BWW Reviews: Alluvion Stage Company Debuts PETER AND THE STARCATCHER

"When I was young, I wish I could fly!"

And fly the boy did. This weekend, Alluvion Stage Company debuted another first for the central Virginia area: PETER AND THE STARCATCHER. This cast of 12 directed by Scott Hayes, associate dean of the School of Communication & Creative Arts at Liberty University, portrayed 50-plus different roles during the two-hour show. Combined with technical simplicity, quick wit, and some mispronunciations, PETER AND THE STARCATCHER is definitely a new hit for Alluvion.

In a letter written to the audience on the first page of the program, it is evident that PETER AND THE STARCATCHER was an important project for Hayes. He writes:

"In 2007, one of my daughters introduced me to the novel PETER AND THE STARCATCHERS when she brought it home from school. My wife and I had only the year before introduced our children to PETER PAN through the Disney motion picture and the Broadway musical...so I decided to read it as well. Not only did I find the writing to be incredibly funny, but I realized that the creation of an origin story for Peter Pan allowed the reader to feel as if he or she was getting insider information regarding a beloved character."

Audiences certainly get the chance to feel like they are on the inside because of the way the show is staged. Taking place in the Warehouse Theater at the Academy of Fine Arts in downtown Lynchburg, about a ten-minute drive from Liberty's campus, the cast is on the same level as the audience. The fourth wall is broken, and everyone is taken on a journey to discover how The Boy Who Never Grew Up became our beloved Peter Pan and who helped him along the way.

The cast of 12 portraying 50-plus characters not only appears exhausting, but it is downright hilarious. In the blink of an eye the cast can go from portraying their perspective roles to a ship, pirates, natives, and even mermaids. The simple technical elements are not only creative, but add to the comedy of the show. One notable element is Mr. Grin, the crocodile who has two spotlights for eyes and two strings with upside-down triangles attached for teeth held up by three of the cast members.

Two of the cast who got the most laughs were Andrew Geffken (Black Stache) and Neal Brasher (Smee), both professors in the Department of Theatre Arts at Liberty. During opening night, which had an audience with a large number of theater students, Black Stache's mispronunciations corrected by Smee had the audiences continuously laughing. Carson Burkett (Boy) grabbed hold of the audience's hearts with his repeated line "Grownups always lie" and also during a flashback scene of him in the orphanage. Boy's "friends" Prentiss and Ted, Michael Pigliavento and Jeremy Webb respectively, added light to the story, especially whenever Prentiss would say "sticky pudding" to Ted. Jonathan Hogue (Lord Aster) and Kara Faraldi (Molly Aster) were wonderful as father and daughter who introduced the audience to the funny languages of the dodo bird and also "norse code". Audrey Moore (Mrs. Bumbrake, Teacher) left audiences not only laughing with her one-liners and lessons from Teacher, but also exhausted as she transformed from Mrs. Bumbrake to a pirate to a native and back all with the change of two costume pieces. Alex Miller (Grempkin, Fighting Prawn, Mark, Sanchez) wowed the crowd with his multiple dialects and hilarious pasta commands. Rounding out the cast were Jacob Beasley (Mack), Cameron Jones (Bill Slank, Hawking Clam), Ryan Scanlon (Alf), and Brett Schultz (Captain Scott) who all undeniably contributed to the comedy of the show.

PETER AND THE STARCATCHER continues to run on select evenings through January 25th at the Academy of Fine Arts, making this the second show partnership between Alluvion Stage Company and the Academy. With reactions from the audience including "Hilarious!" "Fabulous!" and "Unbelievable!" this is one show you do not want to miss. For tickets, please visit www.AlluvionStage.com or call (434) 582-SEAT (7328).

Photo by Ty Hester, property of Alluvion Stage Company and Liberty University

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