Darryl Maximilian Robinson Notes His 1984 Musical Role of Captain Hook in 'Peter Pan' at Enchanted Hills Playhouse

"This reviewer has usually related best to big and brawny men as Captain Hook, but lean and sinewy Darryl Maximilian Robinson, EHP’s man of all roles this year, leaves nothing to be desired in his portrayal, and like Mathis and Miss Aiello, relates well to an audience that ranges from tiny kids to their great-grandparents." -- Bill Spurgeon, Guest Reviewer, Peter Pan flies through the air with the greatest of ease, The Mail-Journal of Syracuse, Indiana, August 15, 1984.

Sometimes, you don't have to fly to "the second star to the right, and straight on till morning" in order to find your way to J. M. Barrie's Neverland.

Sometimes, a professional summer stock contract and a solid two-and-a-half-hour car ride from the Windy City limits to the rural Syracuse, Indiana pathways of "Mad Hatter Drive" and "Wizard of Oz Way" will do.

And that proved the case in August of 1984 for your humble servant in The Theatre, Chicago-born and stage-trained Thespian Darryl Maximilian Robinson, Founder, Artistic Director and Producer of both the multiracial chamber theatres, The Excaliber Shakespeare Company of Chicago and The Excaliber Shakespeare Company Los Angeles Archival Project.

Coming toward the end of a gallery of wonderful roles during an encore summer season with The Enchanted Hills Playhouse of Syracuse, Indiana, Mr. Robinson thoroughly enjoyed playing that most flamboyant of musical theatre pirates, Captain Hook in a revival of the noted Tony Award-winning and Emmy Award-winning 1950s song-filled version of "Peter Pan," opposite the gifted and skilled, originally Indianapolis-based, now New York-based, critically-praised, professional actor and singer Timothy Mathis in the title role.

Your humble servant in The Theatre, Darryl Maximilian Robinson, has a observation to make regarding his role of Captain Hook in The 1984 30th Anniversary Enchanted Hills Playhouse of Syracuse, Indiana revival production of the musical "Peter Pan."

Yes, it's been 39 years, but this image arouses memories of an unspoken comment.

Though he would never have dared to say this to the skilled and talented Costume Designer Jayne Jaynes of the show with whom he worked with at that time:

"I know I'm playing Captain Hook. But don't you think that this is a little bit over-the-top?" -- Darryl Maximilian Robinson, Founder of The Excaliber Shakespeare Company of Chicago and The Excaliber Shakespeare Company Los Angeles Archival Project, Monday October 2, 2023.

That said, here in its entirety is a August 15, 1984 review of the EHP revival of the musical "Peter Pan" from The Mail-Journal of Syracuse, Indiana:

Peter Pan flies through the air with greatest of ease

By BILL SPURGEON, Guest Writer: Peter Pan, in the musical play of which he is the central character, is flying through the air with the greatest of ease these evenings at Wawasee’s Enchanted Hills Playhouse. And he has company.

The play, which opened last week and continues through this Sunday night, had a disappointingly small audience when this reviewer took it in Sunday night. It deserves better. But blame the Olympics, not the quality of what they are doing at the barn theatre over at the east end of the lake. The seats should be filled this week, and if you miss out, well, it’s your loss.

Timothy Mathis is Peter Pan at EHP, and this experienced young actor gives the part just the right combination of pizzazz and poignancy. And he does fly with ease, to the extent that you sit there and wonder how a fellow suspended from the stagehouse by guywires and a harness has time, or even the notion, to act and sing in the process. This young man is a real pro and he does equally well when his feet are on the stage, too.

Grace Aiello, like Mathis a member of Actors Equity, is a winning, winsome Wendy Darling, who soars off to Neverland with Peter, taking her younger brothers along as well.

This reviewer has usually related best to big and brawny men as Captain Hook, but lean and sinewy Darryl Maximilian Robinson, EHP’s man of all roles this year, leaves nothing to be desired in his portrayal, and like Mathis and Miss Aiello, relates well to an audience that ranges from tiny kids to their great-grandparents.

“Peter Pan” is fun. The action moves quickly, despite a staging arrangement that requires three separate sets. Backing up Miss Aiello, Mathis and Robinson is an excellent supporting cast, including Chad Borden and Kim Lawson as the other Darling children, Elizabeth Lee Taylor and Stephen Monroe as the parents, Mark Korres as Nana and others from within the troupe and outside it as Indians, Pirates and Wendy’s and Peter’s “children.”

The dancing is good; the flying is credible; two 15-minute intermissions are well-utilized to shift the scene from a stylish children’s nursery in the Darling house to a well-designed Neverland to the deck of Capt. Hook's ship and then finally back to the Nursery.

The lighting is good, accounting for a fine performance by Tinker Bell in the process, and so is the music, which also contributes to Tinker’s success and the overall good momentum of the entire show. Sunday night’s crowd was probably 40 percent youngsters, some of whom were seen at intermission trying to imitate Peter and take to the air.

It’s a show that’s good for all the family, and director Jeffrey Koep has managed it well; from first to final curtain it’s less than 150 minutes. Alan Chambers’s orchestra plays well; the rigging for the aerial work done by technical director Jaye Beetem and costumer Jayne Jaynes works flawlessly, and the result is good, diverting theatre of a type ideally suited to a summer audience.

"Peter Pan” is EHP’s musical finale this year; it will be followed by a one-week run of the drama “The- Diary of Anne Frank.” Regular theatregoers at EHP will want to see how the substance of this show is tackled by this year’s talented troupe. It’s moving theatre, too, and worth the effort to take it in.

“Peter Pan” continues through Sunday, with curtains tonight, Thursday and Friday at 8, Saturday at 8:30, and Sunday at 7:30. “Anne Frank” opens August 22 for its one-week run, and then it’s all over until next June.

Sometimes, just reading about what transpired all those years ago at "Mad Hatter Drive" and "Wizard of Oz Way " can conjure all the memories necessary to get a theatre artist back to Neverland. Albeit, your humble servant in The Theatre, Darryl Maximilian Robinson happily admits the costume design for Captain Hook in "Peter Pan" really does help.

Most recently, Darryl Maximilian Robinson received a 2019 Broadwayworld Chicago Award nomination for Best Performer In A Musical or Revue ( Resident Non-Equity ) for his critically-praised performance as The Chairman Mr. William Cartwright and Mayor Thomas Sapsea in the 2018 Saint Sebastian Players of Chicago revival of Rupert Holmes' "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" and also was named a winner of a 2022 Making The World Happening Award for his numerous online theatre-related offerings at Allevents.in during the early years of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Special Note: And to give theatre lovers an idea of the excellent script and score that Timothy Mathis as Peter Pan and Darryl Maximilian Robinson as Captain Hook enacted, here is a video link to view the late, great original Broadway stars Mary Martin and Cyril Ritchard in their Tony Award-winning and Emmy Award-nominated roles of Peter Pan and Captain Hook in a 1960 NBC Television Network presentation of the acclaimed 1954 stage musical hit "Peter Pan" in color. Enjoy.