‘Alice by Heart’ @ Lakeside Community Theatre
—Hannah Kneen
Offhand, one wouldn’t think Alice in Wonderland and the London Blitz would go together. But in the musical Alice by Heart, playing at Lakeside Community Theatre through May 4, the characters stand with a foot in each world—to remarkable effect.
With a book by Steven Sater and Jessie Nelson, lyrics by Sater, and music by Duncan Sheik, this story follows the imaginative escapades of one Alice Spencer (Ashley Tone) and her best friend Alfred (Nathan Rubens). The show takes place simultaneously in a shelter in the London Underground during the Blitz and in the slightly altered world of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland—or what Alice Spencer remembers of it.
You see, Alfred is gravely ill and quarantined away from Alice. Alice, incapable of accepting her friend’s likely death, urges him to escape with her into the world of her favorite book. The Nurse, to punish Alice for trying to see Alfred despite his quarantine, tears up her book—but Alice decides to tell the story anyway, as she assures everyone she knows it “by heart.”
The plot takes us through a general outline of Lewis Carroll’s story and introduces us to its characters. Alfred, perpetually running out of time, doubles as the White Rabbit. His behavior takes a turn when he changes into the March Hare, hoping to make Alice hate him and help her move on more easily. All the book characters are played by the people who were in the underground shelter with Alice. The traumatized ex-soldier (Tyler Halbrooks) doubles as the Mad Hatter, which adds a certain poignancy to the character. The Nurse stopping Alice from visiting her friend (Audrey Reidling) turns into the callous Queen of Hearts. The Cheshire Cat (Henri Sudy) doubles as Tabatha, a woman who knows the same sort of grief and loss Alice is suffering. She’s the one who tells Alice “Sometimes we overcome, you know, just by going on.”
In Alice by Heart, directed ably by Spencer Bovaird and Leslie Navarro-Bovaird, there are a surprising number of lines and moments that go straight to the heart. When Alice decided she had “shrunk enough”—and refused to be put down further by either the other characters or the harsh reality she faced—I found myself really rooting for her. Alfred’s attempts to get Alice to hate him were similarly moving. There were, of course, many very funny moments as well. I particularly enjoyed the mock turtles and their caricatures of grief.
The odd combination of worlds requires that the show be quite inventive. Oven mitts become lobster claws, gas masks become bird beaks, and army helmets become turtle shells. The props and costumes (designed by Campbell Bovaird and Meghan MacLellan respectively) also seem to have a foot in each world, and suit the show remarkably well. I’m always a sucker for live music and having a band playing for the performers just gave the songs that extra spark that seemed to bring everyone to life. Just as the design elements are creative, the show has some imaginative choreography to go with the music (by Leslie Navarro-Bovaird). Notable examples include both the caterpillar scene and the eventual appearance of the Jabberwock, who bars Alice’s way to Alfred’s sickbed. In each case the chorus shaped itself into caterpillar/Jabberwock with the clever use of a number of crutches.
For a show so tightly bound with themes of grief and loss, the ending is surprisingly hopeful. The play itself is a masterful weaving of worlds, primed to explore difficult ideas in new and interesting ways. The performances are lovely to watch all around. This is one show I would definitely recommend and one rabbit hole I‘d like to go down again.
WHEN: April 12 - May 4
WHERE: 6303 Main Street, The Colony TX
WEB: lctthecolony.com
