By Kelly Oristano

Peter and the Starcatcher, onstage now at Lane Community College, is a love letter to theater magic and the childlike joy of collaborative imagination.

There is both powerful — and powerfully fun — magic here: mermaids doing a kickline; a crocodile with a 10-foot mouth menacing playground pirates; a lost boy swimming across an imaginary ocean on a floating footlocker until he reaches land.

Rick Elice  based his play on a novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, who pondered the same puzzle J.M. Barrie did in his classic 1904 novel of The Boy Who Would Never Grow Up: Where did Peter Pan come from? Or even more to the point, how did he get where he is? Elice’s answer is an imaginative, comic yarn with elements of story and stagecraft that captivate young and old alike. Mine was one of many families in the audience on Sunday and this review reflects the opinions of all four of us.

Justin Dennis’ set design, visible in its entirety from the outset, is remarkable. It’s an elaborate wooden play fort, complete with sandbox, rope bridge, firefighter’s pole, and ladders and platforms everywhere. It looks like great fun before anyone even sets foot on it, and as the large cast populates and uses it with gusto, the fun multiplies. The student designers and production crew did a fine job throughout.

The entire cast delivers a prologue as everyday kids filter onto this playground in twos and threes, talking about youthful wishes as they begin donning the garb and manner of their characters in the story. It’s reminiscent of the opening of the film version of Jesus Christ Superstar, transposing ‘tweens for hippies and Pan and Hook for Jesus and Judas. This under story of youth at play infuses the whole production with a keen, vital energy.

Act One centers on a complicated chase between two naval vessels crewed by much of the cast. One ship contains a trunkful of magical starstuff, and the other contains a pirate captain who desperately wants that starstuff.

But the real action is happening below decks, where Molly Aster, the fine upstanding daughter of starstuff guardian Lord Aster, has discovered three stowaway orphans: Prentiss, Ted, and Boy, who’s been an orphan so long he’s forgotten his name. Molly takes this ragtag bunch of dreamers under her wing and has big plans for them, just as disaster strikes.

Disaster takes the form of Captain Black Stache, the meanest poet-pirate on these seas, who’s searching for a proper hero to make him a proper villain. Stache’s lust for Aster’s treasure leads to a vicious rhyming battle, a dual shipwreck, and a critical leak of starstuff into the water surrounding Mollusk Island, where we spend Act Two.

Here are some transcribed bits of our family’s intermission conversation:

Hannah, 10: “I like the unexpected funny parts like the rhyming duel, and how Ms. Bumbrake is a boy but Alf is a girl.”

April, 41: “The orphan boys are very funny together as a trio, and I liked how they wouldn’t leave anyone behind.”

Tom, 5½: “BLACK STACHE!!!! And there was a flying cat! And when are we gonna see the crocodile?”

Kelly, 41½: “I am embarrassed by how many times I have cried so far.”

That’s true. There’s a tenderness in the story that is laid bare by the alchemy of pretend within pretend and the earnest nature of kids at play. There’s a moment when the stars come out and Boy and Molly simply talk a bit that was quietly endearing. When Boy escapes the shipwreck on the footlocker that used to contain all the starstuff, the entire audience physically urges him safely to shore. This play has the kind of magic that happens by mutual consent of magician and audience.

Act Two starts with a musical interlude from a splash of mermaids — hints here of Esther Williams and Busby Berkeley — who are newly created by the starstuff spill. Things are in flux on Mollusk Island. Boy picks up a name (don’t be alarmed, it’s Peter), reunites with Molly and the orphans, and together they meet the permanent residents of the island, led by Fighting Prawn and Hawking Clam. Their native tongue is indecipherable, but it seems to contain a lot of Italian food names.

Soon Black Stache and Lord Aster arrive as well, and tensions flare to a hilarious all-out fruitcake brawl. Identities are “unmistaken,” secrets revealed, crocodiles dispatched, hands taken from bad guy pirates. And a boy made in starstuff learns he can fly.

The cast is large and comprises various skill levels, but to a person, they have fully bought into the spirit of play and fun that permeates this story. All twenty have found in their parts lovely ways to show the audience their joy in bringing their characters to the stage. Often the magic is created by cast members who wave sheer blue fabric to make the ocean, or hold reflective dishes as giant crocodile eyes in just the right menacing way. The whole troupe contributes greatly to these moments. Our family conversation did single out Kai Christensen (Black Stache,) Bella Knoles (Molly Aster,) Adam Nealy (Ted,) and Emma Rain (Fighting Prawn) for especially strong performances. Caleb Pruitt makes for a compelling Boy/Peter.

Tara Wibrew’s direction is deft, blending reality and artifice so the mix is always right. She lets the actors have fun ranging the set and discovering moments of joy. Powerful emotional moments land well, as big laughs pile on top of them. The action hurtles forward at a rapid clip, just as it does on the playground. Wibrew’s montage simulates familiar “The Ground Is Lava” childhood action. The production is steeped in fun, magic, and play.

The entire student production and design crew did top-notch work. Emily Bolivar’s lighting and Gordon McFarland’s sound design contributed greatly to the sense of collaborative imagination and world building.

Here are some transcribed snippets of our family’s post show conversation:

Hannah, 10: “I haven’t seen Peter Pan in a long time, so my favorite thing was that it made me feel like I was Tom’s age again. And I liked how all the actors were feeling like kids that were way younger than they really are, too.”

April, 41: “They did a great job and I was impressed by how they were able to keep the pace up and keep the story moving. Fighting Prawn made me happy.”

Tom, 5½: “I liked the crocodile’s eyes and teeth and how they did that, and the best was the ‘Oh My God! Oh My God!’ ” (referring to exactly how Black Stache becomes Captain Hook).

Kelly, 41½: “Who wants to come back next week?”

Admission is free, but donations are gratefully accepted. If you don’t donate on the way in, I suspect you will wish to do so on the way out.

Peter and the Starcatcher

When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, May 3-5; and 2 p.m. on Sunday, May 6

Where: Ragozzino Performance Hall, Lane Community College main campus, 4000 E. 30th Ave.

Admission: Free; donations welcome to support LCC’s Student Production Association