Itxaso Moreno as Tinkerbell in 'Peter Pan'
We all know “Peter Pan,” but do we really?
The new London production, playing the San Francisco waterfront all summer, is a fresh look at an old and familiar story.
Returning to the original, century-0ld novel and story by J. M. Barrie, this show is a splendid combination of polished performance, new technology and good old-fashioned stagecraft.
The venue is a 1,350-seat tent, housing more than 15,000 square feet of high-resolution, 3D, 360-degree video that serves as the backdrop for 22 live actors. The site is near the Ferry Building in San Francisco’s Embarcadero Plaza.
When Peter and Wendy take to the air, suspended from wire harnesses, their backdrop is swooping, panoramic footage of of vintage London as seen from above.
But older technologies are expertly used. Lead puppeteer Moshen Nouri, operating openly onstage, brings Nana the nursemaid dog to lovable life. The mermaids of Neverland perform an aerial ballet, Cirque du Soleil-style. Set pieces pop up out the floor and disappear again.
Since the Neverland adventure is essentially a dream born in the children’s nursery, that imagery is used throughout the show. Stagehands wear striped pajamas, and so do the operators of the huge crocodile, made of coat hangers, that springs out of the nursery closet (which doubles as a pirate ship.)
But none of this would mean much without great performances, which the troupe, featuring much of the original London cast, does deliver.
Nate Fallows is an athletic, affable and endlessly energetic Peter Pan, with Abby Ford as fetching, endearing Wendy, and stage and film veteran Jonathan Hyde gives an outstanding performance as a foppish, somewhat insecure Captain Hook. Basque actress Itxaso Moreno is irresistible as a tiny but tough, and rather punkish, Tinkerbell.
The whole high-energy cast meets that standard, pacing the action perfectly and delivering the original script’s dramatic moments, some of them surprisingly dark for viewers seeing this version for the first time.
The details —
Location: threesixty° theater, a huge tent installed at Ferry Park, opposite the Ferry Building, between Washington and Clay streets, off Drumm.
Show times: 7 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday; 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 2 p.m. Wednesday and Saturday; 1 and 5 p.m. Sunday, through August.
Admission: $30-$85. A $20 discount for children 12 and under is available for select performances.
To order online: peterpantheshow.com or 1-888-772-6849. For more information: www.peterpantheshow.com;
www.facebook.com/peterpantheshow; www.twitter.com/peterpantheshow
