Children’s Christmas show review: Peter Pan

Gaiety Theatre , Dublin

*****

There is barely a baddie in sight in this show, which is Lavishly staged by Daryn Crosbie, who also wrote the script. The pirate villains are too much fun to be frightening: Poohy Walsh punctuates his appearances with a pungent parp; Harry Snotter has no magic powers; Singing Cyril has an out-of-tune number for every occassion.

This ragtag troupe is led by Smee (the superlative Donncha O’Dea), who is more of a commander than the dastardly Captain Hook (Nicholas Grennell) will ever be.

The goodies are a slightly less interesting bunch. Wendy (Amy O’Dwyer) is a little too earnest to be truly engaging, while Tinkerbell (Sarah Bradley) is a self-obssessed, selfie-addicted irritation. The fleet-footed Peter Pan (Johnny Ward) just about pulls our interest back to the heroes, while Joe Conlan’s Nana, in full Dame mode, ensures the reform of Smee and his gang for a happy ending (complete with dance-off).

Musical numbers are a refreshing blend of contemporary pop songs and musical theatre classics, and a live orchestra makes all the difference to the performance. Until Jan 25