By Shari Barrett
Cathy Rigby first flew into our lives to become a household name during the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City as the highest-scoring American gymnast during the games, helping to popularize the sport in the United States. She medaled 12 times at major events from 1969-1972, most of which came on the balance beam or the all-around. Her monumental silver balance beam effort at the 1970 World Championships made her the first US gymnast to medal at the competition. In 1972, she competed in the Munich Olympics but was hampered by an injury. She retired from gymnastics after those games and went on to commentate for ABC for 18 years.
Then in 1974, she took to the stage flying high as Peter Pan, a part she has now played over 3,000 times, making her an expert about what the tale of a boy who won’t grow up has meant to children and families over the years. Rigby shares, “I have watched and listened to children and adults when they hear and see Peter Pan. For the children, it’s the adventures and the flying. For the adults, it’s watching their children or grandchildren experience the wonder of Neverland in all their unbridled joy and innocence.” No doubt many readers will have seen it as their first live play, and the same is true for their children.
Back in 2013, I watched as Rigby took her last flight in the role at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, the same theater in which I saw her as the Narrator in Peter Pan Goes Wrong on the night the Dodgers won the World Series. Even the cast was following the 11-inning game, working reports of score changes into the play’s dialogue! You see, improvisation is not only part of the script but wildly encouraged during this incredibly hysterical, big adventure-filled play!
Written by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, & Henry Shields, the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts & McCoy Rigby Entertainment production of Peter Pan Goes Wrong is directed by Eric Petersen, who recently helmed the trio’s Tony Award-winning global hit The Play That Goes Wrong at the same theater. Petersen’s expertise in bringing an extremely physical play-within-a-play comedy packed with finely-tuned and inspired slapstick antics always delivers with split-second timing and ambitiously daring stunts while incorporating technical hitches, flying mishaps, and cast disputes as the Cornley Drama Society attempts to present J.M. Barrie’s much-loved tale. I guarantee the entire production will grab your attention and generate loads of laughter from start to finish!
Along with Rigby, the multi-role cast portrays both Cornley troupe members and their roles in Peter Pan including (in alphabetical order): Nick Apostolina as Max, Michael Darling, A Mermaid, and The Crocodile; Steven Booth as Jonathan and Peter Pan; Reggie De Leon as Dennis, John Darling, A Mermaid, and Mr. Smee; Regina Fernandez as Sandra and Wendy Darling; Josh Grisetti as Chris, Mr. Darling, and Captain Hook; Trent Mills as Robert, Nana the Dog, Peter’s Shadow, and Starkey; Jamie Morgan as Trevor; Louis Pardo as Gill and A Paramedic; Nicole Parker as Annie, Mrs. Darling, Lisa, Tinker Bell, and Curly; and Ixchel Valiente as Lucy and Tootles. Just imagine the timing challenges of switching actors between these roles – and then adding in scenery falling, missing props, faulty flying equipment, dropped lines, and misplaced sound effects – and you have a general idea of what’s in store!
The organized pandemonium begins as Rigby begins to tell the story of Peter Pan, often throwing glitter in the air as fairy dust, while the energetic cast never stops for one moment as everything and anything that could go wrong, does go wrong – from Peter flying into scenery, the dog getting stuck in the doggy door, to characters being “injured” in ways you will not see coming.
Special kudos to every dedicated and hard-working cast member, including Regina Fernandez as the spotlight stealing, overly dramatic diva Sandra who portrays Wendy; Steven Booth whose Peter Pan suffered greatly at the hands of the crew mishandling his flying harness; Trent Mills who after getting stuck in the doggy door as Nana follows Peter around as his reattached Shadow; Josh Grisetti whose uptight Mr. Darling gives way to Captain Hook, a master at improv interacting with the audience; Nick Apostolina as younger brother Michael who then rolls across the stage dressed as the Crocodile; Reggie De Leon who takes on the role of older brother John and gets fed his lines over headphones (and usually repeats things he should not share to great comic effect); Ixchel Valiente as Tootles who winds up on crutches after an accidental mishap with scenery; stagehands Jamie Morgan and Louis Pardo who are called upon to clean up onstage during the show or take on roles as needed; and Nicole Parker who had the audience in hysterics as she morphed back and forth from the Mother to the Nanny and then into the attached-to-an-extension-cord Tinkerbell who often pulled the stage hand entrusted to light her up onstage with her.
And just wait for Cathy Rigby’s special, throwback surprise during curtain call!
Enhanced by Stephen Gifford’s amazing three-scene, turntable set design (yes, even that goes wrong to perfection), thoroughly imaginative and often breakaway costumes by Adam Ramirez, lighting design by Steven Young, sound design by Josh Bessom, and flying sequences choreographed by Paul Rubin, choreography by Christine Negherbon, original music composition by John Blaylock, and vocal supervision by Gabrielle Maldonado, this is a MUST SEE production for everyone who needs to laugh uncontrollably during these trying times.
Peter Pan Goes Wrong continues through Sunday, November 23, 2025 at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada Blvd in La Mirada on Thursdays at 7:30 p.m.; Fridays at 8 p.m.; Saturdays at 2 p.m. & 8 p.m.; and Sundays at 1:30 p.m. & 6:30 p.m. There will be an open-captioned performance on Saturday, November 15 at 2 p.m. Talkbacks with the cast and creative team will be on Thursday, November 6 at 7:30 p.m. and Thursday, November 20 at 7:30 p.m. Free onsite parking.
Tickets range from $20 – $100, available at La Mirada Theatre’s website www.LaMiradaTheatre.com or by calling the La Mirada Theatre Box Office at (562) 944-9801 or (714) 994-6310. Group, student, and military discounts are available. Children under 3 will not be admitted into the theatre.
