show. Not something I hope would be needed, but you never know. Clearly this is something the Tour has been dealing with otherwise I doubt they'd include it.
Posted: 1/9/25 at 11:06pm
Saw this back in August. A snoozefest … other than the flying sequence.
