"WONDERLAND"
at the Marquis Theater...
We were hoping for more....
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I wish I could write that "Wonderland" is wonderful. Inspired by Lewis Carroll's enduring classics "Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass," it certainly started with first-rate source material. And its cast includes some mighty talented people, including seasoned veteran Karen Mason, who's always worth seeing, and an immensely appealing young actress, Carly Rose Sonenclar. Both make their moments count. As do others in the cast, to varying degrees. But the script and score have problems that the best actors in the world can't overcome.
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The heart of any musical is the music. And much of the music Frank Wildhorn has created for this show, alas, isn't all that good. Too many of his numbers sound too much alike. He builds simple melodies, using the same chords. And seems to think that periodically having the performers sing with greater urgency, at the maximum possible volume, will create excitement. But the sort of power-ballad singing he favors--not prompted by genuine emotion--feels gimmicky. His actors, singing intensely, seem like so many contestants competing on "American Idol."
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The show, all too often, feels mechanical and contrived. You feel everyone laboring to produce effects. And forgetting that all great fairy tales have heart. This show is at its best in the relatively few moments when it lets real emotions, tender and simple, surface. There were some quiet litltle honest moments (near the start and near the end) that I much preferred to the hard-hitting songs with which Wildhorn often bombarded us. A show like this should have charm, it should have whimsy. It should draw us to it. Instead, I often felt like I was being assaulted, pushed away.
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The costumes by Susan Hilferty, whose many credits include "Wicked," "Spring Awakening," and "Into the Woods," are spectacular: colorful, imaginative, witty. You couldn't ask for better costumes.
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| Karen Mason (as the "Queen of Hearts") and cohorts. (Photo by Paul Kolnick.) |
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The costumes here are wholly satisfying--as were, of course, the costumes in "Wicked." And I can almost imagine the producers of this show saying, "Look what a gold mine 'Wicked' has been. Everyone likes that modern riff on a classic children's tale--'The Wizard of Oz.' We can have the same sort of success with 'Wonderland'--our modern riff on 'Alice in Wonderland.'" And hiring the costume designer who did "Wicked" was a wise choice.
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| Kate Shindle as "The Mad Hatter" |
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It's a pity they didn't also hire the folks who wrote the script and score for "Wicked" (Winnie Holzman and Stephen Schwartz); maybe things would have turned out better. But this show, at its best, feels like a second-rate knock-off of "Wicked."
I had trouble trying to stay engaged in the book by Gregory Boyd (who also directed) & Jack Murphy, and the songs by Wildhorn & Murphy; they didn't do enough to make me care about the characters.
I might note that the second act of "Wonderland" was more rewarding than the first act. It felt clearer, less cluttered, with some better songs, and moments of honest sentiment. But not enough to redeem the night.
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Karen Mason is quite wonderful throughout the show, as is young Carly Rose Sonenclar (who is that utter rarity--a totally unaffected, natural, and appealing child actor). Mason (playing the Queen of Hearts) gets the night's best number, "Off With Their Heads." It aspires to be an big, broad old-style eleven-o'clock number, and while it isn't quite good enough, she gives it her all. She has such a big, warm, flexible voice, and such innate charm on stage, it's a pity she doesn't get more to do--and better material--in this show. But she imbues every scene she is in with a bit of stardust.
I'm always happy to see Jose Llana in a show; but he doesn't get a chance to show what he can really do here. Kate Shindle has the thankless task of playing the Mad Hatter (written to be a shrill, shrewish, unattractive personality in this show).
Janet Decal is pleasant enough as the show's leading character, a middle-aged woman who finds herself trapped in Wonderland.
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| I must say, I didn't really like the idea that the protagonist of "Wonderland" is a middle-aged woman who's been having problems in her marriage. A key part of the appeal of the original "Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass" books was that the protagonist was an innocent young child. That enabled children everywhere, caught up in the story, to relate to the protagonist's experiences. But the creators of this show don't seem to connect very well to Lewis Caroll's world.
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In fact, the Playbill never so much as acknowledges Lewis Carroll (although they find room to credit by name more than a dozen producers and associate producers of this $16 million show), and that is an outrageous oversight.
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The Playbill ought to at least give credit to Carroll for creating the original characters. (And maybe include a bio.) Without him, after all, there'd be no show.
And, so long as we're on the subject of credits... the program ought to also credit John Tenniel, the famed original illustrator of Carroll's two "Alice" books; Tenniel's illustrations, projected upon the curtain, are the very first thing we see as we enter the Marquis Theater.
And, truth be told, those original John Tenniel drawings still have more charm than anything that this show's modern-day creative team has brought to the production.
Incidentally, it astonishes me that $16 million has been spent on this production; I guess $16 million doesn't go as far as it used to.
-- Rob Adams
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| Janet Dacal with Jose Llana, Darren Ritchie, Edward Staudenmayer, and E. Clayton Cornelious. ("Wonderland" photos by Paul Kolnick.) |
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