[NEohioPAL] Review of "Alice in Wonderland" at the Shaw Festival

[Bob Abelman via NEohioPAL]

Shaw Festival’s ‘Alice’ is curiouser but none the wiser



Bob Abelman

Cleveland Jewish News, The News Herald, The Morning Journal

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics



It may be one of the most published books in history, but Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” – with its literary nonsense, disorienting rhythms and fantastic characters – does not translate well to the stage.  At least, not in the  production currently on stage at the Shaw Festival.



Director Peter Hinton’s musical adaptation, which has been three years in the making, embellishes the surreptitious imagination that drives young, Victorian-era Alice’s journey into a rabbit hole and the upside-down world she encounters there.  And he does so by using state-of-the-art technology and brilliant design to create visually stimulating and often astounding images.



But the story gets blinded by the dazzling special effects, sacrificing emotional resonance for theatrical extravagance.   And then it gets blindsided by the original but mind-numbing songs by music director Allen Cole.  



For more of this review, go to www.clevelandjewishnews.com/columnists/. 
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