My theatre pal from Texas was in town this weekend and we had two shows planned, but just kept getting barraged with great things about Peter and the Starcatcher. On our way out of seeing the matinee for "Once", we ran into yet another theatre friend on the street who told us about some people who went to three performances in a row. We took one look at each other and silently agreed that our next stop would be the Brooks Atkinson Theatre to find out about lottery tickets.
We put our names in the old style lottery contraption and left it up to the Broadway Gods. Of course, we got tickets. Somehow, I knew without a shadow of a doubt we would. $27 a piece later we were in our seats waiting for the show to begin, but still not sure what at all to expect.
What happened next is hard to describe without using the words 'clever' and 'whimsical'. They sound cliche, but are really well suited for the job. As fitting for a Peter Pan story, it was a play filled with silliness and clever stagings which helped unlock that imaginative part of your brain which may need a bit of dusting off.
Adam Chanler-Berat is able to pull of playing the part of a pre-adolescent boy which captures the innocence and wonder that you completely forget that he is a grown man and that this should be weird or creepy. I had a hard time putting my thumb on what it reminded me of, until I realized that he played the daughter's boyfriend in Next to Normal. Another role so full of wide-eyed optimism and hope for the future.
Indeed, the entire cast is spectacular and their ability to work together as one cohesive organism is what gives this play its special sauce, but one star did shine brightest in Christian Boyle. His performance brought me to the point of laughing so hard that I no longer am sure what to do with myself because I physically can NOT laugh harder. Seriously, I found myself half wondering about the possibility of cardiac arrest from laughing. This performance made me want to watch everything he has ever been in and look forward to his future career. I just hope that he continues to be cast in roles where he gets to showcase his incredible talent as he could be the next Tim Curry (but hopefully even bigger).
Bottom line: GO. Tickets start at $59.
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