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By Bill Varble for the Mail Tribune August 08. 2015 9:46AM Review: Maya Patridge soars in 'Peter Pan' Maya Patridge as Peter Pan and Doug Warner as Captain Hook in Teen Musical Theater of Oregon's production of "Peter Pan." Mail Tribune / Jamie Lusch The first thing about Teen Musical Theater of Oregon’s “Peter Pan,” is that, yes, the kids fly. Do they ever fly. TMTO, Craterian Performances’ youth theater program, opened “Peter Pan,” the program’s summer show, directed by Eric Strahl,with music by Mark Charlap and Jule Styne with lyrics by Carolyn Leigh, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, Friday night at the Craterian Theater at the Collier Center in downtown Medford. It’s full of rollicking takes on classic tunes such as “I Gotta Crow,” “I’m Flying” and “I Won’t Grow Up,” along with a dutiful dog, a ravenous crocodile, scurvy pirates, lost boys, Natives and a knockout performance by Maya Patridge as Peter. Musicals typically start big. “Peter Pan” is a slow-starter. There’s narration, character introduction, the whole business of getting Mr. and  Mrs. Darling (Braden Day and Hannah Schneider ) out the door so that we can get on with it. It’s a highly theatrical moment when Peter flies out of Gabriel Ash’s star-spangled night sky and lands in the Darling children’s room. Like a hero answering the call to adventure, Wendy ( Mara Pulsipher) agrees to travel with Peter and her brothers to Neverland,  “where dreams are born,” to mother the Lost Boys. When the musical hit Broadway in 1954, based on J.M. Barrie’s 1904 play, it earned Tonys for Mary Martin as Peter Pan and Cyril Ritchard as Captain Hook. It’s been revived endlessly, including a 2014 version starring Allison Williams and Christopher Walken. But more people probably know the show from the Disney version than from either the theater or Barrie’s not-just-for-kids novel, which contrasts the constraints of middle-class Edwardian society with an imaginary, savage place where death and moral ambiguities are very much present. Once we get to Neverland things pick up substantially. Especially with the entrance of Tiger Lily (Shelby Hubler) and her Native dancers. Choreographer Cailey McCandless has her dancers, clad in Sue Quackenbush’s colorful costumes, crazy-busy in almost every scene. Think large, large numbers of dancers. There are all these lost souls. The pirates, led by the slimy, diabolical (and very funny) Captain Hook (Doug Warner, artistic director of the Craterian’s Next Stage Rep), may be funny, but they do kill people. But then again there’s the comic relief provided by Hook’s minion, Smee (Josiah Arthur).   But it’s Maya as Peter who carries most of the scenes. Her perpetual boy is cocky, selfish, forgetful and boastful, yet somehow manages never to lose our sympathy. Maya is a three-year veteran of TMTO, and it shows in her singing and her poise. TMTO, which featured flying effects in its 2013 production of “Tarzan,” again turned to Louisville, Ky.-based ZFX Flying Effects to do the rigging of the gear and the training of the young actors. The results are a delight. Peter, especially, flies with surprising grace — he’s used to it, while it’s a novelty to the Darling children — completing each sortie with a graceful landing. Although the overall mood of “Peter Pan” is fantastical and celebratory, it can also be enjoyed on a more complex, slightly darker level. In this light, Mr. Darling represents a repressive patriarchy, and there’s something troubling and a bit sad about the notion that when you grow up, you lose the ability to travel to magical realms. Meanwhile, enjoy the fairy dust. "Peter Pan" continues at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, Aug. 13-14, and 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 15. Tickets are $25 for adults, $15 for youth, and available at craterian.org or by calling 541-779-3000. Reach freelance writer Bill Varble at [email protected]. http://www.mailtribune.com/article/20150808/NEWS/150809653 © 2015 Copyright © 1995-2011 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use Privacy Statement -->