Review: Student Spotlight on ALICE BY HEART at The Stage At Burke Junction

I had a unique opportunity last weekend to experience a completely student-run production of a show that has intrigued me since I first heard of it. Alice by Heart is a musical with music by Duncan Sheik and lyrics and book by Steven Sater (with Jessie Nelson), the duo responsible for Spring Awakening. Neely Hebert, who was interviewed by BroadwayWorld earlier this month, produced and directed Alice by Heart as a labor of love for her contemporaries and the local theatre community before she leaves for college this summer.

The score of this show is beautiful; however, the story is a little confusing. It follows teenager Alice Spencer (Gianna Ackerman) and her friend, Alfred (Deandre Fritz), in the underground tubes of London after the Blitz of 1941. Alfred is sick with tuberculosis, so Alice does what any good reader would do. She distracts him by bringing him into her favorite book with her by reciting it to him by heart. The other people hiding underground turn into characters in the book, and sometimes it’s hard to see the correlation between the two.

The students, however, are all compelling in their performances. Hebert didn’t make any mistakes in casting. Ackerman does a fantastic job morphing into all of the different Alice personas required in the show, while Fritz successfully tackles the huge disparities between his Alfred/White Rabbit and the March Hare. Other noteworthy performances include: Eliot Popovic Meyer, who may have stolen the show as the flamboyantly confident Duchess; Tanner Edenfield as the Mad Hatter; Lucy Lederer, who hits her stride later in the show as the Queen of Hearts; the deliciously creepy Caterpillar duo, Callie Mae Johnson and Zoe Osorio; and Lauryn Taylor Piazza’s Cheshire Cat, whose voice sounds beyond her years. My favorite number in the show, “Chillin’ the Regrets,” features the Caterpillars and is also a clever way to showcase the rest of strong cast: Isabel Arguelles, Django Nachmanoff, Grace Williamson, Mia Lederer, and Keilani Quayle. I was particularly impressed with the costuming by Delaney Hubbard, especially her creative use of face masks, ribbon, and playing cards to craft the dress worn by the Queen of Hearts.

These students (all from local high schools and colleges) in Alice by Heart should be proud of their final product. The talent, dedication, and hard work put in make this dark, eccentric, whimsical adaptation a beautiful thing to see.

Photo Credit: Neely Hebert