“My favourite character, as the kids say, was Captain Hook, portrayed in complex fashion by [Laura] Condlln. She is sometimes the necessary boo-able baddie, but at others has more depth. Her Hook seems jealous of Peter Pan’s eternal youthfulness – but is also clearly sick and tired of playing kids’ games. (Sara-Jeanne Hosie makes a fine panto sidekick as Smee.)

Played, as he is, by a female actor, Hook also seems to be offering genuine advice to Wendy when he says, ‘Why is it that Peter Pan never has to grow up – but you have to be Mother right from the get-go?’…

My five-year-old was actually more attentive in the second act than the first and said he loved it all at the end, especially how the characters flew with “real live ropes.” Kids say the darnedest, etc.”

“Director [Thomas Morgan] Jones keeps the proceedings moving along briskly, leaning heavily into the pantomime aspects of the story with kids prompted to boo the villains and cheer the heroes…

A word of praise, too, for fight director Anita Nittoly…The many fight scenes in Wendy and Peter Pan work very well indeed given the all-importance of safety, never more so than in one inspired sequence in which the action is rendered in simulated slo-mo. Well done!

Nestor Lozano, Jr., who so impressed as the tragic transvestite in last season’s Rent, makes an impressive Tink and James Daly is a delight as the wimpy and asthmatic pirate who is sure he should probably be one of the lost boys.”

“[Cynthia] Jiminez-Hicks is perfectly cast in the meaty role of Wendy, and her journey towards acceptance of loss and of her own and others’ imperfections is compelling. She is well-matched by Runeckles, who plays Peter (as I read it) as gender-fluid and mercurial, with an electric physical and vocal presence. (Jera Wolfe’s choreography is excellent, especially of the Shadows, dancers clad head to toe in dark grey who accompany Peter on his visit to the Darling nursery.)…

With over 100 fight sequences (fight and intimacy direction is by Anita Nittoly) and a cast of 20, the show fills the Avon with action and vitality.”

The production’s creative team, including set and costume designer Robin Fisher and lighting designer Arun Srinivasun, has created a Neverland that captures the imagination. Palm trees unfurl underneath a canopy of stars as Wendy, Michael and John arrive in Neverland. A pirate ship glides across the stage while a leather-clad Hook searches for the mischievous Peter. Neverland’s crocodile (Marcus Nance) — often the source of Hook’s terror — is a terrifying metal framework with unblinking glowing eyes…

Filled with thrills, spills and jokes while juggling themes of mourning, childhood, fairness and home, [Thomas Morgan] Jones’ Wendy and Peter Pan is a wonderful retelling of Barrie’s enduring classic.”