See it if A touching play about siblings returning to their childhood fantasies. Lovely ensemble acting.
Don't see it if If you prefer musicals or light dramas.
See it if you want to see Kathleen Chalfant fly as Peter Pan and excellent acting by Lisa Emery
Don't see it if you want to see a fast moving well written play
See it if If you're a fan of Sarah Ruehl and/or Kathleen Chalfant, and like quirky scripts with a homespun glow.
Don't see it if If you are expecting linear drama with a clear throughline or any strong message. And if you don't like "quirky" plays
See it if You're up for a low key but funny meditation on aging & mortality, the terrific cast creating a real family with deceptive ease.
Don't see it if You're impatient or looking for fluff, music or a snappy pace, don't like fantasy in any form, or plays where dialogue is all. Read more
See it if You never wanted to grow up or grow old, but you did anyway at least the grow old part.
Don't see it if You're aging and you just see no point in discussing it, specially not with your brothers and sisters. Or you like plays with plots . Read more
See it if you like plays that focus on aging and mortality, you enjoy quirky surrealism in the last act or a playwright's tribute to her mother
Don't see it if death is a touchy subject for you (the deathbed scenes are very true to life). Second act is slow and boring and weakest part.
See it if you are willing to embrace a show that deviates from the classic, Western plot structure.
Don't see it if you have recently lost someone important or are uncomfortable with nostalgia and aging.
See it if you want to see a family dealing with the loss of a loved one
Don't see it if you want to see a production of peter pan
“The first part...is close to perfect...In parts two and three, Ruhl’s major thematic intentions are introduced and reiterated...Ruhl slowly loses her once-firm grip…Ruhl’s caper, though, is ultimately uneven and immature. For one thing, the demands put on the actors for pretending to be children are unfair. If premier actors like Chalfant, Emery, Reddin and Jenkins can’t bring this assignment off, then no one could.”
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“Ruhl doesn’t quite develop her characters…The whole thing is, indeed, very much like one of the ‘Apple Family Plays’—only without rich layering and the empathy…Chalfant is very good here; she seems to storm determinedly through the action despite any weaknesses, like—well, like Peter Pan. Everyone does a good job, under the direction of frequent Ruhl collaborator Les Waters. But the playwright has not written the play she so earnestly seems to have wished to.”
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“I decided to take a chance on it. Big mistake…The excruciating death scene seemed interminable, even without the long pauses that director Les Waters has inserted…There’s a well-staged sword fight and some neat flying. The acting is strong…Since the play clearly has deep personal meaning for Ruhl and was written as a gift to her mother, who actually played Peter Pan in her youth, it pains me to be so negative about it. Nevertheless, at no point did the play really engage me."
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"The symbolism is pretty heavy and the Never Land segment runs out of steam before it finishes, but Ruhl still paints a heartbreaking and insightful portrait of adult passages. Les Waters skillfully balances the disparate styles. A compassionate cast led by the exquisite Chalfant and Emery establish Ruhl’s duality of detailed naturalism and metaphor-laden dreamscape...'Peter Pan' isn’t bursting with startling new insights...But it’s presented with commitment and compassion."
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"Ruhl's warmhearted meditation on mortality really hit my sweet spot...Waters has assembled a top-notch cast to spin this tale...This production had me from the moment I learned that Ann would be played by Kathleen Chalfant, an actor who seems incapable of giving less than a brilliant performance. Here she soars again...Ruhl's wry humor keeps 'For Peter Pan' from being depressing. Instead it's a reminder that the best way to face death may be with a defiant smile."
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"One of the play’s biggest weaknesses is one of its central reasons of being: Ruhl has said she wanted to see if she could craft a family drama without it hinging on 'mudslinging and skeletons in the closet.' On stage, sadly, this faithfulness to the love and cadences of her own family is a little listless to watch in a fictional one...Without any overt tensions the plot fizzles...The performers...skillfully segue from real world to Pan-world; the writing, tonally, is more discordant."
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"The actors, with impeccable credentials, adhere to the script’s directive to make the first third feel 'unperformed.' Alas, 'aimless' might be a better description. One wishes that director Les Waters or the producers had helped curb Ruhl’s impulse...Occasionally the jumble of events yields a moment of interest...Despite the mercenary theft from 'Peter Pan' to engage the audience, one is more likely to be struck by disbelief at the tedious flummery on stage."
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“Promising but underwritten…Even at 90 minutes, Ruhl’s play is a very long sit. Under the direction of Les Waters, the production has some lovely well-observed moments, but no real propulsive drive. The siblings emerge less as characters than as mouthpieces for slightly different stances on politics or the value of religion…Ruhl has sketched the broad outlines of characters here, gathering a handful of ideas and themes that are still in need of a structure to bind them in place."
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