Peter, because of its story theatre style, is one of those amazing shows where you can cast any gendered actor in any role as long as you honor the gender of the character. Especially because on the awesome intro that asks the audience to pretend they are all lords and ladies. In all roles, I highly encourage you to cast the best actor for each role. For us, that meant we had a female actor play Ted, Grempkin, Captain Scott, and then some. We used an ensemble that was stage just about the whole time. There are really three main groups of ensemble: the Neverland's crew, the other ships crew (currently forgetting the name), and the Mollusks. You could cast kids in one of the ensemble groups (Neverland's crew is Act 1 and 2, Mollusks are just Act 2, and the other ships crew are Act 1). You could have them all on stage together stepping in role between different characters and becoming different environments. For our ensemble we tried to give each ensemble member a moment, and some of the biggest moments are the scientist with the dodo monologue, the boxing announcer, and Slank's cat. We had a dedicated actor play Slank's cat, and when Slank's cat flew, we used Frantic Assembly flying to fly the actor. This helped bring Peters flying full circle in the end. We also had 6 students who played the crocodile, two for eyes, two for upper teeth, and two for lower teeth. There are a bunch of YouTube videos of different high school performances (for better or worse and of differing interpretations and styles). I know there is one that shows how they staged this with what I guess is around 50 kids. This show is hard and complex, my word of advice is to use the production handbook and start ALL of the music RIGHT AWAY. The music is hard! This is an incredible show, and I'd be happy to share more.
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Jessica Harms
Theatre Director
Acton MA
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Original Message:
Sent: 07-31-2019 08:47
From: Laura Russo
Subject: Peter and the Star Catcher
I am wondering if anyone has had success expanding the cast (especially females) of Peter and the Star Catcher? I like to cast between 30-35 in my fall productions. Thanks!
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Laura Russo
Teacher/Director of Theatre Arts
School District of The Chathams
Chatham NJ
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