From April 14-17, Classical Academy Middle School performed their rendition of the acclaimed musical, Peter Pan, under the direction of Lori Grimes. The middle school did a great job at making this very well known musical new and fun.

The dance numbers had fun choreography and kept the audience engaged, and performers did great keeping in sync with each other and keeping in time with the music and the live band accompaniment helped to make the musical more dynamic. The flying aspect of the show was extremely well done, even throwing in some cool little tricks, adding to the magic of the performance

The best part of the production was the pirates’ musical numbers. The whole ensemble of pirates killed it with their facial expressions.

The show was double cast, having two sets of lead characters and two sets of most supporting characters. Each cast brought a different feel to the characters they portrayed.

The Arrow Cast

Seventh grader Tori Hitchcock (Peter Pan) excelled at her vocals; all of her songs sounded clear and effortless. Her voice was delightful to listen to and sounded so controlled and powerful. Her vocal skill was astonishing by any standard and extremely mature in capability. She was a ball of energy flying across the stage, and her cheery disposition spread her fun through the whole theatre. Her comedic timing was excellent and she nailed the humor of a little boy.

Taylor Smith (Wendy) did a wonderful job of infusing sweetness and endearment in her representation of the iconic eldest Darling child. Her depiction of this character was so true to the classic characterShe captured Wendy’s kindness and motherly attitude and was truly, absolutely darling.

Luke Behrendt and Christian Peterson (Captain Hook and his first mate Smee) were always comically in sync with each other and made the dynamic duo of Hook and Smee entertainingly enthralling. Peterson especially brought fresh comedy and spunk to his character. He played up the sarcastic humor with such theatrical intelligence that he was constantly drawing the eyes and laughs of the audience, making his character was so lovable and hysterical that he stole the show on numerous occasions.    

Joy Cataline (Tiger Lily) was a fierce dancer with clean technique and had a lot of power behind her role and movement. She did a magnificent job of playing a strong leader and took charge during the group indian dance numbers.

The Sword Cast

Jesse Moore (Peter Pan), while not having Hitchcock’s vocal power, had amazing acting and convincingly portrayed the youth and boyish nature of the character. Moore gave such a convincing performance making this timeless character fly off the stage and brought the world of Neverland into reality. Her precision in her facial expressions was captivating and she also did an excellent job of blending harmonies with other cast members.

Madeline Edwards presented a spunky and energetic Wendy, as she gave a new spin on this character with her extra animated spirit and giggly girl attitude. Her voice had a gentle quality that made her songs sweet to listen to.

Ben Pancarik was a delightfully sinister Captain Hook with the most sinister eyebrows. He brought both the humorous and villainous side to the character and was such a strong presence on stage that had audiences both cheering at his demise and wanting to continue to watch him. His vocals had that deep, rich quality that made them sound mature and villainous.

Rheigan McCarthy (Tiger Lily) did a lovely job of emoting through her dance and making her movements fluid and beautiful and maintained her grace whilst looking strong. She had so many clever moments and facial expressions that made her acting excellent.

Tobin Boshaw was a fun stand out as lost boy Toodles. His constant engagement in his scenes and spot on reactions were very comedic, especially in the storytelling scene where he hears the end of Hamlet.

The one drawback of the performances was the English accents that the casts incorporated. There were a number of moments where characters would suddenly break from their accents or a line would sound very strange. However, this never detracted or distracted too much from the performance.

The performances also had extremely long intervals in between scenes that had scene changes.The sets looked beautiful but moving them took what felt like a very long time. Although the band tried to keep the energy during these long changes, it made it hard to keep the momentum of the performance.

Both casts did a great job at creating the world of the show and made it a fun and joyful show to watch. The ensemble as a whole had great cohesion and made the show a complete story, with everything looking very professional and impressive. Overall, the musical was an engaging and well done performance.