Live Theatre Review - Sol Children Theatre's Alice in Wonderland

*THIS REVIEW CONTAINS MILD SPOILERS FOR THIS PRODUCTION OF Alice in Wonderland*

Before I begin my review of Sol Children Theatre’s Alice in Wonderland, I need to give a little background:

I didn’t always love Alice in Wonderland. In fact, for a long time, I disliked it. I saw a couple of versions of it as a child that were varying degrees of weird, disturbing, confusing, and frightening. Therefore, it wasn’t until I was in high school that I saw Disney’s animated Alice (my English class watched the film in lieu of reading the book – thanks Texas education!) and fell madly – if you’ll pardon the pun - in love with the story, particularly with the Mad Tea Party.

In college, we studied Alice in one of the many literature classes I took which culminated in my English degree, but I hadn’t re-read the story since then (and I was rather unsure as to whether I had read the text in its entirety then. I had a LOT of reading for my classes. Stuff got skimmed. I have been making the effort to revisit the works that got less of my time in college, and this show was the perfect occasion to revisit Alice).

Having attended many Sol shows and knowing what kind of quality goes into them and armed with my deep love of Alice and my refreshed knowledge of the text – I finished the reread a few hours before show time – I had high hopes for this production.

My hopes were exceeded.

Even with a cast of 22 – very large for a Sol production, there was not a superfluous character. This is the first show that I’ve seen that does not have at least one adult actor, but the poise and professionalism of these child actors makes one forget that they are all school-aged.

The White Rabbit (Noah Fineman) emcees the play. He provides the necessary direction for Alice and sets up the framework for the show.

Eden Wexler opens the play as the iconic Alice. Mandy Feuerman takes on Alice in Act 2, and Zoe Alarcon plays Act 3 Alice, and Jamie Feuerman plays Real World Alice. Each actor delivers a full performance, each endowing Alice with her signature feistiness and sense of wonder.

The Tiger Lily (Olivia Shiver), the Rose (Violet Zeiders), and the Caterpillar (Faith Alfieri) are wonderfully snide in their encounters with Alice, being both helpful and not at all helpful simultaneously.

Samantha Mascaro and Kimberly Wilkinson portray the Cheshire Cat. Having two actors playing the Cheshire Cat solves some obvious staging problems for a cat who disappears at will. These two Cats were mesmerizing.

Tweedle Dum (Natalie Macador) and Tweedle Dee’s (Isabella Welch) recital of the Walrus and the Carpenter is fun and imaginative and another creative way to lose neither the exposition nor the viewer’s attention.

Also of note is the breathtaking way that Jabberwocky is incorporated into the work. To say anything more I fear would spoil what was one of the most pleasant surprises of the show and beautifully in keeping with an aspect of the original text.

As Alice is geared toward a younger audience but engaging and enjoyable for all ages, I was pleased with the ingenious ways of keeping the original texts of these beautiful poems while still keeping the audience engaged.

Chronology of the text is not adhered to – but after all, this is Wonderland and one would not expect to stand on convention. Due to time and space constraints, as well as fanciful events being translated to real life without a Walt Disney budget, some things were rearranged to ease the flow of the production. A very clever device is employed to explain these changes (and perhaps to appeal to the purists, whether they be text, animated Disney, or live-action lovers).

The most crucial element for me would be the Mad Tea Party – after all, it was this segment of Disney’s animated silliness that cemented me as a lover of Alice in Wonderland. I felt like the tea party could make or break this performance for me.

It. Was. Excellent!

I don’t want to give anything away, but The Mad Hatter (Ava Cavasos), The March Hare (Kylie Lawrence), and the Doormouse (Zoe Wexler) remain remarkably in character as the most ridiculous action takes place. Alice, too, should be praised for her ability to act and react to the script and not to the scene.

Cavasos’s Mad Hatter is neither Ed Wynne nor Johnny Depp. Rather, she brings her own charm and madness to the character and is a more accurate reflection of Carroll’s original vision than either of the former. I could watch her as the Mad Hatter all day. Congratulations and thank you for doing beautiful justice to one of my all-time favorite characters!

The Royal Cards (Amalia Hasselman, Alan Hasselman, Violet Zeiders, and Olivia Shiver) play a vital comedic role.

Rylee Siegel is poised and elegant as the Red Queen, Emma Lawrence is hilariously rumpled and frazzled as the White Queen. Brooke Hall expertly plays the Queen of Hearts with a deranged, faraway look in her eye, mercilessly sentencing all she encounters with a beheading. Addison Wexler is a comic treasure as the henpecked King of Hearts. Celia Roberts is a hilarious Duchess channeling rage and madness as well as contempt and apathy.

The play is necessarily wordy, and the actors deliver a tremendous number of lines, often at a rapid pace. Everyone handles their lines swiftly and eloquently.

I have to take a moment to praise set design (Ardean Landhuis and Kate McVay), costume (MJ Baum and Briana Earhart), and make-up (Netta Nicosia). Alice is such a magical story with such a wide variety of interpretations (after all, the text debuted in 1865 and the story has been translated from the page and reimagined for more than a century-and-a-half!) that these three elements are the things that make each new vision of Alice unique. These artistic expressions are so beautiful of their own accord and they only enhance the experience.

Whatever your experience with Alice is, I urge you to come out and see what this company has accomplished. In a black box theatre in about one hour, these youth bring to life a fanciful world full of beloved characters with the grace of pros.

Alice in Wonderland is adapted by Seth Trucks and directed by Trucks and Savannah Rootes. Alice runs from August 10 – 20 at Sol Theatre before moving to Delray Beach Children’s Garden for three special Sunset Garden Performances.

Sol Theatre is a 501(c)(3) corporation that relies on generous donors to continue to carry out its mission of bringing affordable, quality theatre to South Florida and to making theatre accessible and exciting to young people and youth actors. If this production is indicative of Sol's work, then the money invested in this non-profit is well-spent.

Alice in Wonderland
By Lewis Carroll, adapted by Seth Trucks
August 10-20
Tickets: $20/$15 for Juniors (11 and under)
For Tickets: 561-447-8829 / www.solchildren.org
Performances: Thursday, Friday & Saturday at 7 pm / Saturday and Sunday at 2 pm
Sol Theatre
3333 North Federal Highway
Boca Raton, FL 33431


August 24-26
Tickets: $20
For Tickets: Brown Paper Tickets
Performances: Sunset performances Garden Gate to open at 7pm
Delray Beach Children’s Garden
137 SW 2nd Ave
Delray Beach, FL 33444 (US)