STAGE REVIEW : Versatile Rigby a Natural in Scrappy, Streamlined ‘Peter Pan’

She flips. She fights. She flies.

Cathy Rigby is back as one of the scrappiest Peter Pans ever. And while her face doesn’t quite match Mary Martin’s for deep-down tenderness, she’s more than just the toughest kid on the block--thanks to a strong, versatile vocal style. When she sings “Distant Melody,” you can hear her long-lost mother calling. When she sings “Neverland,” she’s a very persuasive travel agent.

That Rigby is a natural in the part shouldn’t surprise Southlanders. She first did this role in 1986, for the Long Beach Civic Light Opera (after an earlier tour in an arena-style “Peter Pan” for which she didn’t have to sing). Since then, she has been seen in the company of Tinkerbell and Wendy at Knott’s Berry Farm and in San Diego.

The biggest difference between those versions and the touring production that just opened at the Pantages is the show itself, particularly the second act. It has been streamlined and focused. The pirates and Indians interplay doesn’t drag as it has in most productions. It seems as if the Indians assume the role of good guys more quickly.

According to producer Tom McCoy, director Fran Soeder went back to the original James M. Barrie source and restored elements and lines that had been removed from the text of the familiar 1954 musical staging. He set the second act’s middle scene in a cavern at Marooner’s Rock. Here, we’re told, prisoners are stranded and then washed away by the high tide. And it’s here that Peter Pan briefly faces that fate, after he’s wounded in a skirmish with Captain Hook and can’t fly away.

In other words, this version places Peter in slightly more jeopardy than previous editions of the show did. This sense of peril and adventure befits not only Rigby, whose Peter has the physicality that you would expect from a former champion gymnast. It also provides a better script for a relatively virile Captain Hook.

As played by Stephen Hanan, this Hook is a real swashbuckler (if that’s not a contradiction in terms), not just a figure of fun. He moves more gracefully than previous Hooks. He’s allowed to actually get his hook into Peter in the above mentioned scene.

In the third act, when he sheds his frilly outfit in favor of a shirt open down to the navel (Mariann Verheyen did the costumes), he could almost pass for a dastardly Errol Flynn. He speaks and sings with a deep, rich Shakespearean timbre, declaiming as if he’s the actor-manager in a Victorian production of “Richard III.”

Not all of Hanan’s words, nor those of his pirates, can be perfectly understood. The declaiming gets a bit thick. Still, it’s refreshing for Peter and Tiger Lily to face such a formidable foe. Hanan’s Hook is still funny. He’s just not particularly flouncy. And Marilyn Magness’ choreography gives even the cardboard Indians a suggestion of vigor and dignity.

This de-camping of the show is even felt in the first act, when Hanan plays the part of Mr. Darling. There is a suggestive grin on his face during bedtime at the Darling household. This Mr. Darling wouldn’t mind if the kids were spirited away for the evening--it would give him and Mrs. Darling some long-awaited privacy.

But the one place where this show--and the Long Beach production before it--are clearly superior to the Mary Martin version (at least the one that was rerun on NBC last year) is in the character of Wendy. This Wendy, Cindy Robinson, still plays Miss Goody Two-shoes, but she also unleashes a harsh, irrepressible snicker. It’s the sort of sound that a kid would make despite her best intentions.

Of course most of this “Peter Pan” is familiar. We still hear that irresistible score (lyrics by Carolyn Leigh, Betty Comden and Adolph Green; music by Moose Charlap and Jule Styne), smartly supervised by Kevin Farrell.

The design has a comforting, antique storybook quality. Tinkerbell doesn’t have that high-tech laser look. You can see the rope that supports Rigby and the other fliers (Flying by Foy, naturally), but it doesn’t matter in this context, nor does the fact that some of the flying looks more like swinging, if you think about it. The kids’ first successful leaps and their star-spangled trips to and from Neverland remain breathtaking.

It all lasts more than two hours, which may be too much for preschoolers, especially at the evening performances. But don’t bolt for the exit as soon as the curtain calls begin, or you might miss one of the most exciting moments--when Peter shatters that fourth wall.

At 6233 Hollywood Blvd., Tuesdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m., Wednesday and Saturday matinees at 2 p.m., this Sunday at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., other Sundays at 3 p.m., through July 1. $14-$37.50; (213) 410-1062.