Peter and the Starcatcher: Acting Edition

by Rick Elice

"The most exhilarating Broadway storytelling in decades! You must experience it yourself." - Ben Brantley, New York Times

A young orphan and his mates are shipped from Victorian England to a distant island ruled by evil King Zarboff. They know nothing of the mysterious trunk in the captain's cabin, containing a precious, otherworldly cargo. At sea the boys are discovered by a precocious young girl named Molly, a Star-catcher in training, who realizes that the trunk's precious cargo is starstuff, a celestial substance so powerful it must not fall in the wrong hands.
When the ship is taken over by pirate - led by the fearsome Black Stache, a villain determined to claim the trunk and treasure for his own dubious dreams of world domination - the journey quickly becomes fraught with danger threatening the lives of Molly and the boys.
This Tony-Award winning, magical and hilarious adventure at least reveals the origins of Peter Pan, The Lost Boys, Wendy, their piratical nemesis, Captain Hook - and a far-off place known as Neverland.

Searching for that perfect gift for the Broadway fan in your life? Explore more from Disney Editions:

How Does the Show Go On? An Introduction to the Theater - The Frozen Edition
The Lion King: Pride Rock on Broadway
The Lion King: Twenty Years on Broadway and Around the World
My Pride: Mastering Life's Daily Performance from Broadway's Record-Breaking Lion King
Disney Aladdin: A Whole New World - The Road to Broadway and Beyond

Genres: Plays, Theatre, Fantasy, Teaching, 21st Century, School

104 pages, Paperback

First published October 14, 2014

Reviews

[Kenzie Rae · Rating 5 out of 5]

So I had the honor to perform in Peter and the Starcatcher in October as Mrs. Bumbrake and it was such an amazing show! I miss it every single day, not only the people I performed with, but the story itself. To be honest, when I first read over the script with the rest of the cast, I wasn’t really excited to perform it, but throughout the five weeks of rehearsal before the opening night, I really came to love it and am so glad I had a chance to be in this amazing production!

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

For all I enjoy the tale of Peter Pan, my one quibble has always been that it reinforces that idea that girls are responsible and boys are wild and fun. I give JM Barrie slack because of the time in which he was writing and that he wrote the story for brothers.

I’m not quite sure why, one hundred years later and under the banner of “we’re writing this for our daughters!” those same gender roles are kept in a Broadway show that features only a single actress.

I love the idea of the minimal staging, of using props the way a child does when playing make believe. But the story itself feels cheap and gimmicky, a fantasy penned by boys who still don’t have the faintest idea about girls. Molly is such a stereotype of the girl who isn’t like other girls (She’s special! She hangs out with the boys!). She’s the cool girl who is an acceptable love interest for the main character. She’s an absolute cliché.

Yawn. You want to write something for your daughters? Start with multiple female characters who are not just there as the main character’s plus one. Not recommended.

[Jacob · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mix of "Peter Pan / Peter and Wendy" and the Barry-Pearson novel, it's a very different sort of beast. If you're a fan of "Peter and the Starcatchers" (with an "s"), it will surprise you how different it is. Yet, it's a lot of fun. Remember too that it's meant to be seen on stage, not read on the page—so go see it!

[Lindsay Andros · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full disclosure: The high school in which I teach is doing this for their fall drama this year. We did the read-through today, and it's a lot of fun! Hilarious and touching, with allusions abound. It's also, however, confusing, and not all of it makes complete sense. Can't wait to see this onstage.

[Shawn Deal · Rating 3 out of 5]

This play is okay and for a certain company, and a certain audience it can be so much more. It never quite hit for me. Being a huge fan of the book series, I just wondered about the choices the author in his adaptation. It was fun I will say.

[Jacqueline]

Peter and the Starcatcher is Rick Elice’s play based on the novel by Dave Berry and Ridley Pearson. It highlights the events that take place prior to the familiar story of Peter Pan. In the play we see more emphasis on the orphan who later becomes Peter and how he entered the rivalry with the Pirate. The story starts with the orphan boy and his mates meeting a girl, named Molly, on a ship. They find a trunk, a treasure chest of sorts, which contains Starstuff. Starstuff is a powerful magic which they must not let get into bad hands. They then are faced against the Pirate Stache and his crew, who want the starstuff. A series of events follows which ends directly into how the traditional story of Peter Pan is set to begin.

