THEATRE: "Peter and the Starcatcher" in Philly

At concerts and plays, we make a point of exchanging seats at intermission so we get a different perspective for the second half.
On Easter Sunday afternoon at the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, we took that cozy habit to extremes: We moved from corner balcony seats to prime center-orchestra seats. Even though we were in Center City, we ran into some local friends at intermission, and they invited us to join them: they're longtime season-ticket holders and the people who normally sit with them weren't coming.
That was a long intro to get to my point: "Peter and the Starcatcher" is a hilarious and very cleverly staged play that's worth going to see, no matter where you're sitting. It's billed as a "prequel" to the Peter Pan story, and you learn how Peter got his name, why the crocodile "ticks," what "Neverland" means, and how Captain Hook lost his hand.
We missed the Kennett Amateur Theatrical Society's pantomime this year, but watching "Peter" we feel as if we made up for it: the show is full of silly wordplay ("How dare he call us ruffians! We've never even been to Ruffia!"), groan-inducing puns, cross-dressing, physical comedy (one character keeps jabbing himself with a pineapple), fabulous costumes (the mermaid outfits were stunning), and a spunky heroine. The actors (and the actress; there's only one) each played multiple roles, changing into pirates, deckhands, musicians and members of the distinctly anti-British Mollusk tribe as they raced around the elaborate, multi-level set. All the stage business was handled with such precision: we noticed that one actor who was "rowing" to safety atop a big wheeled trunk was pushed onstage by one actor, handed off to another and then moved into his final position by a third.
Special mention must go to the crocodile, "Mr. Grim." He was made from a giant old rolltop desk on wheels (the rolltop part served as his jaws), with flashlights for eyes.
The show runs through May 1. It runs for almost two and a half hours, so it's probably too long for young kids.
By the way: I hadn't been to that part of Philadelphia for a number of years, and wow, has it changed for the better. We got there early, parked in a lot, walked around, goggled at all the new medical buildings Jefferson has erected, watched a medevac helicopter land atop one of them, had lunch at a little Asian place (apparently a favorite for Jefferson personnel, judging from the number of people in scrubs) and enjoyed seeing people from lots of different cultures.