ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND Opens 12/4 at The Sherman Playhouse

On Friday, December 4 at 8:00 p.m., The Sherman Playhouse will premiere the family-friendly Holiday production of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The show runs for four weeks.

This whimsical retelling of Lewis Carroll's novel has been adapted for the stage by Southbury playwright Christopher Scott Rich. The enduring classic tells the tale of a little girl who falls down a rabbit hole into a nonsensical world with countless strange creatures, including a high-strung Queen of Hearts and a tap dancing Mad Hatter. Confusion piles upon confusion until Alice wakes with a start, and she can only wonder if it was all a daydream.

"This is an incredibly unique look at Alice in Wonderland," said director and musical director Beth Bonnabeau of New Milford. "It tells the timeless story that many of us know by incorporating a vast range of musical styles from calypso to country-western to rock to rap. It's something that audience members both old and young will enjoy as a departure from the typical holiday-themed shows."

"We're thrilled to open a musical staged version of 'Alice' on the 150th anniversary of the novel's first publication," said producer Robin Frome. "We have a fantastic script and music from an great local playwright [Christopher Scott Rich], and an incredible large and talented cast of both adults and younger actors. I can't think of anything that would be more engaging to a family audience than to see this very new and polished look at a classic, 'through the looking glass' if you'll pardon the pun."

The production features a large cast of local actors: Faith Flanagan (Ridgefield), Steven and Daisy Stott (Bethel), Missy and Spencer Hanlon (Brookfield), Susan Abrams (Warren), Nicole Kalitsas, Aubrey and Talia Hankin (all Newtown), Chris Marker and Sheila Echevarria (both Sherman), Tyler Holm and Jackie Decho Holm, Savannah and Cheyenne Brown, Phair Haldin, Ryan Fitzgerald, Robin Frome, and Jack and Josephine Harding (all New Milford).

In addition to Bonnabeau and Frome, the show's production crew includes lighting designer Al Chiapetta, costume designer Terry Hawley, choreographer Missy Hanlon and stage manager Josephine Harding.

The novel, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, was published in 1865 by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. The book has never been out of print and has been translated into at least 174 languages and adapted into too many forms of media to count.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland runs December 4,5,6 11,12,13 18,19,20 26,27. Curtain time is 8:00 p.m. Fridays & Saturdays, with 2:00 p.m. Sunday matinees on December 6,13, 20 and 27. Tickets for all shows are $22 for adults and $11 for children 12 and under.

On Thursday, December 3, all patrons are invited to attend a "Half-Price Preview Night" at 8:00 p.m. where all tickets are only $11. Students may see any performance for only $11 if they pay in cash only at the door and carry a valid student ID. Students may not make reservations in advance for a performance.

Reservations can be made online at www.shermanplayers.org or by calling the box office at (860) 354-3622.
The Sherman Playhouse is a non-Equity theatre company located at 5 Route 39 North (next to the firehouse) in Sherman, CT.

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