Burly Men Play Mermaids and Dance the Cancan

Peter and the Starcatcher is like a Disney explosion inside Portland Playhouse.

Like a Disney movie exploded inside a tiny theater, Peter and the Starcatcher packs a zillion plot twists, puns, Three Stooges-like gags, and staging tricks into the Portland Playhouse for this prequel to J.M. Barrie's classic Peter Pan.

When Peter (Nick Ferrucci) meets Wendy's mother (Jennifer Rowe) for the first time, the duo battles pirates and pubescent awkwardness to save a treasure chest of starstuff from the bumbling pirate Black Stache (Isaac Lamb with an epic 'stache).

Ferrucci nails the 13-year-old orphan's role, as does Darius Pierce as the sniveling Smee and Lamb as the gargantuan buffoon Black Stache. The dozen cast members fly around stage nonstop for nearly three hours—sometimes literally—giving each other piggyback rides, doing the cancan dressed as mermaids, and miming chase scenes through the jungle in what looks like a live-action Mario Kart race.

The labyrinthine set, live musicians and theatrics rarely seen outside well-funded Portland Center Stage make Starcatcher the biggest spectacle—if not the most nuanced production—on any Portland stage right now. While kids in the audience enjoy gags like Black Stache slamming his hand in a trunk and coming up with a blood-red, tasseled glove, Easter eggs for the adults come just as often. "Oh captain, my captain," says Smee, tongue in cheek. A line about transplants taking over went over particularly well at the Northeast Prescott Street playhouse.

Starcatcher's one fault is its length. The Broadway original is based on Dave Barry's prequel to J.M. Barrie's prequel to the actual Pan, which Barry preceded with three sequels to his prequel. The show feels like that by the end, when puns roll in with no breath in between. But you're likely to be breathless too, the sight of Lamb doing high kicks as a burly mermaid etched into your retinas.

SEE IT: Portland Playhouse, 602 NE Prescott St., 503-488-5822. 7:30 pm Wednesday-Saturday, 2 pm Sunday, through May 29. $20-$36.

Sam Dinkowitz and Jen Rowe- photo by Brud Giles Sam Dinkowitz and Jen Rowe- photo by Brud Giles

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