PETER PAN GOES WRONG

I already loved Peter Pan Goes Wrong, having seen it elsewhere two years ago, and I feel the same about it here. But La Mirada Theatre For The Performing Arts has the added benefit of being the only place on earth that has the narrator played by…Cathy Rigby, the icon who played Peter Pan in the classic musical for something like thirty years! So, advantage La Mirada. (Cathy and her husband, Tom McCoy, actually produce all the shows there.)

And I have to tell you right away that the last part of the curtain call is the absolute best thing I have ever seen in my entire life!!! (I’ll explain at the end of this review, with a Spoiler Alert.)

If you’ve never seen this play, this is the time to do so. And if you have, you still must see this venue’s production! The show itself, in general, is wonderful, and this cast is fabulous. It’s such an ensemble that I didn’t have a favorite–the timing of every performer is perfect. What a supreme group effort.

But I did notice myself smiling a bit extra at Nick Apostolina because he’s adorbs. And I was happy to see a few actors I’ve enjoyed and reviewed favorably in the past, such as Nicole Parker in La Cage Aux Folles, (of whom I wrote her “brief hilarious bit near the end is not to be missed,”) and Trent Mills in…everything! He was especially entertaining as Peter’s shadow in this one. I had even reviewed the director, Eric Petersen, when he starred as Shrek in Thousand Oaks a few years ago! And I recognized Reggie De Leon, as John Darling here, because I had just seen him on an episode of High Potential last week and all the time on commercials! And I give especial credit to Josh Grisetti, who keeps the action moving in not only the dual role of Captain Hook and Mr. Darling, but also as the “director” of this show-within-the-show.

And I love that for the curtain call, the entire technical crew comes onstage, to thunderous applause, I might add.  They all looked to be having as much fun as the audience was.

Peter Pan Goes Wrong is sooooo riveting, in fact, that I couldn’t even take notes for this review! You cannot take your eyes off the stage for even one moment or you’ll miss something fantastic. I made the mistake of occasionally looking over at a man in the row in front of me because he was laughing so hard I became worried about him, but I advise to not do even that. (My friend and I, also, laughed almost non-stop throughout it.)

The entire production looks as though this is a company that has been doing the show together forever. And I wish that would be the case—that they would do this show forever instead of for only four weeks. I know that La Mirada is a theatre that produces a few different shows a year, (which are all high-quality,) but I wish that Peter Pan Goes Wrong would run there in perpetuity—I want everyone to get to see it! (And me to see it again!)

Peter Pan Gone Wrong is downright brilliant! The writers—Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields of Britain’s Mischief Theatre—have thought of absolutely everything!

The show is an expertly-crafted screwball comedy about a group of performers from a British Drama Society staging Peter Pan. And, of course, it all goes wrong. (Duh.) In the most uproarious, slapstick-y, farcical, ludicrous, and disastrous ways. I have never been a fan of physical comedy, (I can’t even bear to watch the Three Stooges,) but I promise you, this show is hilarious!!!

Although this version of Peter Pan is not a musical, (and definitely not the famous Broadway Peter Pan that’s been around since the Mary Martin days of the ’50s, and a few decades later, starring Cathy Rigby herself,) there are a few songs in it, which add to the fun.

Also fun is the colorful and crazy Stephen Gifford-designed set, especially during the big ending, which I can compare to only the final bits of a fireworks presentation.

For once, I can’t even tell you how long the show is because, just like Peter Pan himself, it positively flies by!

As I said when I saw a different production of the show two years ago, and is very sadly still true today, Peter Pan Gone Wrong is exactly what all of us need right now—an evening of unbridled laughter at nonsense.

A couple of parts of the show, when the cast holds up giant letters that spell something, reminded me of one of my favorite personal stories, which is when I had ordered my birthday cakes to read “Peter Pan,” and it definitely went wrong, so I thank them for that funny, (yet tragic,) memory. (If you’re curious, here’s the link to that crazy story, but read it only after you finish this show review!: itsnotaboutme.tv/news/holiday-happy-birthday-to-me-2013.)

La Mirada does a really fun thing before the show and at intermission. I’ve done it at parties, but never at a theatre before. In their massive lobby, there’s a backdrop of the show for guests to pose in front of, along with a table of appropriate props to use, such as pirate hats and swords and Tinkerbell wings, and then a staff member takes the pix for you on your own camera. Everyone was having a great time with it. I enjoyed seeing some of the little kids, (and my own pal, Roz,) get really into posing!

If you miss Peter Pan Goes Wrong this time, (bite my tongue,) you may have the opportunity to see this show in a different production somewhere down the line in the future, but never with the perk of seeing Cathy Rigby, the original “Peter Pan” for millennials! In an extra-special moment in the show, she shares an anecdote about her time playing Peter Pan in the classic musical in the ’90s. The excuse in the script for her doing so is that they need her to vamp while they work on the Tinkerbell “actor” who had an “accident.”

Just to let you know, I have never not cried at the end of Peter Pan. Even when I’m just thinking about it! But since this is a super-amusing rendition of the tale, without the usual “growing-up” ending, I thought I had gotten away with it. And then something wondrous happened during the curtain call that had me a blubbering mess. (I’m crying again, just writing this!) If you want to be surprised by it, skip the next paragraph and just check-out the show’s info. And see it while you have this marvelous opportunity!

Now here’s that SPOILER ALERT, (if I can stop crying long enough to write about it!): Right after the entire technical crew came on stage to add to the curtain call, with Cathy Rigby standing in the center of everybody, and the entire audience standing and cheering, (and of course, just as I had put my camera away,) Cathy pulled off her narrator costume to reveal…her original Peter Pan one! (Uh-oh, here come my water works!) And she flies right over the center of the audience!!! And she’s sprinkling the Fairy Dust all the way. And to the music of I’m Flying from the original musical! I can’t believe that I just saw that right in front of my own eyes. It was the greatest surprise ever! So I hope you all get to experience that for yourselves.

Peter Pan Goes Wrong running through November 23, 2025
La Mirada Theatre For The Performing Arts
14900 La Mirada Boulevard, La Mirada
714-994-6310 www.lamiradatheatre.com