Wonderland

I would love to hear her sing I Will Prevail!

My first experience of Kerry live was Cats. I knew she was this huge powerhouse and loved her voice in Wicked... but was very dissapointed with her in Cats because she was only on for 15 minutes and cracked a couple of times during her big number, and didn't make the big key change in Memory. Was very dissapointed, Nicole Scherzinger was incredible, but Kerrywas crap in comparison.

That being said, I loved her in Murder Ballad.

Is this is a big sing for Alice and Mad Hatter?! Just wondering why both roles need a formal alternate when clearly Kerry and Natalie have the ability to nail 8 shows a week based on previous roles?!

There was a technical fault tonight that stopped the show for a good 5 to 10 mins. The looking glass reveal was rather spoiled by it not appearing and them having to stop the show to get it down. Made worse by the fact that then when they tried to lower the safety curtain nobody thought about the big trees that blocked the curtains path and so of course the curtain crashed into the trees and then you had stage hands running on trying to move the trees from under the curtain. Haha. The women next to me asked at this point if her friend had seen The Play That Goes Wrong....

Tbh, not sure why these roles would need an alternate. The Mad Hatter's songs are both 'belty' at the end, but she has lots of off-stage time.
For Alice, maybe Kerry only wanted to do 6 shows a week. She has enough of a reputation in musical theatre to have some degree of negotiating power. I don't think the role is in the canon of most demanding roles (yes, she is onstage for most of the time, but only as an onlooker/ crowd-member for a certain amount of that time). I think her family-life and the fact that she can negotiate terms may be the reason for her six shows a week contract.
As far as the production itself goes, it may be economically more favourable to have an alternate. I would imagine it's cheaper to pay Kerry for only six shows a week and have an alternate perform the other two (who is obviously on less pay). I would also imagine McQueen gets paid more per show than when the alternate plays her role. Is this the case? Is an alternate only paid for the shows that they perform? Not sure whether it's financially better to have an alternate and limited schedules for the main performers.

I'm not sure The Mad Hatter is that big a sing, though. In her first song 'The Mad Hatter' it's only the last chorus where it modulates upwards (which is hard), isn't it?

And it's the same with 'I Will Prevail', isn't it? The final chorus is hard, but the rest is reasonable, I think. I wouldn't consider it a role that needs an alternate. Even Elphaba doesn't have an alternate and I would say that's a much more demanding role.

So after speaking about the unfortunate technical issues and blunders.....the show itself.


I was really looking forward to the show....and i enjoyed it. But i don't think the production is very good. I feel it could have been a winner if it had some more money behind it and a better set of creatives. The set was embarrassing at times, the choreography just really poor and basically at times the show seemed to have no actual direction behind it. The sound was better than i thought it would be after the reports but still pretty poor. I'm pretty sure that one set of costumes were some white shirts with hearts drawn on in marker pen. I had issues with the ensemble because they all looked straight out of drama school, they just looked and felt too inexperienced and young, it didn't seem right to me. I don't think the book is the strongest, there were some nice jokes and topical references in there, there were things the audience could get behind but it didn't take itself seriously one moment but then did the next and then seemed too cheesy.

However...the main cast were great and really the main positive about the show. This was my first time seeing Kerry and i really liked her. After the reports about her voice i didn't expect to find it as strong as i did. She was great. I really enjoyed the performance of the daughter, can't remember what her name was. I though Natalie Mcqueen was the stand out as Hatter. Great performance and voice, she stole every scene she was in. Again sorry i've forgot his name ut another stand out was the Chesire Cat who was great fun.

To me the second act is a lot stronger than the first, i think it contains the better songs and is tighter and just better all round, visually as well with some different and more interesting sets. After the first i really wasn't sure about the show at all but the 2nd act made me feel a lot more positive. I enjoyed most of the songs. Mostly all of Hatters songs, Through the looking glass, the Hatter/Alice duet that i LOVED, and Finding Wonderland.

I just think to be honest that it's a shame that this isn't a better production of the show as i think actually the show itself is quite good, it's really the creative and technical side of things that let the show down and make it seem poorer than it really could be. I think the on stage talent deserves better really. That said, i did enjoy it overall.

I noticed flicking through the programme last night a lot of the creatives are not the ones initially announced for this. In particular the adaption writer isn't who was initially announced and i'm pretty sure the set designer is different too. What with the mention here the sound designer was only hired at short notice and the mystery surrounding Carolyn Maitland departing the show, it's a show you sense has gone through a lot of troubles and obstacles/changes before getting on stage, which i think you can tell.

..Everyone's a critic!

well this may not be the definitive stage version of the Alice story. Have you seen any excellent ones, that Carroll might recognise? I loved the Birmingham Rep/West Yorkshire one from a few years ago, and a stunning one at the Colchester Mercury in my youth, but my favourite probably goes to the Royal Ballet's current production.

Listening to a naughty audience capture of this. Oh, it's in an English accent.

I guess it's adaptable to whatever locale. I guess it makes MORE sense if they were to modernize Alice in Wonderland. I just didn't expect it.

Her and Kerry are sharing the role.

She is doing the next few venues of it, although she also isn't doing the matinées. If she was I would have been tempted to have a day trip to York in a few weeks time.