PICK Me Up Theatre is the other company run by Bubwith’s man of the musicals, Robert Readman, utilising plenty of talent from York Stage Musicals but giving bright-eyed new faces a chance too.

Just as he has an uncanny eye for spotting a bargain for his theatre prop, set and costume-hire sheds, so director-designer Readman is always quick off the mark at securing York premieres of West End and Broadway hits.

George Stiles and Andrew Drewe’s musical version of Peter Pan is the latest Readman new signing, and if you enjoyed Honk!,the S&D version of The Ugly Duckling, then Peter Pan will be right up your street, second (star) to the right and straight on till morning. Especially as the late Willis Hall has written a script full of wit, pathos, wonder and fear.

J M Barrie’s dark, strange tale of the boy who never grew up – not 51-year-old Mr Readman, despite the boyish floppy fringe – echoes Honk! in being the story of an outsider, although this one, Peter Pan, wants to stay outside convention forever.

He is played by 17-year-old Leeds actor Jed Berry, a Readman and NUE Music regular, with glitter in his hair, something of Soft Cell’s Marc Almond about the way he moves and sings, and petulance bordering on a tantrum.

Lauren Sheriston, from Sherburn-in-Elmet, so often has played above her age – and very convincingly too – that is a shock but a welcome one to see her cast as younger than her 16 years. Her singing is maturing very impressively and her characterisation of a girl on the cusp of discovering love, to go with the natural authority of the eldest child, is top notch too.

Plenty of experience fills other principal roles: Nik (CORRECT) Briggs is a thespian Captain Hook with shades of Johnny Depp in Pirates Of The Caribbean; Sandy Nicholson's Storyteller is as polished as Julie Andrews; and Alicia Roberts is utterly motherly as Mrs Darling. Best of all is the scene stealer with the adroitness of a pickpocket, Jonny Holbek's (CORRECT) comical, unctuous West Country Smee.

What of the burgeoning talent? Emily Belcher, fresh from her appearance on Chris Evans’s BBC Radio 2 breakfast show this week, shines as a light-as-a-feather Tinkerbell; Sam Roberts and Kieran Robson are blossoming as Michael and John Darling; and Coraleigh Hobson’s Tigerlily marks her out as the next Readman discovery to be nurtured to lead roles.

Jolley Gosnold’s choreography brings out the best in the Lost Boys, Indian Braves and Pirates; the flying scenes are truly uplifting; and Adam Tomlinson’s band thoroughly enjoys the myriad musical styles of Stiles and Drewe.

Look out for the humorous flourishes in Readman’s direction and design: the Italian, Brummie and Scottish accents among the Lost Boys; the Mermaid reading 50 Shades Of Grey; the multitude of pyjama material from Leeds market for the Lost Boys; the crocodile head attached to a pedal bike for mobility.

Like the flying Darlings, this Peter Pan hit the heights.

Peter Pan, Pick Me Up Theatre, Grand Opera House, York, today at 5pm and 8pm; tomorrow, 2.30pm and 7.30pm. Box office: 0844 871 3024 or atgtickets.com/york