By Mayumi Lemus, Digital Editor
The last play of the school year was “Peter and The Starcatcher,” a humorous musical directed by drama teacher Mr. Scott Bier and Jen Gonzalez (‘18). “Peter and The Starcatcher” is a prequel that shows how the characters in the famous Disney movie “Peter Pan” became who they are, with a musical twist. This makes “Peter and The Starcatcher” the first musical and choreographed play at Mountain View since Mr. Bier became adviser.
The play started off with all the characters coming up on stage explaining what we would see in the play mentioning love, action, humor, and the power of imagination. They introduce us to the two ships that will be important to the play: The Wasp, the fastest ship in England, which had a trunk full of Starstuff, and the Neverland, With an identical trunk full of sand.
The first character introduced is Slank, played by Melissa Escobedo (‘18), the captain of Neverland, who had bought three young orphans; Prentiss, played by Jimmy Santos (‘21); Ted, played by Kathy Caal (‘18); and a nameless boy who would later on be known as Peter Pan, played by Hector Pulido (‘21).
While Captain Slank is boarding the Neverland he marks the Queen’s trunk with an X in white chalk and while nobody is looking he switches the trunks moving the Queen’s trunk on The Neverland and his trunk full of sand on Wasp.
One of the main characters, Molly Aster, played by student director Gonzalez, is first introduced when she’s saying goodbye to her father. Her father, Lord Leonard Aster played by Zaid Mendoza (‘20), was entrusted by the Queen to board Wasp and take her trunk to the island of Rundoon and destroy it. Lord Aster pays Captain Slank to take care of Molly and her nanny Mrs. Bumbrake, played by Ariana Reyes (‘19), who would both be boarding The Neverland instead of The Wasp with Lord Aster.
Black Stache, played by Armando Sandoval (‘18), did not appear until halfway through the first act (when he kidnaps the captain of the Wasp and steers to a collision with the Neverland), yet still managed to steal the show. Lezly Hernandez (‘20) went to the opening night and said “The whole play was really good and I really enjoyed it, the Black Stache was definitely the character that made me laugh the most.”
At the end of the first act, the ships collide and the main characters swim to a nearby island, seeking safety.
The second act started off with what Mr.Bier said was one of the hardest parts of the play to prepare for, “I did not have any experience with directing musicals, and it came out great thanks to Jen [Gonzalez] and Armando [Sandoval] who were in charge of the choreography and the singing portions of the play.” The cast came out dancing in handmade mermaid costumes in a musical interlude.
After the interlude, the characters find themselves on the island, where the play reaches its climax. The boy with no name becomes Peter, we learn that Molly will be Wendy’s mother, and Tinkerbell is born.
On closing night, Gonzales, student director of the play and play-choreographer was honored with an award and graduation stole for being the first 4-year drama student since Mr. Bier became adviser. Seniors Sandoval and Escobedo were also recognized for acting in multiple plays.
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