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Peter Pan panto panned
| Source: |
Toronto Star |
| Date: |
November 30, 2007 |
| Author: |
Richard Ouzounian |
Peter Pan
1.5 stars (out of 4)
By Chris Earle. Directed by Susan H. Schulman. Until Jan. 6 at The
Elgin Theatre, 189 Yonge St. 416-872-5555
Did you ever get a bright, shiny present on Christmas morning only to
find it so disappointing that you wound up playing with something from
the dollar store?
That's how I felt about Peter Pan, which opened last night at the
Elgin Theatre.
This is the sleekest of all the shows that Ross Petty has presented in
the past dozen years, but, ironically, it's also the least
fun.
I should've guessed things were in trouble when Petty insisted his
show was no longer a "panto" but a "family musical." Then he hired a
director (Susan H. Schulman) with numerous Broadway/Stratford credits
and gave the script to Chris Earle, known for his envelope-testing
plays.
Do you know what my 90 year-old prairie mother-in-law would call this?
Puttin' on airs.
I sat there last night drinking in the politically correct jokes
(Tiger Lily and her Indians are now Southeast Asian businesswomen),
the blandly homogenous pop score (did anyone want to hear the theme
song from The Greatest American Hero ever again?) and watching the
bland parodies of even blander TV shows (Do we care who's dumber than
a fifth grader?).
Before the show was over, I was longing for the corny, tacky pantos of
yesteryear.
Where were the drag-queen dames? How about the finale singalong where
the littlest kid always thought he'd been cheated out of a stuffed
animal until the last minute when he got the biggest one? Or Petty
himself belting through an old Broadway tune he'd never gotten to sing
in his more legit days?.
Admittedly, Kurt Browning has a winning personality, and when he
finally dons skates for his duel with Captain Hook it makes for some
droll moments, but he can't really sing, his acting is minimal and you
wonder if he's been hired just so Petty's annual joke about being
married to a ballerina (the legendary Karen Kain) can be topped by a
reference to Browning's wife (The National Ballet's Sonia
Rodriguez).
Chris Earle's script starts out with some promise, making John a
computer freak, giving Michael an asthma puffer and letting Wendy have
dreams of pop glory, but before too long it fades into limp
topicality.
In fact, things get so loosey-goosey in the second act (which is
largely taken up with a ludicrous talent show) that I wanted to hold
up a sign saying "It's 9;00 PM; do you know where your plot
is?"
The vivid personalities of the old days are gone as well, with only
old faithful Eddie Glen to remind us of the amusing ancient
style.
A sparkplug-like Jennifer Waiser is wasted by a useless conception of
Tinker Bell and even Petty's Hook is so bland this year that he comes
across like Ozzy Osbourne after rehab.
A lot of this must be laid at the feet of director Schulman, whose
work has never been known for its madcap comic touch.
It's like inviting your maiden aunt to watch Kenny vs. Spenny and then
wondering why she doesn't get the jokes.
Dear Ross Petty, please bring back the good old, bad old days. After
this Peter Pan has been Schulmanized and Earled, there are just not a
lot of laughs left.
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