From September 19 through the 21st, ESHS presented “Peter Pan”, a rendition of the popular Disney movie that many of us loved as kids. The play follows the adventure of Wendy Darling and her younger siblings, John and Michaela Darling, on their journey to Neverland with Peter Pan and Tinkerbell, and their battles with Captain Hook and his pirates. The play was incredibly fun and nostalgic, and with the amazing costumes, scene changes, and wonderful acting, it was truly magical. According to Isabella Showalter, one of the cast members  of “Peter Pan”, “The school hasn’t sold this many tickets since high school musical.” The play could definitely be described as a success.

First of all, the costumes and makeup were fantastic. While everyone in the play had amazing costumes, I’m going to talk about some of the ones that stood out to me. The main characters, Wendy, played by Ella Moore, John, played by Kole Rowan, and Michaela, played by Hannah Berryman, wore pajamas very similar to those worn in the original movie, giving the play that nostalgic feeling of childhood. Wendy wore a long white nightgown, John wore blue and white striped pajamas, and Michaela wore a blue onesie. Peter Pan, played by Logan Becker, had a costume that was also very close to the original, with the green cap and outfit The pirates had creative costumes, sticking close to the colors of red and white with gold accents, and most of them had swords, all of them being led by Captain Hook, played by Mason Foley. The Cowboys, which were an addition to the Elkhorn South version, wore a lot of purple and white plaid, along with some high boots and hats. The Lost Boys wore ragged grey shirts and worn out denim jeans and overalls, along with very teased and knotted hair and black streaks on their faces. One of my favorite costumes was Nana, the dog, who was played by both Brooke and Evie Wade, and they wore a little Dalmatian puppy costume. But out of all of them, the costume that I thought was the greatest was Tinkerbell’s. Tinkerbell, played by Mia Mellican, also had a costume very similar to the original movie version, but with a beautiful dress that spun around her when she twirled, along with her wand and wings. There were so many costumes that the cast took time to think about, and I was really impressed at how much work they put into it! It really helped to make the play magical!

 The next element of the play that I really loved was the scene changes. The play begins in the children’s bedroom, which had little beds for each of the children, and a floor to ceiling window surrounded by a piece of light blue wall. When the children go to Neverland, they are surrounded by a beautiful starry sky as they glide across the stage. Neverland turns out to be overgrown and wild expanse of wilderness, where Wendy and her siblings meet the Lost Boys. A few other memorable stage sets were the pirate ship- which had a mast, a pirate flag, and an entire crew- and the lake- which was where Wendy read to the Lost Boys, and also where the mermaids could be found (who also had incredible costumes!) The wonderful scene changes brought the entire play to life!

And of course, we can’t forget about the amazing acting from all of the talented actors! Every actor in the play did a fantastic job, but I’m just going to mention some of my favorite characters in the play. Ella Moore did a wonderful job playing the perfect and caring Wendy Darling, capturing all of her dreaminess and kindness in her voice and in how she played the character. However, I did wish that Wendy was a little more realistic of a character, because it seemed like she was completely perfect and everyone loved her, except for Tinkerbell of course. For me personally, Tinkerbell was my favorite character, and Mia Mellican did an amazing job at playing the character. In the play, Tinkerbell was witty and reasonable, as well as graceful and magical. She seemed to be the one character in the play who didn’t really like Wendy, but she was also the most rational and sensible character. No one else even stopped to think about the possible consequences of letting the children fly to Neverland besides Tinkerbell, and she was always having to keep Peter and the other Lost Boys safe. Logan Becker did an incredible job of playing Peter and giving the character his childlike and fun energy and enthusiasm. There were so many other characters in the play, and every single one of them had so much enthusiasm and played their characters so well! 

I’m so glad that I went to see “Peter Pan”, because it was truly a magical experience. Thank you to everyone who performed! I was really blown away by the magic of it all. The costumes, scene changes, and acting really brought the play to life. I really enjoyed the play, and I’m definitely looking forward to the next one!