Review: ALICE Rocks Mad City!

Deep within the intimate setting of the Drury stage at the Bartell theatre, where there is arguably not a bad seat in the house, magic took place. Madison Theatre Guild presents Alice! The rock musical is described as "An all new kind of madness" and it was!

Co-written by Dan Myers and Meghan Rose, the play pits Alice (The younger portrayed fantastically by Ingrid Ebeling/ The elder portrayed with wit and sharpness by Katie Debs) against her would be antagonists in a world of magical illusion and nightmarish perspectives.

We first encounter Alice (The younger) as she is being tucked in and told a bedtime story. Her mother (Portrayed by the amazing Jessica Jane Witham) is helping her cope with a particularly tough day by telling stories about those who would be mean to her, or frighten her in some way. This sets up the entire play beautifully. Then there is tragedy, as there often is in these tales and Alice is left with only her father. (Portrayed in an appropriately meek manner by James Rowe)

When we next encounter Alice, she has grown into a very justifiably moody teenager. This is in part due to her predictably wicked step-mother (Played by the vivacious Katie Cass) and her equally predictable evil step sister (Portrayed by the talented Stephanie Frank) There is a blow up, and Alice goes off to school where she encounters obstacle after obstacle, including a scene in which she is accosted and nearly becomes a victim of sexual assault. She is saved from this by a kindly homeless woman who then transports her to A magical land.

Jessica Jane Witham portrays the enigmatic cat like character named Kitty. She introduces herself by way of song, singing, "My name is Kitty" a very Stray Cat Strut-esque song that this writer found to be very feline indeed.

As the story is weaved we encounter "The Worm (Portrayed by the strong Dan Myers, yes the co-writer) who opens up with a cool bluesy number in which he asks the pertinent question, "Who Are You?" Which becomes a common theme throughout the rest of the show. HE advises Alice "To find The Hat, The Hare and the Mouse"

The Hat (Madly portrayed by Sean Langenecker) was truly mad. Sean did an amazing job of conveying this madness both facially and bodily. This was great, because sometimes his mic wasn't working. Being opening night and I think explains some of the mishaps and technical glitches. There were a couple of times that the band overpowered the vocals. We lost some of the dialog in the scene with The Hat, The Hair (Sam Vinitsky) and the Mouse (Jordan Humpal) along with some of the lyrics, we also lost the dialog in the school scene in which Alice encounters her step-sister and two other mean girls (Janine Puleo and Andi Joyner).

In spite of the technical difficulties the script was clever and smart with great lines like "As if depression and apathy had a baby". The songs were both catchy and poignant. There was temptation and danger. By the end of the show, Alice is singing a moving ballad "Who Am I" and I am so wrapped up in the show that I have forgotten where I am. I found the end to be a bit of a nod to the 1986 classic movie "Labyrinth" which I found enduring.

The show runs through November Fifth. For Tickets to this or any other show within The Bartell Theater Community please visit their site. http://bartelltheatre.org/

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