Review: Enjoy Childlike Wonder with Magical PETER AND THE STARCATCHER at ArtsWest

We get to be children again! Laugh at the fart jokes! Stare with wonder at the choreography! Giggle at the man playing an uptight Nanny! ArtsWest extends its hand, beckoning audience members to use their imagination in their delightful production of "Peter and the Starcatcher."

The story of "Peter" incorporates the best parts of beloved bedtime stories: swashbuckling pirates, shipwrecks, mermaids, treasure, and magic. If you can feel the dignified, jaded adult in you rolling your eyes and resisting, just wait until this show revives the fun-loving child that enjoys magic and adventure. "Peter" is not an effigy for our loss of innocence, but a message in a bottle revealing that your inner-child lives and breathes.

Adapted by Rick Elice from Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson's 2004 children's novel, "Peter and the Starcatcher" tells the story of how an angst-ridden orphan boy (Trent Moury) becomes Peter Pan. Inventively staged and choreographed by Eric Ankrim, "Peter"'s flawless locomotive storytelling makes childlike imagination, even for cranky adults, effortless.

One cannot create a fantasy world using Spartan resources without the use of imagination. "Peter" commits to that, which is why the show works. The cast not only plays their characters, but they are also responsible for becoming set pieces, creating sound effects, and playing musical instruments. When the moment calls for a spooky, drippy brig with squeaky doors, every person makes that moment come alive. They might not have much--some rope, a couple of toy boats, a cowbell--but they have one another, and they have our willingness to participate. When "Peter" extends its hand and asks us to imagine, that handheld fan becomes a dorsal fin, and that wooden cane becomes a sword.

Nothing about this production feels thrown together. This is calculated silliness at its best. There aren't too many dance numbers, but it's obvious that director Eric Ankrim pristinely and painstakingly choreographed each and every moment so everything felt fluid and instinctual. The dialogue can get expository, but never for too long.

With childlike wonder comes childlike senses of humor, but there's no turning back once you've channeled your inner school-kid. This means that there will be puns and bathroom jokes galore, and you will laugh. Hard. Not at how infantile they are, or how eye-roll-inducing they are, but at how genuinely funny you will find them in a way that will surprise you.

To this cast, I say 'Bravo!'. Adult Aly Gutierrez made me believe that she was Molly, the bold, precocious thirteen-year-old. Nathan Brockett was a dream as the plucky, very British Mrs. Bumbrake. John Han brings a sweetness to token food-obsessed friend, Ted. As Blackstache, Saxton Jay Walker's perfectly embodies the storybook pirate captain: treasure-obsessed, narcissistic, and brimming with schemes. Trent Moury was perfectly scrappy and broody as the Peter with the troubled past.

For making me feel like a carefree kid again, I give ArtsWest's "Peter and the Starcatcher" 4.5/5 stars. Treat yourself to this well-deserved evening of whimsy, enchantment, and mirth.

"Peter and the Starcatcher" performs through December 23, 2016. For tickets and information, visit them online at www.artswest.org.

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