Review of Peter Pan

We'll as promised, in my last post, I present to you; the low-down on Peter Pan - playing in Toronto until January 2008 at the Elgin Theatre.

Though some published reviews have panned (excuse the pun) this children's play...it was silly, musical and fun. It's hard to please everyone and certainly newspaper reviewers are probably looking for great theatre. However, as you know in Parent Club, as parents we are not looking for "Othello" we are looking for an engaging couple of hours. Peter Pan certainly entertained us.

Now you should, of course, know that there is a concession booth as you walk to your seats...selling pirate caps and hooks, fairy dolls and t-shirts.

The story warps from the original, for example; Wendy had bleach blond hair and carried an ipod -- which confused my littlest child. Captain Hook wants to be a movie star in Hollywood. However, we easily recognized Tiger Lily, the mermaids and those evil pirates. (I was surprised to see the disgust on my kids' faces when they saw the children around them booing at Captain Hook. Of course, they thought everyone should be quiet in the theatre. I told them it was OK to boo at Captain Hook - just as it's OK to clap for Peter.)

The kids loved the music, Peter Pans flying and the rapping crocodile. The music was great (who knew Kurt Browning could sing?).

The only thing, as a parent, I didn't like was that Captain Hook called Peter stupid and also told the kids in the audience to shut-up. As a grown-up I can see that it was language a bad guy would use...but as a parent - I don't like to hear mean name calling and never for anyone to be told to shut-up.

Otherwise, it was a great show. We had a good theatre experience and the kids are still talking about it.