Alice by Heart is a musical that reimagines Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in the midst of the blitz in World War 2, London (1941). The musical takes place with orphans taking refuge in an underground subway. They are survivors of the bombings that took out over 30,000 people.
Alice Spencer, a young teenager, is in the underground subway station accompanied by her dear friend Alfred. In the refuge, Alfred slowly becomes ill and isolated.
While the war carries on above them, using her imagination Alice invites Alfred to the whimsical world of Wonderland. Their favorite book since they were kids has been Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. They use this distraction to cope with the grim destructiveness of their reality.
“[The play] is really a story about how Alfred comes to terms with his illness, and how all the kids come to terms with the grief in their lives due to the tragedy of the blitz going on in London,” theater teacher Sean Blauvelt said. “How they can overcome that and move on with their lives?”
The musical uses this world of imagination to highlight the children in the subway finding love, fear, and loss for the first time, matching well with the chaos and imagination embedded in the play.
The entire play showcases how imagination can become a crucial tool for survival. It compares the dark and barren conditions of the subway and the mystical and wondrous imaginative wonderland.
“It’s a lot of fun because [the music is contemporary], we really enjoy the music. There is also a lot of movement in the storytelling, that’s been probably the most fun they’ve been having,” Blauvelt said. “I wouldn’t even call it dance, it’s more movement for the different songs, to help tell the story.”
Performed at the Clark Center on Friday, December 5th, 7:00 PM, Saturday, December 6th 7:00 PM, Sunday, December 7th, 2:00 PM, Thursday, December 11th, 7:00 PM, Friday, December 12th, 7:00 PM, and Saturday, December 13th, 7:00 PM.
General admission is 23.50$, student admission is 16.00$, and AGHS Staff is 7.00$
Written by Steven Sater and Jessie Nelson, the show blends a series of rough wartime with the magic of wonderland to reveal how stories and imagination can help survive even in the darkest scenarios.
