Written by Melina Alejos
Peter and the Starcatcher portrays an exciting backstory on Peter Pan. This Pan prequel solves the mysteries of Peter Pan and answers questions Pan lovers have about the plot and characters.
Peter and the Starcatcher premiered with a cast of high school students at the Northview Performing Arts Center on November 8th and 9th, 2024. The play is about an orphan who doesn’t have a name but is soon named Peter. He meets a rich girl named Molly. Molly and the boy risk their lives to keep a treasure away from pirates and keep Molly’s dad and themselves alive. Peter and the Starcatcher take place before the Walt Disney Peter Pan film. Molly is not connected to the original Peter Pan but does play an important role in how he became Peter Pan.
The cast impressed me from start to finish. I was amazed by how they memorized all of their lines and danced together as a whole cast. The audience could tell that they all really care about the play and value their work very much. I had varying opinions but the play was an outstanding performance and everyone involved did a fantastic job. It was interesting how they linked Peter and the Starcthcher and the original Peter Pan. The play answers questions that you may have had from the Peter Pan movie like how he got the ability to fly and the story about Neverland and why he was named Peter Pan.
Peter and the Starcthcher is a funny play. This play is funny because when Blackbeard comes out, all of his crewmates scream his name whenever it is mentioned. What I also thought was funny was when the crocodile came out, and the pirates started screaming.
The play is adventurous. Peter and Molly save the treasure on their ship from being captured by pirates. They then get caught in a shipwreck on an unknown island. They face many challenges, like almost drowning and discovering new islands.
Peter and the Starcathcher is a family-friendly play. It has good energy and keeps kids involved. It keeps the audience engaged because the crowd can get involved, like singing and shouting along during some parts of the play. It also has funny and interesting moments that seize the audience’s attention.
At first, the play was a little hard to follow because there was no backstory, and I couldn’t hear well because the audio was quiet, but after a while, I could understand it. This shows that the stage crew and audio techs were making improvements throughout the play.
The actors who performed in the Peter and the Starcathcher did a wonderful job. For example, the actors didn’t break out of their characters when they were in the play and all of the actors memorized their lines very well. They also had excellent energy that they were giving to the crowd during the play.
Senior Ian McPherson played Prentiss, Peter’s brother, and was extremely pleased with the way the cast performed and interacted during the play.
“I don’t think there is something that we all need to change and I think we did pretty well,” McPherson said.
Some cast member’s opinions may differ from Mcpherson’s. For example, senior Rachel Haagsma said that they should have been more energized for the second show.
“I think we could have been more energized for the second show,” Haagsma said. “In the first show, our crowd was giving back but in our second show, our crowd wasn’t giving much back so we weren’t giving much to them.”
While there was room for improvement, every play or production has something that can be polished. For a high school production, this was an outstanding performance, and the cast should be very proud of themselves and all the work they put into Peter and the Starcatcher.
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