Last I went to New York City I saw several shows:
– Disney’s the Newsies
– Once the Musical
– Sleep No More (twice)

One show that I was cautiously interested in seeing but unable to do to time was Peter and the Starcatcher. Being a fan of fairytales and stories of the like it was natural for me to be interested in J M Barrie‘s Peter Pan, but the possibility of a prequel kind makes me uneasy. Prequels and sequels tend to make me uneasy because they could be done really poorly. Still, there was a lot of buzz surrounding the book series written by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson.

Turns out I probably should have seen the play because they were nominated for quite a few awards and ended up winning the following.
– Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play: Christian Borle
– Best Scenic Design of a Play: Donyale Werle
– Best Costume Design of a Play: Paloma Young
– Best Lighting Design of a Play: Jeff Croiter
– Best Sound Design of a Play: Darron L West

Peter and the Starcatchers got its start at the New York Theatre Workshop with some of the same cast as the Broadway show.

One of the reasons that drew me to this production was Christian Borle as the Black Stache who eventually becomes Captain Hook. I absolutely loved Christian in Legally Blonde the Musical where he played Emmett Forrest, Elle Woods’ graduate student mentor. He brought so many new nuances into the roll and as Laura Bell Bundy would say later:

He made lines funny that weren’t suppose to be funny!

Yes, he’s that talented. And now with a career in television on the NBC primetime show Smash, Christian is on his way to strengthening his acting career.

What has been a rising trend, plays now are featuring orchestrations as well as songs as opposed to being a purely straight play. Some other plays that have featured some music include:
– One Man, Two Guvnors
– Enron
– Fences
– The Coast of Utopia
Now Peter and the Starcatcher is also a part of that list… as the lines between a play and musical are being blurred, entertainment is constantly evolving. Considering the bits of comedy that the script and story lends itself too, it would be a bloody shame if there was no music whatsoever. So if I make it to New York City again sometime in the near future you can bet I’m going to be making a trip to see Peter and the Starcatcher this time.