The Capitol Theatre has played host to some of the finest big-budget shows over the past year and with several more to come in 2025, it is the turn of Peter and the Starcatcher to take to the Capitol stage for a short Sydney season before heading to Brisbane in March. 

This production, which tells of the origin story for the beloved Disney character, Peter Pan, was billed by the producers as a play although, in reality, it functions somewhat like a musical. Backed by an on-stage band, most of the action is explored through dialogue although there are songs littered throughout the 2 ½ hour run time, which are mainly large group numbers. 

The most striking thing about the show is the amount of material which it seeks to cover. For a show about a Disney character, there is much more here than initially meets the eye, with the first act in particular covering a huge amount of contextual information. 

The plot tells of the mission of Lord Leonard Aster who seeks to destroy a trunk of magical yet dangerous “starstuff” to keep it from getting into the wrong hands. He places the trunk on a ship to a faraway land, but the trunk is swapped, meaning that when pirates capture Aster’s boat, they are left with nothing. The complexity of the plot means that this narrative sequence is somewhat difficult to follow, with the action moving at a very fast pace. 

What makes this pacing manageable is the quality of the acting, which is an illuminating feature of this show. Colin Lane steals the show as Black Stache, the lead pirate who has a bit of glitz and glamour about him. Lane does a fantastic job of moving along the plot whilst maintaining the humour that the audience needs to work through all the context. He is well supported by Otis Dhanji and Olivia Deeble as Peter and Molly respectively, who carry the other half of the plot in the first act aboard the ship that actually has the starstuff. Dhanji plays the role of Peter with simplicity but feeds well off Morgan Francis (as Prentiss) and Benjin Maza (as Ted) in their shared scenes. Deeble has to work through a lot of the plot but does so with presence and authority. 

As the show moves into the second act and Peter and his friends, in an attempt to protect the starstuff, end up on a desert island, a new set of characters come to the fore. Cabaret legend Paul Capsis teams up with Ryan Gonzalez as Hawking Clam and Fighting Prawn respectively and their presence is electric, stealing the stage with camp, hilarious humour. Towards the end of the show they are joined by Lane and Pete Helliar as Smee and while Lane maintains his fabulous humour from the first act, Helliar does not quite have the same presence, with his delivery getting lost in the various plot points along the way. 

The show is particularly interesting in that it initially presents as a children’s show, but the sometimes very raunchy humour and complicated plot also mean that adults can certainly take joy out of the production as well. This was reflected in the reception that the production received from the opening night crowd, with guffaws of laughter from both adults and children at various points of the show and an extended standing ovation at the end. 

The production and staging are also standouts in this show, with the bright colours and incredible puppetry adding an extra dimension to the onstage action. However, with a complex storyline jam-packed with humour, great staging and excellent effects, it does beg the question of whether the music is perhaps superfluous. This is the third show in the past month in Sydney where a musical score has taken a peripheral part in what is essentially a play and, in this production, it really does not add a lot. In fact, with the complexities of the plot, it breaks the dramatic flow of the narrative when characters suddenly break into song and arguably undermines the humour and convolutes the action on stage. While it is not as jarring as in some other productions, it still feels as though the play could stand on its own, without the need for ancillary musical action. 

Overall, this is a play that will please theatregoers of all ages, with something for everyone to take away. It is undoubtedly a dense show with perhaps slightly too much material for its runtime, but the humour ensures that the production remains accessible. The quality of the acting is superb and while the music detracts somewhat, the staging and puppetry lifts up the production to a different level. With such a short run scheduled, this is a production not to miss. 

Rating: ★★★★

Peter and the Starcatcher plays at the Capitol Theatre until 9^th February. For more information, click here. 

All photo credits: Daniel Boud