Peter Pan Goes Wrong

This show recreates the familiar story of Peter Pan, but with a funny twist. Everything that can go wrong goes wrong. Just when you think the show can't get any worse, or the stage can't be any more destroyed, a wall falls down, a light fixture breaks, or a character gets pummelled to the ground.

The set might seem simple at first. But the intricate design of how each piece breaks apart shows real engineering and thought. It's that simplicity that isn't actually simple that sells the whole thing, and makes the play feel like it's going so gloriously wrong.

There are humorous moments built for all ages. Some of it is pure slapstick, but the way it blends into the story still pulls genuine laughter out of the whole building.

The ongoing jokes are some of the best part. They keep building, but the show integrates them in a way that stays unpredictable. There's the girl who gets visibly more injured as the night goes on, and somehow manages to keep hurting herself further even once she's on crutches. There's the last-minute stand-in who wears a headset to be fed his lines. None of these gags get stale. They amplify and evolve as they collide with each new scene, set, and thing that goes wrong.

One of my favorite scenes was the rotating set in act two. It's a two-sided piece, the pirate ship on one face and the nursery on the other, and it turns to swap between them right in front of you. It shows just how well thought out this simple stage really is, and how far the production will go to make sure everything goes wrong. As the room spins faster and faster, actors miss their exits and props fly loose while they struggle to fight their way through the scene.

A lot of the humor comes from the spinning itself. But just as much comes from the broken fourth wall. We know they're actors playing a troupe whose play is meant to fall apart. Yet those same actors are also playing it completely straight, performing as if the show should be going perfectly. They work so tirelessly to tell Peter Pan's story that it becomes all the more believable as a play genuinely going wrong.

There's never a dull moment. The constant action keeps your attention the entire way through.