And now the immortal Lewis Carroll story has been set to music by Elizabeth Swados in Alice in Concert, boasting such curiously titled tunes as Advice From A Caterpillar, Pretty Piggy, The Mock Turtle’s Story, The Lobster Quadrille, Eating Mushrooms, Jabberwocky, The Walrus and the Carpenter, Never Play Croquet, and Queen Alice. Curious titles indeed, unless you happen to be one of the hundreds of millions of people who have heard the story of Alice and the bizarre characters she meets in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.

With a total of 32 musical numbers jam-packed into the script, most of which follow one another with no logical transition from one to another, much of the show seems a bit discombobulated. But then, Wonderland never exactly prided itself on being logical or combobulated. So you just sort of have to go along with Alice, who is just as confused by the dizzying sequence of events as anyone. By the second act, either because the tempo slowed down a bit or just because the weird began to seem normal, the story seems to glide along smoother and the musical score reaches most of its higher points.

Amazingly, Director and Kidztheater founder Kristen Caesar put this complicated production with its plethora of songs and dances together in just four weeks. More amazingly, they pulled it off in a polished production with hardly a hitch.

Brooke McKinney makes for a thoroughly charming Alice – her voice with the range and strength to handle the wide range of music in the show that spans the spectrum from rock, hip-hop, country western, folk, and love ballads. Brooke’s expressive face amusingly captures the emotions of confusion, frustration, hopelessness, happiness, trepidation and, of course, wonder, as she encounters the peculiar inhabitants of Wonderland and they teach her, and us, numerous lessons in the oddest of ways.

The wide variety of scenes, characters, and songs allowed all the members of the huge cast to shine at one point or another, revealing a great depth of talent. These talents include several fantastic singers including, but not limited to, Aubrey Kelley as Alice’s sister Edith who kicks off the second act with a beautiful duet with Justin Flowers and ends the show accompanied by Alice and the Ensemble in the mesmerizing What is a Letter? Jay Moses and Lauren Nutter join Alice to make the haunting Lobster Quadrille one of the highlights of the show. Breanna Lopez displays both her strong voice and stage presence in her performance of the time management-challenged White Rabbit. Arianna Boyer, as the highly vindictive Red Queen, is terrific as she haughtily sings her demands that the alphabet consist only of the letter “Q” and demands the heads of all who might disagree. White Queen Jessica DeKoekKoek has a nice solo about The Lion and the Unicorn. The Mad Hatter (Mark Guiducci), March Hare (Jenny Parker), Dormouse (Ashley Avan), and the tea tables (Breanna Marshall and Lauren Nutter) combine their vocal and comedic talents for a marvelously mad tea party, with Ashley getting an even better chance to display her uniquely adorable voice in her following number with Alice in which she teaches Alice to draw.

Other comical highlights include little Henry Metcalf who threatens to steal his scenes with cattish pomp, style, and flair as the irrepressible Cheshire. Jay Moses and Courtney Howe, as the inseparable duo of Tweedledee and Tweedledum, entertain with their humorous retelling of The Walrus and the Carpenter. Rylee Blair offers a cute little turn as an obnoxious Baby. And perhaps the best scenes of the show featured the funny and sensitive duets between Alice and her White Knight (Lucas Kelly). Throw on top of all those a great singing and dancing ensemble who are instrumental in setting the moods for so many of the scenes, not to mention so many colorful and imaginative sets and costumes, and we have the tea table set for an enchanting adventure in Wonderland. Congratulations to the cast, crew, parents, and Director Kristen Caesar who, incredibly enough, founded Kidztheatre seven years ago when she was just thirteen years old!

Rob Hopper
National Arts Digest