REVIEW: PETER PAN GOES WRONG—La Mirada Theatre & McCoy Rigby Entertainment
- TheShowReport
- 4 days ago
- 7 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No wait, it’s Cathy Rigby!
NOVEMBER 1—LA MIRADA, CA
If you’ve seen “The Play That Goes Wrong,” you might be asking yourself, do I also need to see PETER PAN GOES WRONG? Aren’t they basically the same show in a different setting?
Well, the answers are simply, yes and yes. Once again, the excruciatingly awful actors of the CPDS are to be seen desecrating the beautiful La Mirada Theatre with their ham-fisted performances, overweening self-belief, and a set that has a mind of its own. This kind of humor is not for everyone. It is hugely slapstick, totally lacking in subtlety, and encourages you to laugh at things that in many respects one ought not to find funny — like an out-of-control wheelchair or a pratfall resulting in a “concussion.”
It is also immensely likeable, enormously character-driven, and performed with the same precise degree of accuracy, spot-on timing and crystal-clear error-free all-around skill of Shen-Yun or Bolshoi proportions — one “mess-up” could potentially ruin the show. So don’t for a minute think this show is just a box of tricks. The art of timing chaos is a delicate calculation in itself. And, this show is all about timing. To get PETER PAN GOES WRONG right, the wrong has to rely on split second timing from the cast.
Co-written by the wonderfully funny Mischief Theatre company co-conspirators, Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields, PETER PAN GOES WRONG is described as a highly physical comedy packed with finely-tuned farce and Buster Keaton inspired slapstick, delivered with split-second timing and ambitious daring.
These are actors-playing-not very good actors-playing-Peter-Pan-characters who are so convincingly comical in their portrayal of the woes that befall the hapless production that soon you can’t tell which side of fantasy and reality you are on. And the woes…they do come thick and fast: crashing lighting, belching smoke machines, flying fails, wardrobe malfunctions, people stuck in doors, wooden planks hitting you in the face, collapsing bunks, costume heads ripped off, clothes ripped off, embarrassing audition tapes, an out-of-control revolving stage, broken limbs (not really), accidental electric shocks and so much more. Basically, no potential technical disaster is overlooked or under-utilized as a comic weapon. And that’s even before we get into the flying part.
Here, Mischief Theatre knows exactly what they are doing, playing on the audience’s pleasure in backstage and onstage catastrophes, perfecting and neatly mining the comic possibilities and harmlessly goofy antics of a group of combined egos from the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society — amateur actors so inept that what can go wrong, inevitably does.
This time, it comes with the added benefit that pretty much everyone is already familiar with JM Barrie’s story about Wendy, John and Michael’s trip to Neverland in the company of the obstreperous Tinkerbell and the boy who refuses to grow up, and seems unlikely ever to do so, given the amount of concussion sustained. Here the thin line between the arrogance of the Peter Pan character and the amateur actor playing him is cleverly excavated, as Peter often finds himself dangling upside down on his handlines.
Explosively Directed by Eric Petersen (Broadway: School of Rock; Shrek: The Musical/1st Tour & Broadway; Escape to Margaritaville; Peter & The Starcatcher), this is a considerably slicker affair than “The Play That Goes Wrong,” and has the added bonus of the presence of the one and only CATHY RIGBY as The Narrator, who is constantly upstaged by her chair.
The cast is bright, impressive, top-notch and near-perfect. Steven Booth portrays Jonathan who plays our self-obsessed, narcissistic Peter Pan. With an eye for the ladies and an inability to fly in a straight line (let’s just say that Peter doesn’t fly so much as flail while airborne… I’ll just leave that spectacle to your own imagination), he continually plunges the show into absolute chaos.
Wendy (a very keen-to-please Sandra) is played brilliantly by Regina Fernandez. Her enthusiasm — paired with her exuberant arm waving — never seems to tire. A choleric and John Cleese-like Josh Grisetti, as Chris the director, plays Captain Hook and Mr. Darling, yet displays a curious lack of self-awareness. His continued insistence on treating the play as a serious piece festers increased encumbrances with his fellow cast members — not to mention the audience.
Trent Mills makes an ebullient Robert, with a penchant for parking in the ambulance spots, and is comic genius as Nana the Newfoundler, Peter’s Shadow, and the unintelligible Starkey, flapping his boat in all angles to knock down anyone in his orbit.
