“Peter Pan Goes Wrong” Goes Hilariously Right
In a fake British accent Danny Kaye once asked, “The theater, the theater, what’s happened to the theater?” I’m not a big connoisseur of plays but Kaye’s question from White Christmas passes through my mind often. Probably because he says it seriously, yet with the intent of making me laugh.
In the midst of Hurricane Hilary I went to Los Angeles to watch the play “Peter Pan Goes Wrong,” and it was excellent. If you’re unfamiliar with the fictional theatre company The Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society, let me fill you in. In 2008 a group of Brits founded Mischief Theatre with their most well-known pieces being the “Goes Wrong” series. I highly recommend “The Goes Wrong Show” which is streaming for FREE on Tubi. Do yourself a favor and watch a couple episodes.
“Peter Pan Goes Wrong” is a show built on the premise that an amateur theater company puts on “Peter Pan,” but the production goes horribly…well, wrong. For example, before the show the “unprofessional” actors actually go out into the audience trying to fix glitches and yell to the tech booth from the stage.
I won’t spoil the actual show for you, although you can watch this bunk bed clip to get a taste. My wife and I saw the show with our best friends, one of whom is a high school technical theater teacher. He explained how incredibly good the actors, sets, props, writing, and crew have to be in order to make the play believably bad and funny.
I believe the best way to sell this brand of humor was by the theater company pretending to take itself seriously. Maybe that’s why Danny Kaye’s line has stuck with me all these years. It’s finding the perfect mix of excellent writing and perfect delivery that makes moments hilariously memorable.
One genius decision Mischief Theatre made was designing The Narrator role to be a special guest so big-name actors can fill-in as their schedules allow. We had the exceptional treat of witnessing Bradley Whitford perform in the role. (Daniel Dae Kim is playing The Narrator from 8/30 – 9/10/23 with Neil Patrick Harris replacing him from 9/12 – 9/17/23 at the Ahmanson.)
Naturally the script had to be carefully followed for much of the show, but there were a few points where Whitford improvised. He explained that he, an award-winning actor, was only doing this low-budget play because of the screen actors strike. He also reassured himself that the only people who would continue watching a play this bad must be the idiots who would go out in a hurricane (and there was a real-time earthquake reference). I think that meta touch helped sell the supposed seriousness of the production. But it makes me wonder how a fraction of the play will change with Kim or Harris in the role.
Maybe that’s part of the stage experience: the basics of a performance will remain but mixing ingredients will enhance. Either way, the play was the funniest thing I’ve seen in years. Now every time I think of Danny Kaye’s theater question my answer will be “Peter Pan Goes Wrong” and my smile will get a little bigger.
I don’t get any money for this but you can buy tickets to “Peter Pan Goes Wrong” here.