PETER PAN: A MUSICAL ADVENTURE

I've seen a number of musicals in my lifetime, both locally and on Broadway, but it's been years since the last time I got to sit in a theater audience! I was really excited when I found out they were doing Peter Pan here in Cebu. 

"Event Aspects In collaboration with Events International, a production company that produce international concerts and theatrical shows, we are proud to bring the first Philippine staging of “PETER PAN: A Musical Adventure” on June 11-12, 2016, to be directed by the highly-experienced and distinguished creative entertainment director-producer, Mr. Paul Hammond. The performers are professional actors and actresses from the widely-known mainstream theaters in the West End of London who had successful shows in India, Thailand, Vietnam and some parts of Europe."

I had pretty high expectations since it's produced by an international theater company, and since the tickets weren't dirt cheap. Tickets on Broadway range from $150-$300 each, but the experience is undoubtedly worth every cent. Locally, tickets range from P1,000-P5,000 depending on the production. Peter Pan was staged at Center Stage SM Seaside Cebu, and they had 3 ticket options available: Pirate Cove at P2,000. Mermaid Lagoon at P1,6000 and Indian Camp at P1,200. All quite reasonable if you consider that it's being produced by an international company.

Sadly, I was quite disappointed. For starters, we had the "best tickets" and yet even our P2,000 couldn't buy us RESERVED seats. There was no reserved seating or assigned seat numbers. This meant that we had to fall in line half an hour before the start time to ensure we got good seats. This brings me to the next issue: the play didn't start on time! I've seen Joseph the Dreamer and Little Mermaid by Trumpets, and Footloose by Stages, both Filipino Production Companies, and I recall all of those started on the dot.

And then there was the set. You come in the theater, and well, the curtains were already up, revealing the oh-so-sosyal TARPAULIN BACKDROP and plastic flower decors. Seriously? 

The performance itself was --- meh. It wasn't bad, it didn't blow my mind either.  Felt kinda Hi-5ish, A musical where the kids in the audience got to interact by screaming back at the characters on stage. Dancers weren't at the 100% energy level and coordination you'd expect from pros. Generally everything just felt lacking, and if you ask me, I don't feel like it was worth the price. But Nikka still had fun, and that's all that really matters. =)

Til Next!