Review Roundup: PETER AND THE STARCATCHER

New York Theatre Workshop presents 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. The cast of Peter and the Starcatcher features Adam Chanler-Berat as Peter next to normal; Christian Borle as Black Stache Angels in America, Legally Blonde, Spamalot, Mary Poppins, and Celia Keenan-Bolger as Molly 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Les Miserables, Bachelorette. 

Peter and the Starcatcher opened Wednesday, March 9 at 7pm. The show plays at New York Theatre Workshop, 79 East 4th Street, between Second Avenue and Bowery, beginning Friday, February 18 and opening Wednesday, March 9. The regular performance schedule is Tuesday at 7:00pm; Wednesday through Friday at 8:00pm; Saturday at 3:00pm and 8:00pm; Sunday at 2:00pm and 7:00pm. There will be a special matinee on Wednesday, March 23 at 2pm. The limited engagement is currently scheduled to run through Sunday, April 3, 2011. Tickets are $70 and may be purchased online at www.ticketcentral.com, 24 hours a day, seven days a week or by phoning Ticket Central at 212 279-4200 . For exact dates and times of performance, and for more information, visit www.nytw.org.

Ben Brantey, New York Times: It's a performance that you might classify as over the top, but only in the sense that the entire production is. With grown-up theatrical savvy and a child's wonder at what it can achieve, "Peter and the Starcatcher" floats right through the ceiling of the physical limits imposed by a three-dimensional stage. While there's not a body harness in sight, like those used to hoist the title characters of "Mary Poppins" and "Spider-Man," this show never stops flying.

David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter: But it's in the simple flourishes -- conjuring a wild storm at sea with little more than a length of rope, or a giant crocodile with a pair of red headlights and strings of white flags for teeth -- that the show taps into a magical tradition of children's theater. In an era of mainstream family entertainment in which audience imagination is too rarely a requirement, it's a breath of salty sea air.

Jennifer Farrar, Associated Press: "Starcatcher" will definitely appeal to boys of all ages, being liberally sprinkled with jokes about bodily functions and poop-deck puns. But the boldest of the children, and true hero of the play, is plucky 13-year-old Molly Aster, played in a wonderful, heartfelt performance by Celia Keenan-Bolger.

Linda Winer, Newsday: Many attractive brand names are attached to "Peter and the Starcatcher," not the least of which is the tiny New York Theatre Workshop, where "Rent" was first launched. The show, a prequel to Peter Pan's story, is based on the best-selling Disney novel for kids cowritten by humorist Dave Barry.

Michael Somers, New Jersey Newsroom: The energetic physicality of the performers is matched by their colorful characterizations. A greasepaint mustache festooning his lip, Christian Borle drolly portrays a posturing pirate king with rolling eyes and a sneering smile. Initially an unassuming urchin, Adam Chanler-Berat nicely wises up into Peter Pan. A dashing Karl Kenzler infuses Molly's aristocratic dad with a kindly nature. Arnie Burton is all coy ladylike gentility as Molly's doughty nurse and later pops up as a salmon transformed into a sea goddess.

Bredndan Lennon. Financial Times: Did the world need to know the back story of Peter Pan? No more so than we needed all those prequels to Star Wars. But iconic fictional tales are forever luring artists down the garden path or, in the case of Peter Pan, whose early days are recounted in Peter and the Starcatcher, on to the boundless blue.

Matt Windman, AM New York: The production is marked by slapstick comedy mixed with sentiment. At first, the play feels rather disjointed and hard to follow because so much is going on. But once the familiar "Peter Pan" elements start to appear and come together, it begins to make more sense. 

Robert Feldberg, NorthJersey.com: The evening's one purely pleasurable moment is the opening of the second act, when we're serenaded by a chorus of burly and bearded mermaids - and much of that fun comes from Wayne Barker's catchy tune. "Peter and the Starcatcher" appropriates one of fiction's iconic characters and reduces him to a vague, uninteresting figure, and his journey to an occasion for wise-guy jokes.