SPRINGFIELD, Mich. – Given that it is based on a young adult novel, you might expect Peter and the Starcatchers to be a play for young people. You’d be wrong.

Peter and the Starcatchers, currently opening the season at What A Do Theater, is a fast-moving, cleverly written play that is a highly theatrical piece that is as much about theater as it is the origin story of Peter Pan. It’s a play that requires the audience to pay close attention less they miss some of the word play or modern references to culture, history and theater.

Directed by Randy Wolfe, this is a demanding show. The 12 actors are constantly switching roles and they call upon the audience’s imagination to suspend disbelief and accept them as alternating characters and an ongoing chorus to the story. There isn’t an actor who is exempt from the call of multi-casting, even the “lead” actors who carry the story.

Wolfe asks a lot of his actors and tech crew as this is a production that never pauses. It is in constant motion with ever changing lights, costumes, sets and people.

Ostensibly, this is a story of how an orphan boy (Emory Eddy) became Peter Pan. But it is also the story of young Molly (Teri Noaeill (Christ)) and her mission as a Starcatcher. She and her father track “star stuff,” a magical substance that falls from the stars and can give people special powers based on what they want to become. It’s the sort of stuff that needs to be kept out of the hands of tyrants lest they use it to rule the world.

When the play opens, Molly and her father, Lord Aster (Franklin Chenman), have loaded a crate of star stuff onto the boat called “The Neverland.” Everyone else thinks it is a treasure of some great worth. They are planning to meet “The Wasp,” a fast British frigate that will take them to Rundoon, where Lord Aster can destroy the star stuff.

From there, the story becomes one of nefarious captains, a crew of pirates, three lost boys, savage natives and fish transformed by star stuff into mermaids.

Noaeill does a fantastic job of playing the perhaps 13-year-old Molly. She is properly British and attempting to always keep a stiff upper lip while being good in everything she undertakes, whether it is rescuing and feeding the orphan boys, telling stories, swimming, running, or speaking in Dodo. She’s a delight to watch as she fully commits to every aspect of the role, communicating with voice, movement and demeanor a fully fleshed out Molly who becomes the true hero of the tale.

Joe Dely is given plenty of scenery to chew—which he blatantly admits to doing—as the pirate captain, Black Stache, the man who will someday become Captain Hook. Dely threatens to steal each scene he is in as the poetic pirate who cares as much about the bardic telling of his story as he does the grabbing of treasure and wealth. Amid the nearly hundred characters that cross the stage, he makes his stand out as unique.

Eddy’s Boy—who later becomes Peter—starts out withdrawn and resentful, convinced that all adults are liars and beaten down from a world that has constantly mistreated him. Eddy takes him on a journey to freedom and self-determination, pulling him out of his shell and finding in him the heroic underpinnings that will eventually become Peter Pan. His physicality was sometimes stiff, too much like Lord Aster’s for a boy who had none of the benefits of being British or was trained in having a stiff upper lip.

Lars J. Loofboro played Molly’s oversized nanny, Mrs. Bumbrake, and he was a delight to watch—providing echoes of both Lady Bracknell from “The Importance of Being Earnest” and the canine nanny in Peter Pan.

One of the highlights of the show was watching the constant choreography of actors creating always changing scenes—holding up ropes to create rooms and mirrors, singing anything from shanties to hymns to chorus line numbers, embodying doors, making background scenes come to life. They were all meticulously coordinated and Wolfe’s vision was heavily present throughout the show.

Choreographer Courtney Johnson and Fight Choreographer Nicholas Mumma both were dedicated to stylized storytelling, making sure “Peter and the Starcatchers” was visually memorable and that all the stage motion contributed as much as the script’s words to the story.

Wendy Wheeler was the music director and one of two musicians with Mark Bass. While Peter and the Starcatchers is not a musical, it did have several musical numbers and Wheeler provided spot-on direction.

Nancy King’s costumes and Thomas Koehler’s set dressing and props helped to create both the Victorian time period and the naval setting. Both had a full-time job in fulfilling the unique demands of this show.

Peter and the Starcatchers is an energetic show that is a lot of fun. It is often self-referential, frequently over-the-top (especially the group number with mermaids that opens the second act), and is a constant celebration of all that is theatrical. It takes a unique approach to a familiar story and never fails to entertain while doing so.

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