Peter Pan Archives - TheaterScene.net

Peter Pan

No Singing in the Navy

April 7, 2026

"School Pictures," Milo Cramer’s last New York show, a solo musical, was wildly inventive, hilarious funny, and extremely insightful about the New York education system, based on his own experiences as a tutor. Unfortunately, his new musical show again premiering at Playwrights Horizons seems to be out of his comfort zone though he has been a fan of musicals for years. "No Singing in the Navy" is a three-character revue which purports to be a tribute to Golden Age musicals, but its format is a series of very slight skits, à la 'Saturday Night Live," all with the same three sailors. It does use the premise from "On the Town": three sailors on leave for 24 hours before shipping out to the war, also used in a series of original Hollywood musicals, usually about sailors who become involved in putting on a show in either New York or on the coast. This show claims to have parodies of songs from "The Music Man," 'Peter Pan" and "The Sound of Music" but most theatergoers will not recognize them. A charming idea, but "No Singing in the Navy" is too thin and simplistic to make us think of those golden age musicals that still get revived on stage and reaired in their film versions. [more]

Peter Pan Goes Wrong

May 1, 2023

The Company soon loses its way as bunk beds self-destruct, lines get mangled, Peter Pan flails about in failed attempts to fly and crocodiles and mermaids parade about on skateboards. If this sounds like a normal production of Barrie’s classic tale, then I am telling it wrong. The main problem with "Peter Pan Goes Wrong" is that virtually all the jokes are physical, an unending series of scenic disasters that become not just predictable, but tiresome. Even the great physical comedians of the silent film era knew when enough was enough. [more]

Peter Pan (Bedlam)

November 25, 2017

Such changes as Captain Hook being a woman or Tinker Bell speaking French are neither explained nor meaningful, while some of the doubling simply makes the play hard to follow as the characters are not listed in the programs which are given out after the performance. A voice-over which appears to read stage directions from the original is both intrusive and inconsistent: why some characters but not others? There is a dark psychological story hidden in Barrie’s tale of a boy who refuses to grow up but this isn’t it. Whereas the original play is joyful, Bedlam’s Peter Pan is a glum affair in which no one seems to be having a very good time. Where is the Bedlam which brought such purposeful insight and visual dazzle to its previous work? The actors, mostly playing children, try hard but fail to bring the work to life. [more]