Reggie de Leon plays a continually perplexed looking Dennis, desperately relying on electronic prompts to remember his lines, no matter how obviously irrelevant they are. He’s our John Darling and the funny Mr. Smee; the great Louis Pardo plays Gill, who doubles as a Cornley stagehand and a paramedic; Danny Montooth (is Chris/Max/Dennis Understudy), Jamie Morgan is the focused, no-nonsense Trevor, the Cornley Stage Manager, who soon gets thrown into the escalating free-for-all.
There’s really good work, too, from Nick Apostolina’s Max (playing Michael, a mermaid and the Crocodile), who has only been cast because his uncle put up the money. There’s also Nicole Parker as Annie, now upgraded from ASM, but who ends up as a multiple quick-change failure, and who gets more vindictive with every passing disaster; Ixchel Valiente also crushes as the fairy-believing, stage-fright-afflicted Lucy, for whom physical trauma and temporary paralysis (she spends the rest of the show in a wheelchair) are no reason not to tread the boards.
And just think. You not only get a global star making a dramatis personae if you will (the incredible one and only Cathy Rigby who starred in over 3,000 performances of “Peter Pan” on Broadway, as the Narrator), but you also get a runaway revolving stage, an actor who comes out with a chainsaw, klieg lights falling from the sky, several concussions, ships falling apart, an almost demolition of the set…and even a stage full of black-light hoodie puppets crashing into one another in the dark. It’s just a wonderful piece of insanely entertaining stupidity.
Fittingly, all the technicians join the cast on stage for the curtain call. The actors would be lost without them. For the show to succeed, mentally, they must all be joined at the hip. (Hey! What a great comedy bit for the next show!)
THE BROADWAY SERIES AT LA MIRADA THEATRE, PRODUCED FOR THE CITY OF LA MIRADA BY MCCOY RIGBY ENTERTAINMENT PRESENTS — PETER PAN GOES WRONG; Written by HENRY LEWIS, JONATHAN SAYER & HENRY SHIELDS; Directed by ERIC PETERSEN; Flying Sequences Choreographed by PAUL RUBIN; Featuring two-time Olympic gymnast CATHY RIGBY as The Narrator; Choreography by CHRISTINE NEGHERBON; Original Music Composition by JOHN BLAYLOCK; Vocal Supervision by GABRIELLE MALDONADO; Scenic Design by STEPHEN GIFFORD; Lighting Design by STEVEN YOUNG; Sound Design by JOSH BESSOM; Costume Design by ADAM RAMIREZ; Hair/Wig Design by KATIE MCCOY YAGEN; Fight Coordination by MICHAEL POLAK; Properties Design by KEVIN WILLIAMS. The Production Stage Manager is PHIL GOLD.
Joining CATHY RIGBY (Annie Get Your Gun, The Wizard of Oz, Seussical the Musical, Paint Your Wagon, and Steel Magnolias), THE CAST of PETER PAN GOES WRONG features NICK APOSTOLINA as “Max,” “Michael Darling,” “A Mermaid,” and “The Crocodile;” STEVEN BOOTH as “Jonathan” and “Peter Pan;” REGGIE DE LEON as “Dennis,” “John Darling,” “A Mermaid,” and “Mr. Smee;” REGINA FERNANDEZ as “Sandra” and “Wendy Darling;” JOSH GRISETTI as “Chris,” “Mr. Darling,” and “Captain Hook;” TRENT MILLS as “Robert,” “Nana the Dog” “Peter’s Shadow,” and “Starkey;” JAMIE MORGAN as “Trevor,” LOUIS PARDO as “Gill” and “A Paramedic;” NICOLE PARKER as “Annie,” “Mrs. Darling,” “Lisa,” “Tinker Bell,” and “Curly;” and IXCHEL VALIENT as “Lucy” and “Tootles.” The Swings are BELLA HICKS, GRANT MATTHEW HODGES AND DANNY MONTOOTH.
PETER PAN GOES WRONG opened on Saturday, November 1 at 8 pm and runs through Sunday, November 23, 2025 at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada Blvd in La Mirada. Performances are Thursdays at 7:30 pm; Fridays at 8 pm; Saturdays at 2 pm & 8 pm; and Sundays at 1:30 pm & 6:30 pm. Run Time: Approximately 2 hours, including an intermission. Tickets start at $20 and can be purchased online at www.LaMiradaTheatre.com or by calling the Box Office at (562) 944-9801 or (714) 994-6310.
CHRIS DANIELS
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT REVIEWER
THE SHOW REPORT
PHOTO CREDITS: Jason Niedle/TETHOS
