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THEATER REVIEW: Musical Theaterworks Fresno and director Jeff White have a lot to crow about with the company's much-improved production of "Peter Pan," which has returned for a second year of December performances at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium. (It continues Thursday-Saturday.) |
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Nate Butler as Captain James Hook.
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Another thing about this "Peter Pan": Of the two alternating performers portraying Peter, one is male. That's very much against theater tradition. An adult woman playing the man-boy role in androgynous style is the norm. (Mary Martin and Sandy Duncan are the most famous Peter Pans.) At the
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"I Gotta Crow!"
Tony Thammavongsa as Peter Pan and Jilliane Osborne as Wendy Darling. |
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White throws in other gender variations as well. Girls play some of the guys in the Lost Boys group, several women are part of Captain Hook's pirates, and Tiger Lily's Indians are all female. It's a gender mish-mash all around, and it works. | ||||
As Peter, Thammavongsa gives a strong performance, capturing both the endearing and comic elements of his character. Singing in falsetto and capitalizing on his slim build, he plays the role in as androgynous a manner as a Mary Martin-type, and the fact that he's an adult is important in terms of the man-boy aspect of the character. Thammavongsa brings such a gentle fervor to the stage that he likely makes believers even out of naysaying traditionalists in the audience. |
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"Hook's Tango"
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"Ugh-A-Wug!"
The Lost Boys unite with the Indians. |
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