ALICE - A MUSICAL. To 4 January.
ALICE: A Musical
adapted from Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll Book & lyrics by Kate Dove Music by Jon Nicholls
Haymarket Theatre To 4 January 2003
Runs 2hr 5min One interval
TICKETS 01256 465566
www.haymarket.org.uk
Review Timothy Ramsden 27 December
A brave stab at family entertainment and theatrical experiment which almost comes off.This new Alice is nearly a good Christmas show. It's even nearer being a very good show for all seasons. True, though called a musical, after last Christmas's successful Haymarket Pickwick that's pushing the definition for a piece with a sprinkling of innocent little songs that make minimal contribution to plot or character. A 'play with songs', fine. But, labelled 'musical' it may leave some feeling a tad shortchanged.
Alasdair Ramsay is commendably keen to expand audiences' dramatic and theatrical vocabulary, alongside more familiar Haymarket fare. This Alice is certainly worth staging, but its more experimental aspects mean it might have been better placed, say, as a summer show – or one marketed elsewhere in the year towards school groups. It's serious stuff for Christmas.
That said, it has a lot of good things, from the moment the front curtain (at Basingstoke a bright painted image of the town) rises silently to show Carroll, Alice and friends rowing on the Thames in July 1862 - taking us, like the book, from reality to fantasy.
This opening scene's similar to the RSC's Alice from last year, but comparisons actually favour the new, presumably lower-budget, version. Carroll provides a series of scenes, making quick glancing play with words and logic in scenes of dreamlike fluidity. It's not a story, and it's not intended for acting, where all sorts of things intrude – like human behaviour and the necessities of staging.
Yet Ramsay keeps a sense of momentum, helped by the translucent curtains of Elroy Ashmore's set and the light Simon Hutchings throws upon them. There are fine visual moments, from Alice's fall down the rabbit-hole on, and a set of capable performances. It may not be perfect but it's more than good enough to make the second act concession to Christmas, with a set of young audience volunteers doing an unrehearsed lobster quadrille, seem intrusive. Surrealism and audience participation rarely go well together. Shorn of it, this Alice could be worth developing.
Dodgson//Dodo/Dormouse: Tom Bevan
Mouse/The Queen: Claire Carpenter
March Hare/The Cook/Gryphon: Craige Els
Caterpillar/Mad Hatter/Mock Turtle: James Hornsby
Duckworth/The Duchess/The King: Jonathan Kemp
White Rabbit/Pigeon: Lesley McClymont
Alice: Melanie Revill
Lorina/Lory/Cheshire Cat: Vivienne Rowdon
with Haymarket Youth Theatre members: Anita Andrews,Alice Ball/Charlotte Barnes,Kate Boys,Ella Burgess,Helen Drought,Anna-Clare Eggington,Trinity Knott,Ian Pink,Cheryl Piper,Alyssa Sattasahn, Hannah Seaton,James Young
Director: Alasdair Ramsay
Designer: Elroy Ashmore
Lighting: Simon Hutchings
Choreographer: Steve Elias
2002-12-31 23:47:18