Peter Pan Goes Wrong Broadway Reviews

And though it's always hilarious to see floorboards fly up and smack actors in the face, the professionalization of fake trauma may have outstripped the comedy of it. The difficulty of producing a stunt safely is not, after all, related to the amusement it provides; in fact, the difficulty, when too obvious, can get in the way. 'Peter Pan Goes Wrong,' directed by Adam Meggido, too often belabors the horseplay, making it feel mechanical.

The best way to enjoy Peter Pan Goes Wrong, in fact, may be to take it as some kind of comedy of errors. And even as I drafted worried letters in my head to Actors’ Equity and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, I was unable to resist joining the laughers in the audience on frequent occasions: Seeing actors desperately commit to going on with a show is a reliable comic hook, even if they lack the initial dignity that could make the fails even funnier. Yet as in Cornley’s last show, the game resilience of the actors—as they suffer through relentless variations on disaster slapstick—gets a little tiring, at least for me, when offered in a two-hour dose. They push through the pain and keep on pushing, but the fun of watching them peters out.

Is Peter Pan Goes Wrong quite as blisteringly sidesplitting as The Play That Goes Wrong? Well, no; it’s difficult or perhaps impossible to offer the surprises of that initial foray into the Mischief formula. But the frantic, manic, desperate humor is the same; you might start the affair sitting in your seat thinking “go ahead, just try to entertain me” as you watch pseudo-stagehands scurrying to apply last-minute fixes to the ramshackle scenery. But as with the earlier show, they quickly win you over. And do, for gosh sake, bring the kids.

There's an undulating curve at work in the relationship between head trauma and humor, going from funny to tedious, wrapping back around to funny, then cycling back and forth. That's the kind of thing you think about while watching Peter Pan Goes Wrong, a British farce that beats you over the head with staged concussions, pratfalls, leg injuries, and, since Peter Pan flies around in a harness, one particularly spectacular drop from the rafters. In every case, you cringe at the potential of bodily harm, then bounce back into laughter. It's basic, lowest-common-denominator theater, but it tends to work with variable but generally positive returns. Let this cast entertain you. Let their bonks make you smile.

Playing out on Simon Scullion's ingenious, deceptively ramshackle set (Roberto Surace designed the clever costumes), Peter Pan Goes Wrong is directed by Adam Meggido with the vitally important precision, abundant good humor and no end of mischief.

Beyond Harris' very physical performance and all the staged deaths, the high point of 'Peter Pan Goes Wrong' is extremely low tech and of even lower humor. It comes when the Captain Hook (co-author Henry Shields does a very good imitation of John Cleese) has problems removing the cork from a bottle. The moment goes on forever and ends sooner than it should.

Imagine an awkwardly sardonic, parrot-death-denying, Inquisition-ambushed, Cambridge-educated Monty Python's Flying Circus troupe portraying the 'Seinfeld' cast, and you're liable to understand the lure of the Mischief Theatre Company's antics. Sometimes, 'Peter Pan Goes Wrong' goes long and belabors its physical and vocal antics. But in general, too much of a good thing is a great thing here.

Bang, crash! Watch out for the falling light! Don't stand under that toppling tree! Those trapeze wires don't look very reliable! There should be at least one special Tony Award for Mischief Theatre's Peter Pan Goes Wrong (Ethel Barrymore Theatre, booking to July 9)-not just for its technical brilliance, and the raucous, daffy, side-splitting pleasures it delivers to the audience, but also as a badge of proof that the British may have finally, successfully exported pantomime to America.

At two hours and five minutes over two acts, the effect of the wackiness wears off a tad toward the end - even though the final chase scene is brilliantly choreographed on Simon Scullion's set of a million secrets. And some adults in the audience (not this one) might turn up their noses at Shields' pantomime-like insistence that kids boo Captain Hook. And they boo a lot. A few theatergoers looked aghast, like some drunks had just thrown their bras at King Lear. To them I'll give the opposite advice that Peter Pan would: Grow up! Shields' self-debasement is delightful. That's really all this lovable cast wants anyway - for us to get rowdy for them to be ridiculed.