I found myself enjoying this play. I followed along with the dramatization on the YouTube video. I found the dialogue comedic and loved the play on many of our favorite fairytale classics. I enjoyed the usage of the narrators as a way to give dramatic effect to action sequences, including how they asked the audience to imagine the cat flying and how they voiced the ways crashing into the ship. I enjoyed the added themes of the play. It showed us the importance of friendships while also adding bits of sorrow when highlighting Peter’s own background. Molly is described as not having a great childhood as she didn’t have many friends since she had to follow her father on Royal missions and was also assigned a nanny to help her ease into womanhood. In a way this is also switch on how we typically see Wendy portrayed. I enjoyed how they went into depth with these characters and showed what started the rivalry between Peter and the Captain.

Overall, I really enjoyed the comedy of this play. Those familiar with the original story and the Disney films will enjoy the hidden mentions throughout the play. It is one that can be enjoyed by audiences of all ages.

[Madison Oliver]

Peter and the Starcatcher, a play written by Rick Elice is a fast-paced adventure on the high seas about three orphan boys and a girl named Molly. They are aboard the ship called The Neverland in which they are amidst an abundance of things that Molly promised her father that she would protect. When the pirate captain, Black Stache learns of the treasure, he goes after The Neverland, which is torn apart in a storm. The children face Stache, where he in turn calls one of the boys Peter, in hopes of getting him to join his pirate crew. He rides the trunk to a nearby island to escape Black Stache, but the adventures of Molly, Peter, and the other boys has only begun.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading through this play. I thought it was a fun take on the tale of Peter Pan. It had just the right amount of the original story, with its own original twist. I liked the way that the characterization of the main characters. I think that with the boys being more aware of how life is and that they won’t be kids forever is a nice touch. I also like the way that the playwright opened up the play, it not only set the characters up for adventure, but it also established the tone in such a way as if the audience would be going on this journey with them. In my opinion, I think that this allowed the audience to be more engaged in the story, growing with the boys as they experience the events that are occurring. I also liked the use of comedy in this play, as it was a way for the characters to talk to the audience, and get them to use their imaginations to visualize what is happening if they are not there watching the play.

[Kaitlynn Rodriguez]

In the play titled “Peter and the Starcatcher” by Rick Elice a group of three orphan boys are introduced to the audience as alone and forgettable. These three orphans named Prentiss, Ted, and another called Boy (later on in the play he is given the name peter) all start the story by being sold away to a wealthy man as snake food by their cruel schoolmaster Grempkin by way of a ship called the Neverland. There is another ship in the play called The Wasp. These two ships also play an important role in the play because one carries an extremely valuable treasure from the queen herself while the other has fake treasure meant to trick any thieves. The three boys are also accompanied by Molly Aster, the daughter of Lord Aster who is an associate to the queen, and her nanny Mrs. Bumbrake. The three orphan boys and Molly get along well as they teach each other new things. More specifically, Molly teaches the main Boy to be heroic. All while this happens, there are pirates who are actively seeking the treasure being sent to the queen.
I really liked this play and its playful whimsical feel. I think because I was already a fan of the story of Peter Pan, this play was very easy to become interested in as I found myself making connections from the play to the story Peter Pan. One thing I liked about the play was its clever use of wordplay throughout. The way some of the characters would use silly ongoing words that began with the same letter reminded me of the kind of playfulness that comes from the original Peter Pan. Overall, I enjoyed this play and if the chance to watch it live ever crosses my path I would excitedly go see it.

[Eric M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Funny word play. Would like to see it on stage.

[Amy M. Mize]

I am so excited to see my students in this show. I had to read the script so that I could share in their anticipation as they prepare for their performance.

