Review: Flying High and Falling Hard in ‘Peter Pan Goes Wrong’

Six years ago, the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society brought Murder at Haversham Manor to Broadway from its home in England. Mayhem ensued. Part of the mansion collapsed. An actor was poisoned for a prop mix-up. After the lead lady was knocked at the door and knocked her unconscious, she was replaced by the stage manager. When he similarly fell unconscious, he was replaced by a sound engineer and eventually, somehow, became Grandpa’s watch.

Since then, the company has grown, declined, or grown sideways. Cornley Youth rebranded as his theater and, for liability reasons and no longer associated with the Institute of Technology, J.M. returned to Broadway with his children’s version of Barry’s “Peter Pan.” Many of the same disasters that happened at Haversham Manor, or near variations on them, occur. Let’s just say that Peter never flies enough to falter in the air. He is also losing his consciousness.

Especially if you haven’t seen the previous show, which despite its amateurism disguise was a very polished production called “The Play That Goes Wrong,” you might laugh. The Cornley Players (e.g. Cornley Theatre) are of course fictional and part of a farcical comedy tradition featuring terrifying actors that goes back at least to A Midsummer Night’s Dream. of “peter pan doesn’t workOpening at the Ethel Barrymore Theater on Wednesday, with the game’s Neil Patrick Harris in a guest role, the jokes and mishaps are still funny, if not as magical as the second time around.

For one thing, if you’re already familiar with Cornley’s cheating, you’ll find some of the setup the moment you take your seat. That’s assuming panicked performers arguing at the pre-show in the auditorium made you sit down.

On stage, Darling’s nursery is built on a budget that doesn’t exceed the cost of the ticket, complete with rickety three-tier bunk beds, swinging casement windows, and wiring that sparks already before the lights go out. It looks as if The Cornley Program’s ‘Flying Operator’ achievements are ‘still unknown’ and give little confidence. And the turntable that transports children to Neverland looks just like transporting children to the emergency room.

Perhaps 500 things have gone wrong in “Peter Pan Goes Long,” and some of them nearly fulfill Peter’s prediction in Barry’s play, “Dying would be an enormous adventure.” Peter spends much of his play upside down and bandaged. Nana, Darling’s Newfoundland slash nurse maid, gets trapped trying to push her dog through the door and has to remove it with her chainsaw. This isn’t the first time the actor who plays Nana has faced disaster on stage. at Cornley Productions of “Oliver!” A few years ago he busted out the title character.

That Nana is haunted by memories, and that each of the other actors have pathetic traits too, helps give texture to the relentless antics. In fact, “Goes Wrong” shows often approach, and sometimes cross, lines where violence and ridicule become uninteresting. Of course, that line moves over time. Even if stuttering doesn’t seem funny anymore, not so long ago it was certainly laughable.

And while it’s always hilarious to see floorboards jump up and slam an actor in the face, the fake trauma specialization may outweigh the comedy of it. The difficulty of has nothing to do with the entertainment it offers. In fact, if the difficulty is too obvious, it can get in the way. Too often, Adam Megiddo’s “Peter Pan Goes Wrong” feels mechanical.

Jokes that rely on miscues, amateur acting, and shaky stage techniques are milder, but more engaging. Sometimes the chair that takes the narrator (Harris) in and out of the stage pushes him into place too quickly, or leaves him excruciatingly slowly. Harris, who will be playing most shows through April 30, is a master of surprises that turns helpless.

And Denise, the young Cornley actor who plays John Darling and Mr. Smee, “doesn’t know a single line,” so he has to deliver his words through headphones. He repeats them verbatim, even when they were clearly not meant to be spoken. “Dennis, you’re wearing the wrong costume,” he proclaims proudly.

At such moments, “Peter Pan Goes Wrong” begins to achieve a dizzying liftoff of the best behind-the-scenes farce, such as: “Noise Off” by Michael Frayn. In the chaotic atmosphere where reality, the play, and the play within the play meet, I feel that I have been released from the conventional gravity of the theater. Words make little sense. Especially when the dialogue shifts and one actor jumps forward and another stays behind, as happens once or twice with his bliss. (It also happened on “The Play That Goes Wrong.” Beautiful, shattered.

Alas, the reprieve from the weight of meaning is only temporary. Too often, the hassle undoes and crashes unceremoniously into the earth like Peter Pan. Some bits rely on setups that are too quirky for even farce. This works best when the conditions are realistic but the response is extreme, not the other way around: off-stage dialogue recordings and audition tapes sound too much when his cues somehow switch. It’s too outlandish to be funny.

Yet the cast makes even the most understated jokes shine. You admire sophistication. His three writers of the play, who were once friends at drama school, gave themselves the best roles. Clergyman Henry Shields, who resembles John Cleese, plays Mr. Darling and Captain Hook. Haunted Teddy Bear Henry Lewis is naturally Nana. Jonathan Thayer is a headphone idiot who hardly belongs on stage.

They are all honing their weapons now. “Peter Pan Goes Long” has been played many times since his 2013, and the “Goes Long” brand is naughty worldwidePerhaps that growth is starting to take some of the joy out of a franchise that is not only endangering amateurs, but also built on loving amateurs and being amateurs to some degree. No, but for Bumbler, and for all of us, an innocent life is plenty of adventure.

peter pan doesn’t work
At the Ethel Barrymore Theater in Manhattan through July 9th. pangoeswrongbway.comRunning time: 2 hours and 5 minutes.