Review: Tweed & Company Theatre's Presentation of ALICE IN WONDERLAND at the Bancroft Village Playhouse

Bad Hat’s Theatre’s Alice in Wonderland, presented by Tweed & Company Theatre, is not the same Alice you grew up with. This Alice (Colleen Furlan) is a child in grade school. Alice shows up for class with her homework assignment incomplete because she doesn’t know what to write in response to the final question, “What will you be when you grow up?” As is typical of precocious children, Alice questions everything, from the mundane to the profound.

There are two clocks on opposite ends of the classroom that each state a different time. When her teacher, Mr. C (Dave Ball), gives her extra time in class to complete the assignment, Alice questions from which clock she should begin her countdown and whether time is different from one side of the room to the other. From there, Alice tumbles down a literal rabbit hole on a journey of self discovery to find out just who she is meant to be. Alice’s classmates turn up in Wonderland as the characters we know from Lewis Carroll's novel, including the Red Queen (Eden Chiam), Tweedle Dee (Chistopher Fulton), Tweedle Dum and the Mad Hatter (both Chelsea Preston), The Cheshire Cat (Anika Venkatesh), the Caterpillar (Emry Tupper), and, of course, the ever-tardy White Rabbit (with an excellent performance by Dave Ball).

The stage design uses large props in multiple ways to make rapid set changes and keep the story moving at a good pace throughout its entire ninety-minute duration. The props also cleverly allow Alice to “grow” and “shrink” as needed without having to use screens, which is a refreshing change. The lighting (Logan Raju Cracknell) is effectively used to spotlight characters and create a sense of movement, particularly as Alice falls into the rabbit hole. Costumes (Ming Wong) are just detailed and fanciful enough to evoke the Wonderland characters, while allowing for quick changes.

Alice’s cast is talented, with palpable energy and strong chemistry, helped along by good direction (Sue Miner) and fun choreography (Cameron Carver). The music (Landon Doak and Victor Pokinko) is a bit of a mixed bag, with really catchy songs like “Curious” and “Caucus”, classy, jazzy numbers like “Jazz’cuse”, and beautiful slow burns, like “Garden” (with amazing vocals by Rosie Callaghan) and “Growing”, interspersed with more forgettable tunes. One song in particular, “Queen” performed by Chiam, was an unexpected delight, with lyrical pacing and a melody that would feel equally at home in Hamilton as in Alice in Wonderland, and this was easily the highlight of the show for me.

Alice inevitably returns to the classroom, finally able to answer Mr. C's assignment question. The show’s heartwarming message is suitable for audiences of all ages. The winner of six Dora Mavor Moore Awards, Alice in Wonderland is another shining example of the high calibre of theatre coming out of Canada these days. With just a little more development, I could see Alice doing extremely well off-Broadway, so don’t miss your chance to see this production if you can.

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