This musical reimages Lewis Carroll’s Alice tales, making them a contemporary story of escaping from life’s grim realities. This Alice is a 40-year-old single mum, unable to move on after divorce and unaware that neighbour, Jack, loves her.
Telling her daughter, Ellie, that she wants out of the real world is the cue for a white rabbit to pop up and lead them to Wonderland. Here they meet all the traditional characters who are even more bizarre than Carroll’s originals.
The musical’s theme is finding true self in order to follow dreams. Whilst the audience loved the show I have reservations. The show is over-loud; vocals are screamed or shouted and some of the frenzied staging is a mass of whirling dervishes.
That said there were some fine performances – Dave Willett (White Rabbit) and Naomi Morris (Ellie) bring clarity to their solos; Stephen Webb wonderfully morphs from nerdish Jack into pop star. Kerry Ellis as Alice and Natalie McQueen, the Mad Hatter, drum up a storm with their powerful voices. Ellis is able to counter balance with her softer ballads.
Wendi Peters, Queen of Hearts, steals the audiences’ hearts with her comic creation - a mini-Merman belting out Off With Their Heads.
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