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A star turn in a dull Neverland
| Source: |
Globe and Mail |
| Date: |
December 1, 2007 |
| Author: |
Kamal Al-Solaylee |
Peter Pan
Directed by Susan H. Schulman
Written by Chris Earle
Starring Kurt Browning, Ross Petty
At the Elgin Theatre in Toronto until Jan. 6 (416-872-5555)
**
The one-step-forward and two-steps-back holiday dance known as the
Ross Petty family musical is in full swing with Peter Pan, which
opened Thursday at the Elgin Theatre.
In 2005, and through sheer will power, Petty was set to win over
anyone who's smarter than a fifth grader to his side with Snow White
and the Group of Seven. Then came last year's Aladdin, which arrived
in Toronto tattered and torn after a tour in Western Canada. This
season's Peter Pan is the snazziest, most expensive looking one of all
the Petty musicals, but it's also the dullest and least ribald. Its
saving grace is a winning turn from ice-skating champion Kurt Browning
in the title role of the boy who wouldn't grow up.
Browning is in good company; Peter Pan is not the only one with
developmental issues around here. The new script from Toronto
playwright and actor Chris Earle is anemic and starved of all
humour. Petty's preferred term for his musicals is "fractured" fairy
tales, but this one feels eerily disemboweled. Similarly, American
director Susan H. Schulman stunts the script's minor plot developments
with elaborate production numbers that derail the show on more than
one occasion. Neither writer (whose credits veer toward the socially
and politically restless) nor director (a Broadway and Stratford
Festival regular) is at home in Petty's conception of Neverland - a
land where tacky jokes never go out of fashion.
If five years of reviewing Petty have taught me anything - and I use
the word taught loosely, very loosely - it's that the cheesier the
shows, the more fun an adult may find them. The emphasis is still on
"may" since his productions fall under the "buyer, beware"
model. Although there's plenty for the young ones to boo and hiss at
in Peter Pan, the adults are left with only a few scraps of
comedy. The problem in this instance is that the humour has gone past
cheesy and all the way back to milky-white blandness. The pop-culture
references are at least contemporary, complete with the statutory
bashing of the Maple Leafs and Celine Dion. (Where would Canadian
comedy be without these two punching bags, eh?) The musical numbers,
however, seem to have been lifted from the play list of an oldies
radio station: theme from The Greatest American Hero, Dionne Warwick's
Walk on By, the Beach Boys' Wouldn't It Be Nice and Queen's I Want It
All.
It's the cast, as always, that does all the heavy lifting of this thin
material. While his singing is amplified to distortion, Browning is a
surprisingly funny and (not surprisingly) physically agile Peter
Pan. There's a real sweetness to him that feeds into the character,
and he handles the scripted jokes at his own expense with a distinctly
Canadian good nature. The other highlight performance is from the
wonderful Eddie Glen as Captain Hook's sidekick Smee. Petty's Captain
Hook is almost restrained by the usual mugging and scenery-chewing
standards of the role (and of Petty himself). I'm not sure who
instructed Jennifer Waiser to play Tinkerbell as an homage to Cyndi
Lauper or guided Meghan Hoople to sing in the key of Kelly Clarkson,
but neither option is funny or musically original.
Other "modern" touches - which recast the Lost Boys of Neverland as
surfer dudes and Latino screaming queens, or Tiger Lilly as a savvy
Asian entrepreneur - may revel in the sexual and ethnic diversity of
Toronto but, like the bulk of this production, are either pandering,
lame or both.
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