Alice The Musical

I have to raise my hat to this small community musical and drama group who, once again, have pulled out all the stops to bring a new Christmas show to the stage at this festive time of year. As with their past shows, they have excelled themselves with this latest production of “Alice The Musical”.  And, oh boy, they certainly came up trumps with all the wonders of Wonderland! Based on the famous Lewis Carroll story, this stage version begins with an “older” Alice (Lucy Middleton) setting the scene and handing over the famous book to a younger Alice – a charming and delightful Catherine Scott - who sits beside the story’s famous creator, Charles Dodgson (Keith Spottiswoode)  making a strong story teller. As the tale unfolds, a now young, grown-up Alice (Ellie Anderson) – a brilliant characterisation – meets all the famous characters as they come to life – the White Rabbit, a bouncing Gwen Teppett; the skate boarding Caterpillar (Kester Sharp); Annie Bottoms’ outrageous Duchess; Carmen Teppett as the large grinning Cheshire Cat; the hateful “off with their head” Queen of Hearts (Vicki Bowman); Callum Taylor her meek King; Craig Nicoll’s Mock Turtle; Genevieve Jagger’ boisterous Mad Hatter; Siobhan Meldrum, the March Hare; Stuart Young’s Gryphon; and Zoe Ford as the Dormouse. The show is chock full of catchy musical songs and this kept the very young chorus energetically engaged in song and dance all evening. Producer Lynn Binnie literally brought the show to the audience when, on certain occasions, the cast “invaded” the auditorium in colourful song and dance. Special mention must go for Stuart Whyte’s superb moving backdrop projections. The production’s costumes (made by the company) were superb – the playing cards and the flamingo croquet sticks were extremely creative. This was the first time I had seen this show – and I was totally mesmerized by it all!

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