Alice by Heart

Alice by Heart
Music	Duncan Sheik
Lyrics	Steven Sater
Book	Steven Sater with Jessie Nelson
Productions	2019 Off-Broadway

Alice by Heart is a musical with music by Duncan Sheik, lyrics by Steven Sater, and a book by Sater with Jessie Nelson. The musical is inspired by Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and was originally presented by London's Royal National Theatre in 2012.

Plot overview

The musical takes place in 1941, in the debris after the London Blitz of World War II. The life of teen Alice Spencer is disrupted, as she and her best friend Alfred are forced to take shelter in a London underground tube station. However, Alfred, suffering from tuberculosis, is quarantined. Alice urges him to escape with her into their cherished book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and travel down the rabbit hole to Wonderland. The people hiding in the shelter slowly change into some of the book's characters, and Alfred himself changes into the White Rabbit.

Background

Alice by Heart was originally commissioned by London’s Royal National Theatre in 2012, and was performed by youth companies around the U.K. The musical was developed as a workshop by Theatre Aspen (Aspen, Colorado) in July 2014. The musical received an additional workshop by MCC Theater in December 2015. New York Stage and Film & Vassar at the Powerhouse Theater presented a workshop production in July 2018. Director Jessie Nelson noted: “We’re attempting to explore the power of a book and what the story has meant to this girl...”

The musical made its Off-Broadway premiere at the Newman Mills Theatre at the Robert W. Wilson MCC Theater Space in January 2019, with an official opening on February 26, for a limited run until April 7, 2019.

Productions

The world premiere production of Alice by Heart was announced on March 21, 2018 as part of MCC's inaugural season in its new permanent two-venue off-Broadway home.Casting was announced on October 23. The production opened Off-Broadway on February 26, 2019 at the MCC Theater, following previews from January 30, with the closing set for April 7. The closing date has been extended again from March 31. It is directed by Jessie Nelson with choreography by Rick and Jeff Kuperman, sets by Edward Pierce, costumes by Paloma Young and lighting by Bradley King.

Musical numbers

Off-Broadway

• "West of Words" – Alice, Alfred, Tabatha & Company
• "Down the Hole" – Company
• "Still" – Alice & White Rabbit
• "Chillin’ the Regrets" – Caterpillars, Alice & Company
• "The Key Is" – Alice, White Rabbit, Caterpillars & Company
• "So" – Magpie, Eaglet, Duck, Canary, Dodo & Pigeon
• "Those Long Eyes" – Cheshire Cat, Alice & White Rabbit
• "Manage Your Flamingo" – Duchess & Company
• "Sick to Death of Alice-ness" – Mad Hatter, March Hare, Dormouse & Alice
• "Brillig Braelig" – Jabberwocky, Alice & Company
• "Some Things Fall Away" – Cheshire Cat
• "Your Shell of Grief" – Mock Turtles & Alice
• "Another Room in Your Head" – Alfred, Alice & Company
• "Isn’t It a Trial?" – Queen of Hearts & Company
• "Do You Think We Think You’re Alice?" – Company
• "I’ve Shrunk Enough" – Alice & Company
• "Still (Reprise)" – Alfred & Alice
• "Afternoon" – Alice, Alfred & Company
• "Winter Blooms" – Alice, Cheshire Cat & Company
• "Down the Hole (Reprise)" – Company

Characters and original cast

Character	Off Broadway (2019)
Dormouse/Nigel/Eaglet/Knave of Clubs	Zachary Infante
Dodgy/Duchess/Dodo/Mock Mock Mock Mock Turtle	Noah Galvin
Alice Spencer/Alice	Molly Gordon
Mad Hatter/Harold Pudding/Mock Mock Turtle/Pigeon/Knave of Spades	Wesley Taylor
Clarissa/Canary/Queen of Diamonds/Mock Mock Mock Turtle	Catherine Ricafort
White Rabbit/Alfred Hallam/March Hare	Colton Ryan
King of Hearts/Dr Butridge/Jabberwocky/Duck/Mock Turtle	Andrew Kober
Caterpillar/Angus/Knave of Hearts	Heath Saunders
Cheshire Cat/Tabatha/Caterpillar 2	Nkeki Obi-Melekwe
Queen of Hearts/Red Cross Nurse/Magpie	Grace McLean

Reception

The Off-Broadway production received mixed to negative reviews. While some praised the visual aspects of the story and some of the performances, many criticized the story, calling it muddled, confusing and were unable to see the parallels of the London Blitz of WWII and Alice in Wonderland. Some critics also gave the show unfavorable comparisons to Spring Awakening, which Sheik and Sater both worked on together.

Ben Brantley of The New York Times stated "The real-world characters are so hastily established and sketchily drawn that there's nothing compelling or surprising in their metamorphoses. It's also hard to grasp any necessary relationship between war-warped London in 1941 and the particulars of Wonderland."

David Cote, of The Observer, drew a comparison with Spring Awakening in his review "The difference: Spring Awakening was a straightforward adaptation of playwright Frank Wedekind's satirical-tragical portrait of hormonal adolescents and hypocritical adults in 19th-century Germany. Sater pared down the text and added his tender, sensual lyrics. Sheik brought his ruminative but groove-smart talent to the table. The result was a potent collision of signifiers-teen rebellion that transcended the historical period through emo rock. Alice By Heart is a more muddled concoction, tangled up in too many layers of reality and fantasy, trauma and whimsy, to deliver its emotional payload."

Matt Windman gave the show two out of four stars and stated, "Although sincerely intended and full of creative touches, "Alice by Heart" is a disjointed, depressing and bewildering mess. It would be near impossible to follow it without a working knowledge of the source material."

Some reviewers took a more positive approach. Frank Rizzo of Variety praised the performances, stating "The cast is solid, though the peripheral characters are thinly drawn even as their surreal alter egos revel in extravagance. Wesley Taylor has an especially fine time as the Mad Hatter, and Andrew Kober takes on five roles with flair, including King of Hearts and an imposing Jabberwocky."

Elysa Gardner of New York Stage Review, in another positive review, described the show as "a darkly whimsical, utterly transporting musical that recalls Awakening both in its general focus-on anxious, pining youths who must pay the price for their elders' folly-and the lush, often melancholy but exhilarating beauty of its score."

Awards and honors

Original Off-Broadway production

Year	Award Ceremony	Category	Nominee	Result
2019
	Lucille Lortel Awards	Outstanding Choreographer	Rick and Jeff Kuperman	Won
		Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical	Heath Saunders	Nominated
		Outstanding Costume Design	Paloma Young	Won

External links

• Official website
• Internet Off-Broadway listing