For Peter Pan on Her 70th Birthday NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (165)
See it if You love Sarah Ruhl. While without a doubt one of the best modern dramatists, she misses big time with this one.
Don't see it if You need to be engaged in the theater. This play is admittedly a personal homage to Ruhl's mother, but it does not hang together as drama.
See it if you love any of the actors in the piece, especially Chalfant, or you are interested in stories of family dynamics across time
Don't see it if you are interested in a play that has a meaningful/new message or one that is particularly well-written/paced.
See it if only if you are intent on seeing every work written by Sarah Ruhl.
Don't see it if you expect interesting characters, dialogue and situations or if you want a play that really has something to say about Peter Pan.
See it if You want to see a dull under developed uncooked play. You have to see all of Sarah Ruel's plays. Good or bad
Don't see it if You have no Patience for theatre companies producing plays by famous playwrights even if a play isnt ready
See it if Want to spend 20 minutes wishing a character would die. Sorry they weren't dead when the play began so we could get on with it.
Don't see it if You are a fan of Chalfant. She's terribly miscast in a badly written part in a poorly written play Nesver believed she wanted to be Peter. Read more
See it if you like plays about family relationships, but with a positive spin.
Don't see it if you don't like theater that's a little unexpected. Read more
See it if you want to see a reflection of a real family and a specific yet universal story.
Don't see it if you want a lot of plot because this is mostly driven by emotion
See it if You like Kathleen Chalfant and would go to see her read the phone book.
Don't see it if You love Peter Pan, and have any expectations of a Pan-like theater experience. Read more
Critic Reviews (46)
“The magic in this play is all in that fantastical morphing, which shimmers in its quiet way, infusing the play with lightness and warmth. The catch is you have to wait until the last third to get there…Characters mouth platitudes so implausibly hackneyed that the audience is left wondering whether they were delivered ironically…The third scene is higher energy…Tender and poignant at times, Ruhl gently probes our take on the illusions of growing up, acting, and gender.”
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“There is an intrinsic lyricism to Ruhl’s ideas as well as her language in this work…Chalfant as Ann and Peter Pan utterly compels and charms…The rest of the cast aptly provides respectable performances…Waters' direction also holds very tender moments…Waters – who also has a history of wily exploits that sometimes excel – fulfills his reputation here by including a small marching band. Instead of adding illumination, however, the move disrupts the story and mood."
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“Oh Ms. Ruhl…Why in perhaps your most personal play to date, do you exchange intellect for cliché and fantasy for silliness?...We can’t help but feel like we we’ve been watching a panto holiday extravaganza rather than one of Ruhl’s deeply meaningful mythic meditations…It’s as though this childishness got the better of Ruhl here, dumbing down potentially intriguing discussion into obvious sound bites and belaboring the fantastical into mere antics.”
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“All this sounds rather depressing but, being a Sarah Ruhl play, is delivered with humor, compassion and cleverness…An enjoyable and engrossing 90 minutes of theater, moving the audience swiftly along its trajectory of grief until it, quite literally, soars through the air…Waters works his theatrical magic again here, bringing out not only the best in the play, but in his excellent ensemble of actors.”
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“Chalfant is a deeply empathetic actor who commands the stage…Though not a revolutionary idea, the execution and admittedly hokey stage magic make the final moments of the play especially moving, endearing, and even transcendent…It's just quirky, original, and redemptive enough to stand out among contemporary theater, and while the issues it deals with are heavy, it arrives at a lightness that some might say is too literal, but I'll just say left a lasting smile on my face.”
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“In her script, Ruhl expertly weaves heavy topics with elements of childhood whimsy to touching effect…Some elements, however, were cumbersome...Waters' knack for the darkly fanciful elevates Ruhl’s script. Add in the tenderly performed roles of the siblings (Scott Jaeck, Keith Reddin, David Chandler and Lisa Emery — all of whom were standouts), and 'For Peter Pan on her 70th Birthday' will be a Humana play with a reach far past Actors Theatre."
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