The Cast Photo by Jessica Palopoli

Let me amend that. It's not all wrong: several of the actors do terrific work, and the set is marvelous, but overall the production flies about as well as Wendy, Michael and John (and Peter) do.

Peter Pan Goes Wrong imagines a production of J.M. Barrie's classic play by the fictional company behind the staging, the Cornley Drama Society, in which absolutely nothing goes to plan–assuming there were plans, or rehearsals even, at all. It's this lack of anything approaching true life in the theatre that makes Peter Pan Goes Wrong such a disappointment. Way back in the 1980s, local San Francisco comedian Rick Reynolds performed a solo show called Only the Truth is Funny. His thesis was that, for comedy to truly hit its mark, it must be based on the truth.

Sadly for Peter Pan Goes Wrong, there is very little truth on display here. What worked for The Play That Goes Wrong was that we felt the players were doing their very best to put on a good show, but unforeseen mishaps kept cropping up to stand in the way of that goal. With Peter Pan Goes Wrong, it's as if the Cornley Drama Society cares not a whit for excellence, or even mediocrity, and barrels on ahead with a talentless cast who only react to the misfortunes their own carelessness or non-professionalism causes. When a stagehand giving the pre-curtain speech reminds audience members to turn off their phones, and his suddenly goes off, it might be funny if he ignored its insistent ring and let it continue buzzing away in his pocket, but for him to answer the call and then take a selfie with the audience in the background violates all rules of theatrical professionalism. In The Play That Goes Wrong, the stagehands attempted to hide themselves as they tried to fix broken set items or props; here they just wander onto the stage with their "the crew that never grew up" t-shirts, making no attempt to hide themselves.

There are several funny bits on display here. The quick changes that Renee Rogoff, who plays Annie Twilloil, who plays Mrs. Darling and other roles (the overworked Cornley thespians tend to do double or triple duty), makes are lightning quick as she shifts between her roles, but when they go wrong, they go well wrong. The idea that Dennis Tyde (the Cornley-ite who plays John Darling) has been unable to memorize a single one of his lines and has been fitted with a headset (actually, headphones) to be fed his lines is a rather inspired one and actually works with the idea of an underfunded community theatre company. (But when the use of recordings devolves into private conversations being played in the house for all to hear, it beggars even a willing suspension of disbelief.) Later, the company resorts to using cue cards for John, which does lead to a couple of good laughs. The first time the Darling children are hooked up to their flying rig comes with a fun comic surprise, as well.

Fortunately for audiences, there are also some terrific comic performances here. Jomar Tagatac, one of the Bay Area's busiest actors, shows why he's so in demand. His portrayal of Chris Bean, Cornley's jack-of-all-trades (the program-within-the-program lists him filling nine of thirteen production positions) who also plays both Mr. Darling and Captain Hook, is marvelously physical and delightfully demented. Phaedra Tillery-Boughton, playing Frances De La Soul, who plays the Narrator, gets lots of laughs with her regular dispensing of fairy dust to cover a variety of mistakes. But the biggest treat for me is Joe Ayers' absolutely magical performance as Max Bennett, who plays Michael Darling, the Alligator (as it's listed in the program-within-the-program, even though the text calls him a crocodile) and a mermaid. His naif smile is so perfectly winning that it had me smiling every time he did.

The set design (by Cody Tellis Rutledge) is a gorgeous tri-part assemblage of the Darlings' nursery, Neverland, and a pirate ship that uses the Playhouse's turntable to marvelous effect.

Unfortunately, these parts fail to add up to a sum greater than the whole, and the whole production lands with a splat you could hear all the way in Neverland.

Peter Pan Goes Wrong runs through November 28, 2026, at San Francisco Playhouse, 450 Post Street, San Francisco CA. Performances are Tuesdays-Thursdays at 7:00pm, Wednesdays at 2:00pm and 7:00pm, Fridays at 8:00pm, Saturdays at 3:00pm and 8:00pm, and Sundays at 2:00pm. Tickets are $52-$145. For tickets and information, please visit www.sfplayhouse.org or call the box office at 415-677-9596.