This production had dual casts in principal roles. In the interest of fairness to all, TASA reviewed both casts. Kym Clayton reviewed the Adventure Cast and Brian Godfrey reviewed the Wonderland Cast.
Adventure Cast
The stage musical Disney’s Alice in Wonderland Jr. is a condensed and family-friendly adaptation of the 1951 animated Disney film, to fit a younger cast and audience. It follows Alice, a curious young girl, who falls down a rabbit hole into the whimsical and nonsensical world of Wonderland. Along her journey, she encounters peculiar characters like the White Rabbit, the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, and the Queen of Hearts. Each character and setting introduces a surreal and humorous experience that challenges Alice’s understanding of logic and order. Ultimately, Alice learns to trust herself and embrace her individuality before waking up from her fantastical dream.
There are key differences between Alice in Wonderland Jr and the original Disney film. The Jr. stage version simplifies and shortens the story, multiple actors may portray Alice at different sizes to reflect her magical transformations (as is the case with the current production by The Parks Youth Theatre), there is more ensemble participation and chorus numbers. Compared to Lewis Carroll’s 1865 novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland upon which the musical is based, the stage version is more linear and less surreal than the original novel, and has a clearer narrative arc with an explicit moral or message.
At its core, Alice in Wonderland Jr. celebrates curiosity, imagination, and the importance of self-confidence. It encourages children to explore the world with wonder, to ask questions, and to remain true to themselves even when things don’t make sense. The story suggests that growing up doesn’t mean losing one’s sense of wonder. Rather, it means learning to navigate strange and unpredictable situations with courage and self-belief.
The Parks Youth Theatre production of Alice in Wonderland Jr is bright, well-paced, colourful, energetic and a celebration of childhood. There are dual casts, and the remainder of this review concentrates on the “Adventure” cast.
Director Imogen Deller-Evans has allowed every member of the the Adventure cast – there’s more than 30 of them! – to enjoy what they are doing and not be unnecessarily weighed down by what might be expected from a more mature cast. For example, noting that The Parks Theatre has audience on three sides (i.e., the acting area is almost ‘in the round’), the older members of the company understood better than the younger ones (and some were very young!) the importance of playing to all three sections and they were sufficiently skilled, in the main, to do so. Importantly, this meant they could be more easily heard and understood when not amplified.
The narrative is carried by three Alices (not one!) – all at various stages of physical development – and they are terrific. Madeleine Brooks is the mainstay and is confident and exuberant. In contrast, Evie Starr as Small Alice is delightfully carefree, and Ava Beveridge as Tall Alice is more thoughtful and sensible. Between them they adequately demonstrate Alice’s internal struggles with being logical on one hand, and simply being a child on the other.
Hayley Breeze is very entertaining as White Rabbit. She energetically uses the stage well and draws in all three sections of the audience. Her diction is excellent. Alejandro Ingram-Jimenez is wonderful as Caterpillar. He ‘inhabits’ the role and uses the superbly crafted costumes to great effect. Rebecca Gillard is suitably austere and generally unlikeable as Queen of Hearts, although Deller-Evans might have had the Queen’s courtiers react to her with greater trepidation than they did. Jack Gosling as the King of Hearts (‘let’s not forget him!) was too endearing for words and contrasted comically with Gillard. Carter Penley and Lucas Mentha were scene stealers in the roles of Tweedle Dunm and Tweedle Dee respectively. Mentha was especially clear and confident and danced with precision.
Deller-Evans has chosen a minimalist staging, with rear projections to suggest place, and simple on-stage furnishings that were used flexibly and moved around efficiently by the Adventure cast. Cloudy Davy’s vocal direction resulted in tuneful performances all round, although several ensemble choruses were not always in time with the backing music – the challenges of not having a conductor as a reference point! Liam Jackson’s lighting design was colourful and well synchronised with the action, but might have benefited with greater use of ‘spot’ lighting rather than general wash. However, the relatively small playing area and large cast likely tied his hands! Harley Campbell’s audio was adequate, but some chorus numbers were less vibrant than they might otherwise have been.
Ceri Hutton’s costume designs (and Belinda Mentha’s “sewing’) were outstanding. The cast clearly loved their costumes, and their performances were elevated as a result. Kelly Gogler’s choreography was always energetic and suited the skills of the cast. No one looked ‘uncomfortable’, especially the Flowers, the Cheshire cats, and of course the Tweedle twins!
The large audience was enchanted by the Adventure cast who celebrated curiosity, imagination, and the importance of self-confidence. For slightly less than an hour, everyone in the audience was a happy and carefree child!
Wonderland Cast
I had the pleasure of reviewing the Wonderland cast of this production and they were indeed wonderful. Apparently this was the younger of the two casts, at least as far as the Ensemble went and they were all vibrant, energetic and eager to be there and we, the audience, were just as eager for them. There’s not a lot to say about the Ensemble except that they were all little cuties who melted our hearts every time they came out (especially little Dishawn Gavasgaran). Let’s also say that after the sea creatures routine, I will never eat prawns or octopus again – they were delightful.
Katrina Alejo as Alice, Preslava Pashov as Small Alice and Anna Restall as Tall Alice were all charming and gave us an Alice that was likable, suitably puzzled at times but never precocious, as some are want to play her. All three sung beautifully.
As the always late White Rabbit, Nimithi Wickramage was a wonderful ball of energy who never stopped; Alex Carpenter as the Mad Hatter looked and performed as if he had stepped right out of the Disney version; Meri Wagland was appropriately shrewish as the Queen of Hearts, ably supported by Timmy Shaw as the wonderfully wimpy King of Hearts.
Reminding one of a very young Sammy Davis Jr, Ramon Alejo gave us an almost Bob Fosse rendition of the Caterpillar – this kid has style! Caila Barricelli, Ava Gogler, Zoe Fraser and Eva Mendes as the Flowers were all great and suitably sassy. Daisy Scarman (Tweedle Dum) and Lily Moore (Tweedle Dee) were hilarious; whilst Ava Beveridge and Charlotte Hooke presented us with two thirds of a great Cheshire Cat. But it was the third link, Oliver Cresswell who stood out as the ‘tail’ end of the Cat. This young man just shone every time he was on stage – he was a cat! (even down to doing the little paw stamping thing cats do). He’s obviously a dancer and his fluidity of movement is such to be admired. Add his facial expressions and his beautifully modulated, precise diction and this young man has the potential to go far if he so chooses.
The entire Wonderland cast gave us all pleasure and hope for the future of Australia’s Performing Arts.
