TORONTO -- In the world of Peter Pan, all it takes to take flight is a sprinkling of fairy dust and a few positive thoughts.

To get Ross Petty's annual "fractured fairy-tale musical" of the same name off the ground, however, they're going to have to jettison a fair bit of cargo and then hose things down with some high-test silly syrup.

Peter Pan: The Family Musical That's Silly, Very Silly opened at the Elgin Theatre Thursday, and title notwithstanding, what's missing in the 21/2-hour panto is that sense of silliness -- of barely controlled anarchy on the edge of running amok -- that producer Petty has taught us all to love over the past dozen years.

Other than that, it's a pretty impressive show.

It certainly starts on a promising note, thanks to an often smart and sassy script from Chris Earle.

With panto regular Eddie Glen in the doghouse, masquerading as the Darling family pet, we get an upbeat intro to the Darling children -- Meghan Hoople as pouty, post-pubescent Wendy, Matthew Del Bel Belluz as gameboy John and Brandon Banks as the bookish and asthmatic Michael.

That these are not the Darlings of J.M. Barrie's imagination is quickly underlined by the introduction of a dear-old-dad (Petty himself) in the throes of a mid-life crisis, with Diana Coatsworth cast as that crisis' catalyst.

Into this post-nuclear family flies Peter Pan (affable skater Kurt Browning), in search of his shadow and some children to teach his lost boys some new games.

A sprinkling of the aforementioned fairy dust, and the little Darlings are suddenly and magically on the wing.

Problem is, they're headed to a less-than-magical land so heavily influenced by reality TV that calling it Neverland seems more threat than promise as one starts to wonder if this treacly evening is ever going to end.

Once there, the Darling brood hooks up with all the usual suspects, including Tinkerbell (Jennifer Waiser) and the Lost Boys (Steven Gallagher, Larry Mannell and Geoffrey Tyle, perhaps more aptly described as Misplaced Middle-aged Men).

Then, finally, after a wait that borders on interminable for all his fans, Petty -- the man youngsters have grown to love to hate -- finally makes his appearance as the villainous Captain Hook, only to disappear for long segments thereafter.

Now, to Earle and director Susan H. Schulman, schooled as they are in more orthodox theatrical fare, Petty's unique thespian style probably seems like overcooked ham, best buried under heaps of mashed potatoes and brussels sprouts.

For those of us who have become repeat guests at Petty's festive groaning board, however, that self-same ham is the centre piece of the banquet and holding it back so long is akin to trying to fill us up on cheap hors d'oeuvres to save on the main course.

Which is not to say that there is anything cheap about this big-hearted evening of pirated pop songs, slick production numbers and corny, very corny, jokes and product placements.

In fact, music director Steve Hunter, choreographer Tracey Flye and costume designer Erika Connor all more than earn their keep while Earle and Schulman even conspire to give us some delicious stuff, not the least of which is Donnie MacPhee's crowd-pleasing crocodile.

But while it all adds up to a relatively satisfying family evening of musical theatre, thanks to Browning and a talented cast, it stops far short of an evening of panto.

And the only way to save it, one suspects, is a whole lot less musical theatre and a whole lot more Petty.

And while they're at it, reviving the singalong wouldn't hurt, either.
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