It’s springtime on Broadway, and UK comedy troupe Mischief has just unleashed another wacky and wild romp on the unsuspecting theater-going audiences of New York City; much like its predecessor, The Play that Goes Wrong, Peter Pan Goes Wrong is crossing the pond following a successful run on London’s West End, and rocking a play-within-a-play format featuring the planet’s most disaster-prone, fictional amateur theater company (The Cronley Drama Society,) all but guaranteeing that guests are in for a night of hilariously inept acting, multiple crew-induced near-death experiences and technical disasters galore. The cast’s internal lives – brimming as they are with petty rivalries and myriad insecurities – play out in full view as well, ranging from unrequited love and sexual infidelities to desperate thespians vying for bigger acting roles while clumsily hiding borderline criminal pasts. The talented cast features all three Mischief founders – Henry Shields channeling John Cleese as he prances around the stage, commanding his jolly pirates as Captain Hook as well as the rest of the cast as the play’s demanding director; Henry Lewis is versatile as Nana the dog, a bumbling pirate and Peter Pan’s modern dance-inspired shadow; and Jonathan Sayer as the adorably dilettante Dennis, a performer who is so unskilled that he has to wear earphones to be fed his lines throughout the play, or risk complete humiliation. Chris Leasek as the eternally beer-sipping stage manager Trevor is as personable as he is almost-lethal when operating the flying harness, and Charlie Russell is impeccable as Wendy Darling. Ella Wahlstrom’s sound design and Simon Scullion’s sets combine to create a super realistic and effective canvas for the ensuing hilarity.

Mischief’s take on J.M. Barrie’s literary classic ‘Peter and Wendy‘ is entertaining from beginning to end – in fact, the laughs commence well before the main attraction starts, as Pan takes the pre-show crowd work to the next level – so be sure to take your seats a good twenty minutes before curtain-up to enjoy some pregame shenanigans. Two hours of madcap mayhem later, the show reaches its pinnacle as a carousel stage split into to three parts – The Darlings’ London’s bedroom, the Pirate ship and Neverland Forest – spins nearly out of control and then back again from the brink of catastrophe onto a whirlwind finale of physical theater and split-second stagecraft precision. Pan Goes Wrong is the most outrageously farcical, extreme slapstick, rapid-fire screwball fun you’re likely to have inside any theater this season.

For tickets visit Pan Goes Wrong