Alice in Wonderland continues at the Gordon Craig Theatre, Stevenage until 28 March.
Star rating: two stars ★ ★ ✩ ✩ ✩
A new musical adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland surely promises great things. Sadly, this Gordon Craig Theatre in-house production fails to deliver much magic or adventure. The stars of the show are the set and lighting which are bright, colourful and attention grabbing. The show itself, as well as several of the performances, are bland. The music – though indeed toe-tapping – is instantly forgettable.
I was very much looking forward to this gala performance, but as an ‘in-house’ production, audiences and indeed actors deserve better. Both the direction and choreography are all over the place.
In essence, the production is presented very much like a generic pantomime: bright lights, basic characters, add a glitter ball (at a totally inappropriate moment here) when SO much more could have been done.
There are few levels, if any, to any characters. Surely Alice is a prime opportunity for big, zany, exuberant characters? Instead, the lizard, mouse, hare and turtle are basically interchangeable.
Costumes are also disappointing. If I didn’t know the book, I would have had no idea a caterpillar was sitting on a toadstool – we get a man in a blue puffer jacket. Cheshire Cat is understated and costumed much like a pink Mr Blobby. The Queen, rather than being scary, is simply moody and stroppy.
There are some stand-out performances. Thomas Sutcliffe, as Knave, offers a brilliant characterisation and a fantastic singing voice, revealed in the best song of the show ‘The Guilty One’.
Natasha Karp’s Duchess is great, and in fact more scary than the Queen at the Knave’s Trial! Grant Neal also stands out for his singing. Abbie Chambers as Alice is pleasant.
When one falls down a rabbit hole and discovers a weird and wonderful world where animals are having a tea parties and a queen chops off heads, more astonishment and excitement might be expected.
Catherine Lomax as director and executive producer is, along with Khiley Williams and Phil Dennis, also credited for book, music and lyrics. Perhaps the production would have benefited from a dedicated director.
Too much reliance has been put on set, lighting, star cloths and a great orchestra. Not enough attention has been given to overall direction and coherence, resulting in a company of obviously competent actors delivering mainly bland, two-dimensional understated performances.
Catherine Françoise
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