By Tim Dolan, Lookout Advisor
On the weekend of November 21-23, Bedford High School’s music and theater department put on Peter and the Starcatcher. Directed by BHS music teacher Katrina Faulstich, the play acts as a prequel to Peter Pan, focusing on the origin story of Peter, the Lost Boys, Captain Hook, and his crew of pirates.
The first act of the play was a bit slow, with a focus on establishing character and setting. Victorian English is the broad backdrop of the story, and the characters are steeped in the genteel class structure of the time. Young Molly Aster (played by Brooke D’Andrea) and her father Lord Aster (played by James Bryan) aim to spirit a mysterious trunk of “star stuff” away from England, but the plot is complicated by a second ship, a pirate named Slank (played by Abigail Titlow), and the notorious Black Stache, the play’s version of Captain Hook (played by Logan Toth). Enmeshed in the battle between the English nobility and the pirates of ill repute are three lost boys, Prentis (Sri Shloka Venkatesh), Ted (Steven Sandler), and the titular Peter (Julian Muelhoefer). In contrast to the scene setting of act one, the second act was a blast! It has much more of a rollicking adventurous tone, similar to Peter Pan, but manages to avoid some of the dated elements of Pan storyline (think native stereotypes).
In terms of acting, Logan Toth steals the show as the bold, swashbuckling Black Stache, one of the funniest characters in the play. Although a shift from Pan lore, the scene where Blackstache loses a hand is perfectly done. Leads Brooke D’Andrea (Molly) and Julian Muelhoefer (Peter) are the emotional core of the play, carrying the weight of a coming of age story with a touch of Charles Dickens. The two have some inspired moments in the climax as they ponder the challenges of saying goodbye to each other, forgetting the past, and finding balance between growing up and living in the moment. James Bryan (Lord Aster) plays a great British aristocrat, and harkens back to Nick Wilson’s performance in this role the last time BHS put on this play—this is a pretty big compliment, Nick was great! Outside of the lead roles, Emma Cohen (Mrs. Bumbrake) and Porter Venuti (Alf) played off of each other spectacularly, consistently balancing a show a childish wonder with more adult jokes. Maggie Chessman was also consistently strong as Smee, guiding the chaotic Blackstache.
On a smaller note, the use of flashlights for “star stuff” is a great tie in to early productions of Peter Pan (and to the movie Finding Neverland), and takes the performance beyond the stage and into the whole theater. Technical director Ryan Wetherbee shone here. The student orchestra of Hanna Suzuki on piano, Kira and Matthew Shen on percussion, and Niall Wang on violin, ukulele, and percussion was also flawless, perfectly accompanying the performers.
