Review: ALICE BY HEART at Riffe Center Studio I

How many stories do you know well enough to recite from memory?

In the Contemporary Theatre of Ohio production ALICE BY HEART, Alice Spencer (Elise Parks) finds herself in an air raid shelter with her Best Friend Alfred Hallam (Ethan Zink) as the German Luftwaffe bombard London during the Blitz in World War II. To comfort Alfred, who is dying of tuberculosis, Alice tries to tell him their favorite story, Lewis Carrol’s ALICE IN WONDERLAND, from memory after her copy of the book is destroyed.

The 10-person cast takes the audience down this Carrol-inspired rabbit hole Sept. 4-21 at the Riffe Center Studio 1 (77 South High Street in downtown Columbus). Like ALICE IN WONDERLAND, the musical is much deeper than what it appears to be on the surface. During the 90-minute, one act show, Alice travels through psychologist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’ five stages of grief (denial, bargaining, anger,  depression and acceptance) as she emotionally prepares with the impending death of her friend and the uncertainty of her own future.

The creative team for this show, Duncan Sheik (music) and Steven Sater (lyricist and book with Jessie Nelson), have a knack for creating heartbreaking, haunting melodies. Although they are hidden off stage, conductor Jonathan Collura (keyboards), Tom Regouski (reeds), Luis Gonzales (guitar), Mathew Kinnear (cello and violin), and Ben Reineke (drums) add flair and passion to Sheik’s score.

This brilliant cast brings the lyrics and story to life. Parks’ Alice is a starry-eyed dreamer who believes as long as the two friends are characters in the story, Alfred will remain healthy and alive as the White Rabbit.

As Alice reimagines the members of the shelter as the characters in ALICE IN WONDERLAND, some are a little more obvious than others. Noelle Anderson morphs from the stern Red Cross nurse into the sneering Queen of Hearts in a flick of her red fan. Jo Michelle Shafer shines as she transforms from the mischievous Tabatha to The Cheshire Cat. The shell-shocked, tea-obsessed soldier Harold Pudding (Drew Eberly) naturally slides into the Mad Hatter and the heavy smoking Angus (Nicholas McInturff) converts into the Caterpillar, using the air raid shelter’s gas masks as the hookah. Some characters are part of the five stages of grief. The pleasure-seeking Caterpillar represents Alice’s avoidance of grief and the mercurial Mad Hatter signifies her anger about Alfred’s plight.

Other characters aren’t as familiar as figures in Carrol’s story nor are their intentions clear. In a hilarious transmutation, cynical Dodgy (Justin King) transfigures into the over the-top Duchess and Dr. Butridge (Trent Rowland) becomes the King of Hearts. The fidgety Nigel (Winnona Maddrey) changes into dormouse. Clarissa (Sammantha Robinson) metamorphoses into the Queen of Diamonds.

If there is a flaw in this production it is the assumption everyone has an encyclopedic knowledge of ALICE IN WONDERLAND. Some of the musical’s references to the characters and the events of ALICE IN WONDERLAND are lost on people who don’t remember Carrol’s tale.

I am a movie line guy who is prone to spout off lines from my favorite films. I have found that when I quote, “Hasta La Vista,” “To Blathe,” or “These go to 11” to someone who hasn’t seen THE TERMINATOR, THE PRINCESS BRIDE or SPINAL TAP, I am usually met with a blank stare.

That being said, director Leda Hoffmann covers a lot of ground in creating ALICE BY HEART. Set designer Katherine Simon turns the Riffe Center stage into a 1940s style tube station/bomb shelter, complete with bunks, propane tanks, and propaganda posters. Dialect coach Melissa Lushner makes sure the Midwestern actors’ accents sound authentically British.

In the book, ALICE IN WONDERLAND, the White Rabbit is plagued with a fear of missing deadlines and of missing out. He is chained to a pocket watch and hopping from place to place as he declares “I’m late, I’m late, for a very important date.” In the song “Afternoon,” Alfred realizes he is the White Rabbit in reverse. Time is chasing Alfred, who worries aloud, “Time, time, I have so little time. Why did I come down at all?”

Alice tries to stay on certain pages of the story to keep Alfred alive a little while longer, but she eventually comes to the realization that the story, like all stories do, must come to an end: “A little talk could hold me for a little while/Another brush of whiskers and that distant smile/So little life remaining and the shadows won't contain me/The book of night is closing for the child.”

At the powerful climax of the play, Alfred makes his journey toward the shaft of light created by the opening of the exit door in the rear of the theater. Simultaneously, a theater patron unwittingly returned to her seat from the restroom at the same time as the character was making his spiritual exit. As she sat down, the theatergoer mouthed to her seatmate, “So, what did I miss?”

If one doesn’t know where this story is going, he or she can miss a great deal.

Photos: Kyle Long