Pair of ‘Peter Pan’-inspired productions coming to Las Vegas Valley

You may not realize it, but pixie-dust levels in Southern Nevada are about to go off the charts, thanks to a double dose of “Peter Pan”-inspired theater coming our way.

First up: the Tony-winning “Peter and the Starcatcher,” opening Friday at Las Vegas Little Theatre, which explores how the title orphan first finds his way to Neverland. (Not to mention how a particular pirate captain gets his hook.)

And on Monday, the award-winning Missoula Children’s Theatre rolls into Henderson — in the troupe’s trademark “little red truck,” a converted Ford F-150 pickup — to audition local kids for the musical “Peter and Wendy.”

Except for Smee, Capt. Hook’s right-hand man (who’ll be portrayed by one of two visiting MCT directors), all other roles — from Peter to Hook to Tinkerbell — will be played by as many as 60 young performers, kindergarten through high school age, during two July 23 performances.

Both productions testify to the enduring appeal of British playwright J.M. Barrie’s beloved creation: Peter Pan, the boy with the magical powers. (Including the ability to remain a child forever.)

LVLT president Walter Niejadlik, who’s directing “Peter and the Starcatcher,” remembers growing up with “Peter Pan” — doesn’t everybody? — and cites “that sense of the eternal child” as a secret to the story’s perpetual power.

“Never having to grow up and being able to play,” Niejadlik muses, “things that, as we get older, we have to leave behind.”

MCT’s Casey Papas also “loved Peter Pan as a kid,” he says in a telephone interview while on the road in northeastern Nevada — Wells, to be specific.

“It’s hard to explain,” Papas says, noting Peter represents “sort of a defiance of growing up. He didn’t want the responsibility of growing up.”

But enough of all this highfalutin theorizing. After all, Papas points out, with Peter Pan “you’re fighting pirates.”

Or, in the case of “Peter and the Starcatcher’s” Lysander Abadia, playing them.

Abadia (who’s also choreographing the LVLT show) plays Black Stache, “Peter and the Starcatcher’s” resident dread pirate, whose fanciful flamboyance makes “Pirates of the Caribbean’s” Capt. Jack Sparrow appear positively zombie-like by comparison.

“Finally, a role where I can overact,” Abadia jokes during a rehearsal break.

Based on the novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, adapted by playwright Rick Elice, “Peter and the Starcatcher” spins the tale of three orphans adrift in Victorian England — lost boys who find themselves aboard the good ship Neverland, bound for the make-believe realm of Rundoon.

Prentiss (played by Addison Calvin) has delusions of grandeur, while Ted (Casper Collins) dreams of food, glorious food. But the one they call Boy (Michael Blair) wants nothing — and no one.

That is, until he encounters someone who awakens his adventurous spirit: plucky Molly Aster (Aviana Glover), daughter of a royal minister, who oversees a powerful substance known as starstuff. The very same stuff Black Stache is after. (And the very same stuff we know as pixie dust.)

Throughout, “Peter and the Starcatcher” mixes elements from its classic source with anachronisms, puns, pratfalls and other inspired silliness, all presented “story-theater style,” according to LVLT director Niejadlik.

But beyond all “wordsmithing and wordplay,” during the show “the cast is really doing a lot of heavy lifting,” he explains. “They’re on stage a lot.” (After the first rehearsal, “13 actors were panting very hard,” Niejadlik recalls.)

Staging “Peter and the Starcatcher” also proved “a little bit of a challenge in the beginning — to get the actors to stop thinking so much,” he notes, “to just jump in and create and become part of the story. Let go and be a silly pirate or be a mermaid.”

Sometimes that jump-in-and-create process requires definite physical dexterity, as when Peter topples from an upside-down trunk — or winds up overboard, bobbing in a make-believe ocean.

Luckily, LVLT’s Brien McCrea, who handles the group’s marketing and publicity, is a Cirque du Soleil alumnus who provided “a huge help” by showing cast members how to do such moves “and do (them) safely,” Niejadlik notes.

The final ingredient in the theatrical process: the audience members themselves.

“It does rely on the imagination of the audience,” the director says of the play’s success. As the actors say, “ ‘you’re going to need to use your imagination to lift the sails.’ ”

And that, he concludes, is “the essence of theater.”

As for MCT’s “Peter and Wendy,” it’s an original musical — written by Michael McGill, executive director of the Montana-based troupe — that’s been on the road since last year. Six teams tour the country in the “portable one-hour musical” pickups, according to director Maria Norris, Papas’ on-the-road partner.

Although “Peter and Wendy” follows Barrie’s basic storyline, “there are some things that are different,” she notes, “connecting the old story” to new elements.

“The kids will come in and think, ‘This is Peter Pan — we know what to expect,’ ” says Papas. “But as soon as we get to the differences, they say, ‘This is new.’ ”

For example, “Peter and Wendy’s” crocodile “is not bloodthirsty,” Norris adds. “He’s cracking jokes all the time.”

Throughout the week’s rehearsals and two performances, “Peter and Wendy” provides cast members (and audiences) with “their chance to live out these adventures,” Norris notes.

All of which proves that pixie dust is powerful starstuff indeed.

Read more from Carol Cling at reviewjournal.com. Contact her at ccling@reviewjournal.com and follow @CarolSCling on Twitter.