Not only is 'Peter Pan Goes Wrong' just as good as (and perhaps even better than) 'The Play Goes Wrong,' the fact that it is based on 'Peter Pan' makes it appealing to both children and adults, including my six-year-old son, who roared with laughter from start to finish - and even before the start of the show thanks to preshow activity in which the cast members roam the aisles busily putting stuff together.

Farce is rarely taken seriously on Broadway, of course, but this one deserves to be. It's very much in 'One Man, Two Guvnors,' a madcap couple of hours that bespeaks of old-school pleasures and fun for all.

It's a pleasure to report that those of us - our number is growing mightily, especially among kids - arriving primed to find out the answers to these important questions and carloads more won't be disappointed. Lewis, Sayer, and Shields show up (doubling and tripling, like everyone else in the hilarious cast) offering hilarious answers. They've imagined abundantly gratifying fiascos, such as a narrator repeatedly running into trouble when the winch on which he's perched fails to retreat to the wings smoothly, such as a character unable to remember lines that must be fed him through headphones, such as doors failing to open, such as a pirate ship unable to remain level.

Under the swift direction of Adam Meggido, the rollicking cast members deliver lines perfectly out of order and miss stage blocking to comic effect. In many ways, it is more challenging to waywardly fly on a harness and haphazardly roller skate upstage than to do it correctly and safely. Perhaps the show's biggest stars, though, are the actual stage managers (led by production stage manager Adam John Hunter) who employ hundreds of ill-timed sound cues (sound design by Ella Wahlström) and operate a decentered spotlight (lighting design by Matthew Haskins). This critic gives it four stars and advises you to go straight on to the Ethel Barrymore Theatre.

Does the shtick get old? It does and it doesn't. Director Adam Meggido moves things along at a breathless clip that almost immediately obscures any misses with other hits, and the book (by Shields, Henry Lewis, and Jonathan Sayer) nicely develops a couple of B-plots, involving cast romances and ambitions, to keep us hooked. Nancy Zamit and Henry Lewis shine as featured players in a variety of roles, making the most of the play's treasured pantomime influences. And Simon Scullion's turntable set is theme park chic at its finest, spinning wildly as the ramshackle in-show production goes hilariously awry. Is it a kids' show? I can't say it's tailored for adults, but my date and I were delighted by the sheer bravado of its joke-a-minute style, inventive design, and committed performances. And the kids around us were howling with laughter, never feeling condescended to, and even being let in on some curiously naughty jokes. Who knew going wrong would feel so right?

Scripted by Lewis, Shields and Jonathan Sayer (who plays a forgetful actor fed his lines through an ill-tuned headset), all this farcical insanity would be impossible without inspired design, masterfully directed by Adam Megiddo. Simon Scullion's multi-location turntable set collapses magnificently; Roberto Surace's outfits attain the perfect level of tacky cliché (and rip away nicely on cue); and, finally, lights (Matthew Haskins) and sound (Ella Wahlström) complete the illusion of abject and total mechanical breakdown. You will not find craftier theatrical silliness this season. Not sure I believe in fairies, but groin hits? Definitely.

Putting on my curmudgeon's hat for just a moment, I did find the production to be sluggishly paced at times. Director Adam Meggido is best known for his work in improv theater, but while slapstick may look improvised, it does require precise timing in order to seem unpredictably spontaneous to an audience. Yet, especially in the overlong first act, the humor comes off as forced and repetitive, along with too much of J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan and not enough of the 'Goes Wrong' part. The narrative also incorporates some backstage drama that bleeds into the silly stuff and threatens to sour the fun. That being said, however, if you are looking for a hefty serving of daft goofiness, or if you loved The Play That Goes Wrong and would relish more of the same, you will get what you are looking for in the second act when general pandemonium is the order of the day. That's when the fun really takes off and makes this a worthy entry into the 'Goes Wrong' franchise.

Mr. Maggido's entire ensemble, similarly, proves as facile as Cornley's is hopeless. Messrs. Shields and Lewis respectively imbue Chris and Robert with a droll haughtiness that only makes the characters' incompetence funnier. Greg Tannahill and Charlie Russell make spry mischief as the energetic dude and coquettish ingenue who play Peter Pan and Wendy Darling, and frolic offstage, and Nancy Zamit nimbly plays a character actress who juggles two more mature roles with that of Tinker Bell - and comes closest to meeting the kind of fate that befell those 'Lord of the Flies' actors.