Before the curtain rises at La Mirada Theatre to begin the clever cascade of theater mishaps superpowering “Peter Pan Goes Wrong,” a stage manager in backstage work togs ambles on to drone the tut-tut trinity of standard pre-show warnings.
“Remember to switch off your cell phones.”
His phone abruptly rings. He automatically answers and chats before looking out at the audience a bit guiltily. He then grabs a quick selfie of himself with the audience before announcing “any photography is strictly prohibited.”
Aware of these mess-ups, but not caring that much, he proceeds: “One final note, please be aware that the emergency fire exits are … locked.
“Enjoy the show,” he says, walking off.
Nonsense firmly established, “Peter Pan Goes Wrong” belongs on this stage alongside the best shows to appear during the two-decade run of crowd-pleasing La Mirada productions mounted by McCoy Rigby Entertainment.
The key word for “Peter Pan Goes Wrong” in that last sentence is, of course, “Rigby.”
Yes, Cathy Rigby, who last starred at La Mirada as Peter Pan in 2012 and has played the role worldwide more than 3,000 times since an early outing in 1974.
Now — and no word on how they managed to secure her services — Rigby is front and center in this “Peter Pan” spoofathon.
Cathy Rigby stars in “Peter Pan Goes Wrong,” on stage at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts through Nov. 23. (Photo by Jason Niedle/TETHOS)
From left, Reggie De Leon, Nick Apostolina, Steven Booth and Regina Fernandez appear in a scene from “Peter Pan Goes Wrong” at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts. (Photo by Jason Niedle/TETHOS)
From left, Cathy Rigby, Josh Grisetti and Reggie De Leon star in “Peter Pan Goes Wrong” at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts. (Photo by Jason Niedle/TETHOS)
Regina Fernandez and Cathy Rigby star in “Peter Pan Goes Wrong” at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts. (Photo by Jason Niedle/TETHOS)
From left, Cathy Rigby, Josh Grisetti, Regina Fernandez, Steven Booth, Reggie De Leon, Trent Mills, and (on floor) Nick Apostolina appear in a scene from “Peter Pan Goes Wrong” at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts. (Photo by Jason Niedle/TETHOS)
From left, Reggie De Leon, Ixchel Valiente, Josh Grisetti, Cathy Rigby, Nick Apostolina, Regina Fernandez, Trent Mills, and Louis Pardo appear in a scene from “Peter Pan Goes Wrong” at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts. (Photo by Jason Niedle/TETHOS)
From left, Nicole Parker, Reggie De Leon, Regina Fernandez, Nick Apostolina, Louis Pardo and Ixchel Valiente appear in a scene from “Peter Pan Goes Wrong” at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts. (Photo by Jason Niedle/TETHOS)
From left, Ixchel Valiente, Nick Apostolina, Trent Mills Louis Pardo, Nicole Parker, Reggie De Leon and Regina Fernandez appear in a scene from “Peter Pan Goes Wrong” at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts. (Photo by Jason Niedle/TETHOS)
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Cathy Rigby stars in “Peter Pan Goes Wrong,” on stage at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts through Nov. 23. (Photo by Jason Niedle/TETHOS)
Playing the Narrator to the absolute hilt in silver-glitter strewing, underwear flaunting and, as a Captain Hook henchman, mustache-twirling brio, she marvelously and impactfully continues to embody the defiant anthem she sang so often: “I Won’t Grow Up.”
“Peter Pan Goes Wrong” is the kissing cousin sequel to “The Play That Goes Wrong,” which La Mirada self-produced in January.
Both shows were written a decade or so back by a trio of British drama school chums turned playwrights named Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields.
Both shows draw on the concept of a play within a play. Each revel in physical humor — here, high flying has never seemed this hazardous — but though there are constant human pratfalls and shoddy props there is also great variety in the way things fail.
The shows satisfyingly blend the predictable fails you might anticipate with crash-and-burn moments of the “I didn’t-see-that-coming” kind.
While the actors can be counted on to tank, and they do so equally unwittingly or willfully, it is the range of overblown ego or performance ineptitude or sheer dullard brain pans — or combinations of all three — that do them in.
“Peter Pan Goes Wrong” careens along as the superior of the two wrong-way vehicles.
This is in part because the current show is done on a grander scale — there is a runaway turntable set that is its own special derangement — but mainly because this show is rooted in the Peter Pan story already embedded in most theatergoers’ memories.
So many of us also experienced “Peter Pan” at an amateur and/or children’s production level, so the — artfully — disorganized chaos here may ring distinct memory bells.
And while “The Play That Goes Wrong” was knitted from the fabric of a generic Agatha Christie style whodunit, this one profits by trading on the “Peter Pan” storyline, scenes and music.
When familiar characters go a bit offbeat — for instance, the actors playing Peter and Wendy can’t keep their hands off each other — there is a bonus resonant ping of weirdness at work.
Eric Petersen, the director of “Peter Pan Goes Wrong” also helmed the earlier work at La Mirada. The attention to detail required to shepherd the 1,001 details in both shows seems a cut far above even the trickiest of elaborate stage shows.
The sheer number of behind-the-scenes workers pulling off the carefully organized mayhem is reflected in the program notes, where the army of credits include six different designers, two choreographers (including one for the aerial flying), a fight stage coordinator and three production stage managers.
Of all the deserved bows taken at the play’s end, perhaps the most compelling are the dozen or so technical staff members who appear in their black, behind-the-scenes work gear to garner appreciative applause along with the actors.
In addition to Rigby, there are nine cast members. Most play multiple rolls, replicating the original “Peter Pan” where the actors taking on the London Darling family then appear in the fantasy world of Never Neverland.
A couple of performances especially stick in the mind.
John Grisetti delivers the flashy father/Captain Hook turn, as well as staking claim as the true director of the show within the show, with a haughty sense of entitlement, yet an almost resigned nervousness that everyone and everything is doomed to fail despite his own superior efforts.
In “The Play That Goes Wrong,” Reggie De Leon played a butler so dense at remembering lines he inked them on his sleeve. In this show, as John Darling and pirate aide de camp Smee, his characters suffer the same acting flaw, and he is outfitted with a set of headphones to have his lines read to him.
This solution unerringly falls apart — in one instance he is chided by his audio, offstage prompter for “you’re wearing the wrong costume” and in his monotone delivery dutifully parrots that out loud.
At Saturday’s opening night’s performance no one in the audience will likely forget De Leon’s first act improv moment as Smee. When the headphones seemingly misfired to picking up radio signals, he announced the very welcome World Series game 7 news that “the Dodgers have tied it 4-4 into the 10th inning.”
The theater audience roared and even Rigby, costumed for the moment as fellow back-up pirate Cecco, clenched and shook her fists in rooting-hard optimism.
The ensemble shines. Another strong example is Nicole Parker, impressive as Mrs. Darling and Lisa the put-upon maid who also makes for an startlingly ungainly Tinker Bell. A onetime Elphaba in “Wicked” on Broadway, Parker’s ability to belt serves a musical moment.
Headed by the star power voltage of Rigby, this ambitiously high level acting group achieves an impressive peak of awfulness.
Oh, and one emphatic non-spoiler: don’t leave the curtain call early.
‘Peter Pan Goes Wrong’
Rating: 4 stars (of a possible 4)
Where: La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada Blvd., La Mirada.
When: Through Nov. 23. 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m., Saturdays, 1:30 and 6:30 p.m. Sundays.
Tickets: $20-$100
Information: 714-994-6310, 562-944-9801; lamiradatheatre.com