Joey de Bettencourt, Megan Stern and John Sanders Star in PETER AND THE STARCATCHER, Opening Tonight at the Ahmanson

The five-time Tony Award-winning "Peter and the Starcatcher" opens tonight, December 4, 2013, at the Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre at the Los Angeles Music Center. Written by Tony Award-nominee Rick Elice ("Jersey Boys," "The Addams Family") and directed by Tony Award-winner Roger Rees and Tony Award-nominee Alex Timbers ("Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson"), "Peter and the Starcatcher" continues through January 12, 2014.

The swashbuckling cast for the tour, which opened in Denver, features acclaimed stage actors Joey de Bettencourt as Boy, Megan Stern portraying Molly and John Sanders as Black Stache, along with Harter Clingman, Jimonn Cole, Nathan Hosner, Carl Howell, Ian Michael Stuart, Benjamin Schrader, Luke Smith, Edward Tournier, Lee Zarrett, Ben Beckley, Robert Franklin Neill, Rachel Prather and Nick Vidal.

Based on The New York Times best-selling novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, the imaginative play tells the tale of an orphan who heads to a faraway land, where he finds love, friendship, and ultimately himself. The company of 12 actors play more than 100 unforgettable characters, all on a journey to answer the century-old question: How did Peter Pan become The Boy Who Never Grew Up?

"Peter and the Starcatcher" is "a shimmering treasure...nautical and naughty... wonderfully literary and ridiculously imaginative," said Lisa Kennedy from The Denver Post. Lauren Smart from Arts + Culture Texas magazine dubbed it "...an inventive delight of a show, with jokes for the adults and an imaginative story for the kids."

The award-winning design team for "Peter and the Starcatcher" includes Donyale Werle, (set design), Paloma Young (costume design), Jeff Croiter (lighting design) and Darron L West (sound design), who all won Tony Awards for their work on the show, along with Steven Hoggett (movement), Wayne Barker (music), Jacob Grigolia?Rosenbaum (fight direction) and Marco Paguia (music supervision).

In the spirit of the "Peter and the Starcatcher" Tony Award-winning sustainable set design, the producers invited the venues on the tour route to contribute reusable items to help build the tour proscenium, collecting wine corks, bottle caps, small children's toy figures, old silverware, used rope, buttons and whopper poppers, cords, aluminum can lids, old cooking tools, tin can tops, balls and paper tubes.

Set Designer Donyale Werle, who won the 2012 Tony Award for "Peter and the Starcatcher," is a leader at the Broadway Green Alliance and has gained much acclaim for her use of salvaged materials in her sets. (The Broadway set for "Peter and the Starcatcher" was made almost entirely of recycled materials.)

The New York Times hailed "Peter and the Starcatcher" as "the most exhilarating storytelling on Broadway in decades," the New York Post said it is "the gold standard of Peter Pan shows" and Entertainment Weekly called the show "an absurdly funny fantastical journey."

"Peter and the Starcatcher" is produced by Nancy Nagel Gibbs, Greg Schaffert, Eva Price, Tom Smedes and Disney Theatrical Productions.

"Peter and the Starcatcher" is suitable for younger audiences but most enjoyable for those 10 and up. Tickets for "Peter and the Starcatcher" are available at www.CenterTheatreGroup.org, the CTG box office located at the Ahmanson Theatre, or by calling (213) 972-4400.

Pictured: The company of "Peter and the Starcatcher" opening December 4, 2013, at the Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre and continuing through January 12, 2014. Photo by Jenny Anderson.