[Rachael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Our ensemble play😚

[Sofia Sorrentino · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was a boy, I wished I could fly

If you just read this script on it's own, you would probably find it entertaining enough. But even the giant, full color pictures from the Broadway production can't quite capture just how magical it was live. It was creative, funny, moving, and heartbreaking - sometimes all within the same scene. The approach of telling an epic, high-stakes, swashbuckling adventure with bare bones staging, a small cast, and DIY special effects was like nothing I've seen since. They used one long rope to represent everything from doorways, to the ocean waves, to the silhouette of a ship. The man-eating crocodile was created with two red salad bowls, two flashlights, and line of white paper flags. Tinker-bell was just a yellow glove. The flying effects were done the old fashioned way - with wires, planks, and tricks of the light. I can only imagine how complicated the tracks must have been - not only is every actor playing at least two roles, but they are also in charge of moving the scenery, creating a million new locations in an instant, and hitting all their marks at exactly the right place - all while spitting out the lightning fast dialogue, which is punchline on top of punchline, and all has to hit at the exact right moment.

Oh and did I mention the songs are bangers? It's been ten years since I saw this show and I can still sing you the chorus to the mermaid's song.

I was eight when I saw the Broadway production. It was my first Broadway show, and it made me fall in love with theatre for good. It was theatre in it's most pure, distilled form, and it was spellbinding in a way that no movie could be. It was more of an adrenaline rush than any book that I had read. And I was so obsessed with what I had seen that when my parents got me the script for Christmas, I read it so many times that I could recite whole scenes from memory(I can still do the opening if I try. There's such a rhythm and musicality to it - once it gets into your head, it's almost muscle memory). That night at the Brooks Atkinson theatre in 2012 was one of the best nights of my life, and this show means so very much to me. I am eternally grateful for it.

Also, Christian Borle if you're reading this I'm free tomorrow night and would like you to hang out with me please respond to this and hang out with me tomorrow night when i am free.

[Keith Moser · Rating 5 out of 5]

Saw this twice—once on Broadway with most of the original cast & once in Bethlehem as part of its national tour. The Broadway production was fantastic while the tour was a little disappointing. At the time, I wasn't sure if the touring show was of lower quality or if it lost its magic simply because it wasn't new any more.

Last week, I was again in NYC & stopped by my favorite place—The Drama Book Shop. I noticed this Acting Edition of Peter and the Star Catcher and read the first 25% of it while staying out of the heat.

I. Loved. It.

As I read it, I remembered the actors I saw, the musicians I heard, and the amazing Poor Theatre style of transforming the stage with a simple piece of rope. I have a feeling this play might be a difficult read for anyone who hasn't seen the show—there's so much wordplay and double casting, it'd be hard to follow. I'd probably recommend you check out The Annotated Script instead, which probably has pictures and descriptions of the set to help guide you through the story.

But for me, it was a wonderful journey back, remembering the fantastic Celia Keenan-Bolger as Molly and misremembering Christian Borle as the vicious Black Stache! (We had actually seen Matthew Saldivar in the role, but I can picture Borle in it!)

It also really makes me want to revisit Dave Barry & Ridley Pearson's original book series. Seems I read the first two books but never wrote a review for Peter and the Shadow Thieves so I guess I'd have to reread that before moving on to the next three... Decisions decisions...

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw “Peter and the Starcatcher “on Broadway with the original cast and it was a great time in the theatre. Christian Borle’s performance as Black Stache was stellar in many many ways. It is a play that is much more enjoyable in performance than it is in reading.
I liked the experience of reading this text, but to truly appreciate what Rick Elice (the playwright) has done here you really need to see it performed. And performed well. The myriad amounts of word play, verbal humor, etc. comes across best on stage, however I still had a grin on my face most of the time while reading this lovely play.
Although “Peter and the Starcatcher” is a comedy there are more than a few touching moments in it, some of them powerfully so. One particular exchange (on page 99 in this edition) hits home and in as concise a manner as I have come across articulates the power of love, belonging, and friendship. The ending of the play is appropriate and works well.
“Peter and the Starcatcher” is sentimental, funny, witty, adventurous, imaginative, and touching. I’ll take those things over the alternatives any day of the week.
A note, I think you would enjoy the experience of reading this piece, after seeing it performed.

