I believe, I believe, I believe

Let me sum up:
threesixty° Theater's "Peter Pan"



Let me splain:
This was my big Christmers present. My parents saw it in Orange County a while back, and then the run was extended so I got to play, too! The video doesn't do it justice.

And how many times did my lachrymal glands take flight? Twenty one. Twenty one freakin' times. Dude. That's not okay. There is something distinctly wrong with me. And remember folks, that's just spillover.

So what's my deal? Well, I'm a legitimate "Peter Pan" geek. I own 32 different printings of the book. My first 5 paragraph essay in Jr. High was entitled "Hook: Protagonist?" I've seen probably 7 or 8 different stage versions. And this one was fantastic. Wonderful combination of stage hijinx and nifty technology (albeit fairly shoddy CGI). And many little details that I absolutely adored. A Tinkerbell reminiscent of Björk. Hook's hook on the right and correct side (harder for the actor, but makes Hook more badass for RE-learning to fight left-handed). Bonus points for blood splattered hook cuffs. The best depiction of Wendy meeting Hook that I have ever seen (Barrie writes that Wendy was entranced by Hook...which allows Hook to stick around long enough to realize that Slightly has grown tubby from an addiction to water and that his entrance to the home underground will accommodate a fully grown pirate). And, beautifully, a moment added early in the play where Peter calls Wendy by her mother's name. This killed me.

After the show, my husband asked me to estimate the happy/sad tear ratio. I think happy won out. I didn't cry at Hook's demise, which is a rarity. A lot of the tears were purely whimsy induced. But the play is also wrenching. Which is to be expected from a children's story which concludes: “Thus it will go on, so long as children are gay and innocent and heartless.”

~Geek out