Alice By Heart

Alice By Heart is playing at MCC theatre located at 511 West 52nd Street. It runs ninety minutes with no intermission. It closes on April 7, 2019.

Steven Sater wrote the book and lyrics. He won a Tony Award in 2007 for Spring Awakening.

Edward Pierce is the scenic designer. He was nominated for a Tony Award in 2018 for Angels Over America.

Paloma Young is the costume designer. She won a Tony Award in 2013 for Peter and the Starcatcher and was nominated for a Tony Award in 2017 for Natasha, Pierre and The great Comet of 1812.

The time and place London, 1941, an underground station-a makeshift shelter from the Blitz of World ll and, one golden afternoon in Wonderland.

Alice (Molly Gordon) is happy when she hears her friend Alfred (Colton Ryan) voice. Red Cross Nurse Grace McLean) and Dr. Butridge (Andrew Kober) won’t let her see him. He was found under a rubble of bricks and has tuberculous. She get distraught when they won’t let her seen him. They don’t expect him to live. When she sneaks in to see him her face lights up. She encourages him to fight to live. He’s all she has. Alfred tells her to let him go.

Alice goes back to her cot and rips some of the pages of the book she is holding Alice in Wonderland. The Red Cross nurse pulls the book away from her and throws it away. She decides she will go into the tunnel like in the book and be in Wonderland.

There different scenes are with different characters from Alice in Wonderland. At times it’s hard to know who the character is in the book and what they are trying to tell us. Then other times you can.

Molly Gordon and Nikki Obi-Melekwe have beautiful voices. Heath Saunder as the caterpillar and Gracie McLean as the Red Cross nurse and Queen of Hearts were outstanding. The cast was great. Hats off to the director Jessie Nelson.

Choreography (Rick and Jeff Kuperman), Costumes (Paloma Young) and Scenic Design (Edward Pierce) was amazing.

The story is confusing. It left me empty. Maybe you can understand it, I didn’t!

Review by Rozanna Radakovich.

Photos by Annazor.

To read a candid interview with the cast, scroll down to the left for photos. Click on photos for this and other shows.