Review: ALICE BY HEART Presented by USF's School of Theatre & Dance

I was supposed to see the second performance of USF’s production of ALICE BY HEART, but a certain lizard decided to change that.  The reptile was the cause of a power outage that cursed the University of South Florida and stopped the original Thursday night opening of the cult musical.  But with electricity restored the next day, the performance I experienced on Friday evening turned into the actual Opening Night. (An extra performance was added for the Saturday matinee, October 4th at 2:00 PM.)   The fact that it was a mere lizard that caused all of this mayhem is not unnoticed; but for pure theatrical irony, with this show in particular, it should have been a dormouse.

Alice by Heart is a retelling of Lewis Carroll’s classic Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland using World War II as a backdrop and framing device.  It’s 1940, and Alice is forced underground during the London Blitz.  Her friend Alfred is quarantined with TB, and to run away from this sad reality, Alice wants him to escape with her into the Wonderland of Carroll’s book.   And she remembers it by heart, and suddenly the book and all of its iconic characters come to life before our very eyes.  In this alternate universe, the tubercular Alfred plays the White Rabbit, always running out of time. Alice must grapple with grief, loss and the sad reality--and cost--of coming of age.  

The same folk who gave us the stunning Spring Awakening—composer Duncan Sheik and lyricist Steven Sater—are behind this.  Both musicals share a similar theme (dealing with loss; the hard truths of growing up; the death of a young person), books from similar time periods (both based on 19th century works), similar haunting lyrics and an evocative score.  They are so close at times that I wanted to retitle it “Alice Awakening,” which actually works in the context of the show.

But Alice by Heart comes nowhere near the poetic angst and heartbreak of Spring Awakening; in terms of quality in writing and message, the two should never be mentioned in the same sentence.  Alice by Heart certainly houses some strong musical numbers, but the plot is far more convoluted, and I’m still not sure the whole World War II angle works here.  Yes, the London Blitz is as good as any other war-torn time to dive into this tale of grief and the necessity of escape through imagination, but it felt forced to me.  Much of the problem stems from the book by Steven Sater and Jessie Nelson, which seems disjointed and somewhat lacking; lots of ideas but only a few fulfilled.  

Sometimes the music comes across as repetitive and unmemorable, and though I like some of the purposefully anachronistic songs (modern pop-rock set decades upon decades in the past), none of it really came together for me.  There was also little or no standout number that haunt the likes of shows like Spring Awakening, such as “The Bitch of Living,” “Don’t Do Sadness” or the glorious “Left Behind.” That said, it is more successful than that other Alice retelling, the not-so-wondrous Wonderland, but that’s not saying very much. 

I was certainly moved by the show’s ending, but not once driven to tears.  After it was over and I headed home, there was never that need to listen to it again, to seek out the music and dive into the melancholic melodies.  Usually when I see a show that is right down my back alley of darkness (I like my shows the way Mikael Blomkvist likes his coffee—the darker the better), then I become rather obsessed.  When I first saw Sweeney Todd nearly forty years ago, I couldn’t get enough of it, listening to my recently-bought tape over and over again in the car (this was before CD’s became popular). The same held true for Spring Awakening back in 2007. 

But with Alice by Heart, I never felt that need.  There isn’t that want to re-experience the show. And maybe that’s a good thing.  Because the USF production of it turned out to be so good, with its sterling cast, amazing musicians and spot-on crew making the most of this convolution, that everything was left on the stage.  I didn’t need to take it with me because I got the whole damn experience sitting in that moment, in that theatre.  It felt transitory, like life.  Which is what this show is all about.  We can never truly recreate experiences; they flee and are gone, so we might as well enjoy them in the moment when they’re happening, not trapped in some memory long after.

Even though the show was not my cup of tea served at a Mad Hatter tea party, the USF cast was beyond reproach.  They made this flawed musical burst to life.

Shawna Hopper is such a force as Alice, diving into the show’s darker and more emotional aspects and playing a girl growing into womanhood.  She sings beautifully and carries the production on her shoulders.  Defiant to attend this tale, she makes us forget any weaknesses in the actual written show.   Working with Troy Orchoa-Rowland as Alfred, who is a revelation here (reminding me of a young Jonathan Groff), she and he bring to life this dire storyline, and their duets stand out as some of the best of the show: “West of Words,” “Down the Hole,” “Still,” and “Afternoon.”  They are a heartbreaking duo. They make this nonsense about as sensical as possible because they lead with their hearts, and we feel their pain, grief, and ultimately their dashed hope.   

