Wonderland

What is it about dear Alice that she has to have all manner of terrible conceits thrown at her...the original narrative has been strong enough to keep our interest for decades. There's a twisted logic and narrative drive already there, and if directors were to delve into the material itself instead of using Alice as a Maguffin to drive the director's irrelevant fantasies we would, certainly Alice would, be all much better off.

Natalie (Mad Hatter) is on the right of the photo of Kerry and Stephen posted below.

I agree with you on Alice's dress, I can see what they're trying to do but I don't like it.  I'd rather she was in something completely different, like she was on Broadway:



Just over a week until Birmingham.  I'm either going to love it and spend my whole month's theatre budget going as many times as possible, or hate it for being different.  Still not certain which, although obviously I'm hoping for the former.  Maybe I should put away some money for another trip to Death Takes a Holiday once James Gant takes over as Death now.

Going by the amount of tickets still on sale for this evening I may need a megaphone to speak to the person sat next me.

I was in the Circle and would say that was about 60% full, going by the website before curtain up the balcony wasn't very full and I couldn't see the stalls but it was nowhere near a sell out. HOWEVER you do have to remember that the Playhouse is bigger than most West End theatres with a capacity of over 3000.

As for the show itself, well actually I enjoyed it - its not brilliant but its nowhere near being a disaster and is an amiable enough timewaster. The story is fine for what it is, its the usual clichéd romance nonsense but its done in a very entertaining way, even if Jack (one of the romantic leads) does disappear for most of the second half of the show.

Musically its not as bombastic as I was expecting, its definitely more Phantom of the Opera than A Little Night Music but its not two hours of full on Power Ballads, its heavy metal lite or at least it was to me, I may be deaf to the full on power ballad though- the main issue I have with the score is that the best song in the show was for me the first one.

There are some odd directoral choices in the performances which see the March Hare and Cheshire Cat be teeth grindingly awful whilst Dave Willets hops about like a rabbit for his first scene and then doesn't rabbit on for the rest of the show. Loved what the actors did with the roles of the mouse and the Mad Hatter.


I liked the general set design although there appeared to be an issue with the lights on the right hand side of the biggest circle as throughout the night they flashed a different colour every 5 minutes or so.

Major kudos though to Wendy Peters agent for getting her top billing in this despite the fact she is only on stage for about 15 minutes of a 130 minute runtime.

I'd give it a 7/10. Not a must see but I found it a pleasing diversion for the evening.

PS Duncan

What was the first song in this version? I've yet to see it.

You're right about the music too - that is, if it's like the original. It's an eclectic mix of styles, though there are several power ballads, especially for the Hatter. Alice has a couple too. The Queen of Heart's 'Off With Their Heads' began as a sort-of power ballad, but was shortened, styled and reigned-in somewhat on Broadway. I didn't like that version - I preferred the slightly more full-on version from the pre-Broadway recording. I suspect Peters has the reigned in version?

Seeing this in a couple of weeks in Birmingham.

Manchester opening night and Saturday night has most of the stalls and circle sold. Grand circle empty. Wednesday night stalls has a lot of empty seats. They're going to have to push this harder but it doesn't sound like that advert will help!

Carley Rose Sonenclar was just something else! You'd never find another child with a voice like that.

Opening night will be the press night so half of Coronation Street will be in with comp tickets

Its Alice and company for the opening number - the ensemble being her work colleagues etc and providing backing vocals. I made it 18 cast members at the curtain call.


For those interested as well - there was a note somewhere that I now cant find that had the schedule for Kerry, she did the matinee last Saturday but doesn't appear to be doing the matinee today, I'm assuming it's because it was opening weekend last week and they wanted to see how well it worked in front of an audience.


Good reaction last night as well, the issue being that those who go will probably enjoy it but they aren't really doing enough to get people to go.

I saw this last night and really enjoyed it. I felt the second act was much stronger overall than the first half although the opening song "Worst Day of my Life" kick started the show well. The duet "This Is Who I Am" between Kerry and Natalie gave me goosebumps! Their voices harmonised so well and that was the big stand-out song for me, as well as "Through The Looking Glass".

Performance wise, I loved Natalie's portrayal of the Mad Hatter. She stole every scene she was in, often almost overshadowing Kerry. I do think this could be the year that Natalie has her breakthrough and can understand why critics have been saying she's one to watch. Kerry's vocals were as strong as ever. On occasion, I felt her acting at the beginning wasn't as strong however this improved as the show went on. Could just be she's still settling into the role as this is their first week of performances so not going to dwell too much on that. Stephen Webb cranked up the charm as Jack and brought some good humour to the show.

Overall, I personally enjoyed the evening. There were some slow moments at the beginning with some weaker songs, however the second act more than makes up for this.

On another note, does anyone know where I can find a recording of Wonderland? I've looked through YouTube but didn't have much success. I'm sure I read somewhere there does exist an older recording of the original production.