‘Peter Pan’ will change your perceptions

The title role in the musical version of "Peter Pan" is traditionally played by a woman, and Signature Productions director Steve Huntsman's decision to cast Justin Rodriguez set the stage for a wonderfully different and very right interpretation of a 53-year old show.

It's not just that Rodriguez is a terrific actor, singer and dancer. In this saga about Peter's adventures battling Captain Hook (Erik Ball) and his attempts to convince a "normal" girl, Wendy (Kaylie King), and her siblings (Dylan Anderson and Alexa Freeman) to remain youthful forever in Neverland, the adult Rodriguez achieves something unusual: He really comes across, emotionally and physically, as a boy. He's not effeminate, but he's not exactly full-ripe masculine either. He's a grown-up Boy Scout. Rodriguez seems to genuinely believe in his character's innocence.

Equally intriguing is his ability to communicate the downside of being young. He's at times afraid of what he doesn't know. His singing is pitched higher than the original version's mezzo-soprano Mary Martin, which gives the fantasy an even more youthful flavor. Yet, the actor maintains a male authority. Rodriguez and Huntsman create a character with the sort of depth we don't associate with this musical comedy.

Huntsman achieves an expert lightness in touch. For all the hard work that has obviously gone into this big-cast production (complete with a 10-member orchestra), you never get a sense of sweat. There's too much playfulness in the air. The performers keep surprising you, with small-role scene stealers like Brett Bushell as a lost boy, and dancers, with apparently varying degrees of experience, who know how to sell.

Spectacular numbers (choreographed with a disciplined sense of humor by Evan Litt) effortlessly bleed into one another. Steve Paladie's set -- from the huge picture windows that magically blow open to a glimpse of life under-the-sea -- is consistently jaw-droppingly beautiful. His environment is greatly enhanced by Jay LeDane's lyrical lighting effects.

The sound, though, has too many burps in it. The flying effects aren't quite as seamless and invisible as they should be. And the character of Wendy is directed with a peculiarly cold touch.

But Signature's production is a blissful achievement. Rodriguez and Huntsman are so at one with James Barrie's complicated creation that they may forever change the way you think of this show.

Anthony Del Valle can be reached at DelValle@aol.com. You can write him c/o Las Vegas Review-Journal, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125.