As Dodgy/Duchess/Mock Mock Mock Mock Turtle, Michael Vega gives another standout performance, playing the Duchess as a Bitch Queen with enough sass and attitude to fill a subway station.  Adrian De La Rosa gets to display his immense talent in a variety of roles, especially as a very foreboding Jabberwocky in “Brillig Braelig.”   And Sam Lipsey is druggily wigged-out as a stoner Caterpillar; his hookah-hymn, “Chillin’ the Regrets,” is a Hair-like psychedelic experience, bridging the proto-hippie drug culture with Lewis Carroll, as if birthing the Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit” to life.    

Lindsey Fabian gets to out-diva everyone as a particular earthshattering Queen of Hearts (and as a no-nonsense Red Cross Nurse).  Her “Isn’t It a Trial?” showcases such amazing riffs and a rafter-rattling belt to die for.  With Ms. Fabian’s fierce facial expressions and snooty air (like a spoiled child playing queen, reminding me of a young Patricia Routledge, RIP), it’s a true star turn, tearing the roof off this sucka.  And at the end of her galvanizing song, the lighting effect (brilliantly created by Layal Motasem) literally spotlights a major talent.

But the entire cast, playing a variety of roles, bring their A-game, including Seth Henley-Beasley as the Mad Hatter/Mock Mock Turtle/Knave of Spades, looking like Bon Scott meets Rossetti’s Pre-Raphaelite Lilith with his long wavy red hair; Ashley Browning as Tabatha/Cheshire Cat; Alexis Andriesse as Clarissa/Queen of Diamonds/Mock Mock Mock Turtle/Caterpillar 2; Samuel Hernandez as a memorable Nigel/Dormouse; Seth Pisani as Young Alfred/Ensemble; Evelyn Schulte as Young Alice/Ensemble; Nikki Brice and Ava Meyer as the ensemble.  These cast members change from character to character in the blink of an eye, moving about the stage like pieces on a backgammon board gone rogue. 

The vocal work is extraordinary, guided by legendary musical director Latoya McCormick-Hutchinson.  The band is outrageously good: Ms. McCormick-Hutchinson on keyboards; Alex Braman on bass; Chris Bracco on drums; Julian Thacker on reed; Noah Rampmaier on trumpet; and Dominic Cintron and Anthony Dubose on guitars.  After the curtain call, the band whipped into a version of “Sir Duke,” that had me tappin’ my toes where the actual songs in the show did not (then again, we were no longer in Wonderland; we were in Stevie Wonder-land).   

Director David Valdez brilliantly guides this production with some of the most imaginative staging you’ll see.  He, along with choreographer Andi Sperduti Garner, have created a production that moves nonstop, with lots of drive and astonishing touches.  There’s the chessboard pattern on the stage (scenic design by Kristen Martino), and that’s what Mr. Valdez does here, moving the pieces of this very active and intense chess game.  So many cool touches abound, such as incorporating gasmasks as well as soldier helmets (the latter acting as turtle shells; the clever costume design was by Frank Chavez, assisted by Wren Wallis).  The show is so much fun to watch, bursting with such creativity, that we oft forget how complex and muddled the labyrinthian tale is. Alice is whirled into this fever dream, and so is the audience. 

In Alice by Heart, the story of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland acts as a tonic to bombed-out London in much the way theatre acts as a tonic to our current worldly (and especially national) circumstances. Shows like this are my escape, even when dealing with serious subject matter and dark themes.  At one point in the musical, a character proclaims: “The world has lost its head!”  And that’s still the case. Sometimes, after reading the news, I think we’re stuck in some sort of nightmarish dreamscape, one in which we need to awaken from soon.  So that when morning comes, we—like Alice, like Bobby on Dallas, like Bottom in Midsummer—can look back at all of this modern-day mayhem and recount the curious dream we’ve just had. If only…

USF’s School of Theatre and Dance’s production of ALICE BY HEART, at USF Theatre 2, closed Sunday, October 5, at 2:00 PM.  Photo Credit: Sorcha Augustine.