[Benjamin Williamson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Update: Having just performed this show (Stage Center, Shreveport, LA, summer 2017 - I was Grempkin/Mack/Sanchez/Fighting Prawn), I can truly say that it is a masterfully written script.

Although it can be a difficult read when flying solo--especially during Act 1 as it switches between the two ships--one thing that I came to appreciate with each additional run of the show is how each seemingly random and bizarre occurrence actually helps to advance the story! Bumbrake blubbering about her bloody boss? Alf admitting he has a real problem with authority? Slank's cat flying? Mermaids singing about their enchanted lives? All help us to understand more about the characters, the complexities of their circumstances, and how a boy with no name became Peter Pan.

For anyone who is a fan of Pan, this is a must-read (and must-see) show: this origin story will make you laugh... make you cry... make you wonder how so much can be packed into one show! If you ever have the opportunity to see or be a part of a production of Peter and the Starcatcher, don't miss the chance to board the Neverland for an unforgettable trip to Mollusk Island!

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Basic Plot: A Boy goes on an adventure, gets a name, and finds the home he's always wanted.

In a tradition recently made popular, this prequel explains the events before a story we are all familiar with: Peter Pan. Based on a young adult series by the same name (which I haven't read, so cannot speak to the accuracy of the play to the book), this play explores how Peter Pan came to be. It also shows us how some other aspects of Neverland and its cast of characters came to be.

It was simply a lot of fun. There are some funny jokes and anachronisms tossed in. There are some really powerful moments of pathos, too. I am really looking forward to putting this one on stage and seeing what our cast does with it.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I saw this at the Shaw Festival in 2015, it wasn't my favourite until after seeing it one or two more times. By the end of the season, I have to say it was hands down my favourite play that season (after seeing all the shows). I laughed at jokes as if I had never heard them before, it never got old for me. I picked it up the script the season later and I still giggled at it just as much as I had when I saw it.

[Katherine Gee Perrone · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the play before I read the books. This is one of the best plays I've read. It's hilarious, highly theatrical, and brilliant in it's storytelling. I read it in one full go while my daughter fell asleep on a four hour flight from Austin to Seattle. I laughed out loud, I cried, and my head is still spinning with wonder.

[Melanie Page · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun, witty story that tells where Peter Pan and Captain Hook come from. It includes sea shanties and pop culture references. However, the crude portrayal of colonized natives as "me speak English" barbarians and the playwright's suggestion to not cast women except in the role of Molly to show how excluded women are peeved me.

[Lyric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stellar twist on the origin story of Peter Pan. Would love to see a production of this. It sounds like it would be expensive to produce, but lovely to see unfold before your eyes. I may have to pick up the novel next.

[Alexander Davidson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read the book first. Then read the play. The play is a VERY watered down version of the novel and leaves out some important information. It seems like it jumps around way too quickly without giving much time to anything. I'm sure it's a better play to see than to read.

[Joann · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite kind of script - funny silly clever with a little twist and a little heart.

[Xanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a reread for a class that I'm teaching.

I enjoyed it even more the second time! And it makes me want to pick up the Dave Barry/Ridley Pearson original story.

[Ilyse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Working on at Lyric Stage, Spring 2016.

[Kara Coffey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Couldn't put it down (literally- I finished it in 23 hours)

[Domenic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall this is much better paced than the book upon which it is based. Most of the deviations from the original story make this work superior, until the last ten or so pages

[Timothy Peay · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best written plays I've ever read. The dialogue offers actors SO much to work with and the story is so beautiful and well crafted. This script is incredible.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magical and fun. Adaptations can be tricky, but this one stands alone as well as doing the novel justice.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fond of the show, and the script reminded me how funny it was. Love the production I saw on Broadway, and would love to see a local company take this on!

[Elle Dunne · Rating 1 out of 5]

What on Earth was this play?