A magical feast for the kid within

Determined to skip Disney? Purposely avoiding Pixar? Swearing off all forms of children’s entertainment, from dancing sugar plums to Seussian silliness?

Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre gives you an excellent reason this month to rethink your entire stance. If you miss “Peter Pan,” don’t blame me if your summer slips by without a single moment of enchantment or delight. You’re about to be warned.

This production, directed by Bob Sembiante, reminds us why the play has lasted so long. Based on the 1904 production by James M. Barrie, this classic tale of a trio of Darling children and the irrepressible boy who flies into their traditional British nursery continues to charm us.

This time, Coeur d’Alene’s professional theater must have expanded its budget to captivate its audiences with stunning scenery, lavish costumes and spectacular special effects.

The flying scenes are the most appealing of all. Haley New Ostrander as Peter Pan does not simply float like a kite or droop, suspended in midair, like a flag; she really, truly soars. Ostrander leaps into the sky with the sort of breathtaking wonder you likely felt back when you were a child and dreamed that you, too, could fly.

Yet that’s only one satisfying part of Ostrander’s powerful repertoire. She’s exuberant, effervescent and athletic. Wearing a bright green tunic shimmering with even greener leaves, she makes us believe the character of the cocky, stubborn boy she plays.

It’s hard to figure out just why this formula works so well – using a slightly built, but highly talented woman with a powerful female voice to portray a British boy – but once again, and maybe even better than ever, it does. Ostrander shimmers in this role, deflated and petulant one moment and puffed up by the grandiosity of the boy’s very small self the next.

“Peter Pan is the sun, the moon and the stars,” Tiger Lily says at one moment.

“Yes, I know,” the boy pronounces, winningly, the next.

That leaves Troy Wageman’s deliciously evil Hook to snarl, “Grow up!”

Wageman delivers his lines with drop-dead timing and parades around in a fabulous red and gold brocade jacket, white ruffled pantaloons, a black tricorn hat with an enormous white plume and a menacing Adam Morrison mustache.

In this musical, the costumes by Judith McGiveney and the sets by Michael McGiveney play starring roles. The British nursery, complete with doghouse, flickering fire and massive magical windows, pulls us into this imaginative world from the start.

Later, a huge pirate ship, resembling a wooden, hand-crafted Montessori playground piece, reminds the audience of exactly why it’s so much fun to play make-believe.

Even the non-human characters – the dog named Nana, the clock-ticking crocodile and a slinky, bored mermaid – are no walk-ons. They’re shimmering confections. And the fairy Tinker Bell, who consists solely of flickering lights, magic tricks and musical tones, convinces us of both her petulance and her pluck.

The only downsides are the still politically incorrect Indians (cartoon characters like everyone else, yes, but the only ones likely to make you cringe) and too much action staged in the aisles surrounding the audience (the sound system muddled the voices there). But those are smaller matters.

Lacking a child to tow along to this production? Don’t let that stop you. For more than 100 years, this story has appealed to adults perilously close to forgetting the boy or girl hiding deep inside.

My advice: Don’t let it happen to you.

“Peter Pan” continues through July 15. Call (208) 769-7780.