Alice falls into a rock-and-roll ‘Wonderland’

The script and characters are a far cry from those of Lewis Carroll’s 1865 novel. In place of the Alice that Carroll created, this adaptation features a 7-year-old indie rocker, while the iconic Cheshire Cat, silent and grinning, laughs in 50 different ways.

The musical is a new take on a classic, but one that Jason Brantman, who co-directs the production with his wife, Fiona Santos, said the Junior Ensemble is ready for.

“I think the show is so different, it’s so rock ‘n’ roll, and the characters are a very different interpretation of the original, that it didn’t seem hard for them,” Brantman said of the Junior Ensemble’s approach to the material. “It seemed exciting for them to create the new version, rather than relying on ones that they’d seen before. They were really gung-ho to create their own.”

Brantman added that, at the outset of rehearsals, each actor received a “character sheet,” filled front and back with questions about their character, 90 percent of which were be answered in the script. The actors had to answer the questions to help establish who they were playing.

In an interview one week before opening night, the cast of “Wonderland” described the energy around the production.

“Everyone here in the show is crazy — if you’ve seen tech week with this group of kids, we’re something,” Hastings eighth-grader Livy Somma said. Somma plays The Unicorn. “It’s really fun because you get to be just random facial expressions, you get to laugh a ton, it’s just a blast. Even if you’re not in numbers, it’s still fun to watch because everything is so top-notch, the energy is always up.”

In the role of Alice is Ardsley seventh-grader Piya Karthikeyan, who reflected that while she has some qualities in common with her character, “There are also things that I don’t exactly share.”

The cast members noted that preparing for the production had been enjoyable, and that it is a departure from the traditional “Alice in Wonderland.”

“This is very different in that it’s rock, really,” Ardsley eighth-grader Lewis Schoenberg said. Schoenberg plays the King of Hearts. “It brings a nice surprise for the audience, too, because... I think everyone has seen Wonderland.”

Schoenberg added that the ubiquity of Carroll’s original story made this stage adaptation more impactful.

To that end, Hastings eighth-grader Juliet Tetrault added, “In the old play each person had their own interaction with Alice, but it was only them and Alice. But in this musical, we all kind of come together toward the end.”

Tetrault plays the Cheshire Cat, a role for which she had to come up with those various laughs, each intended to express a particular emotion. Somma noted that in the “notes” section of the script, there is an entire page detailing what each laugh means.

When asked how she achieved that range, Tetrault offered a simple methodology: “Just sitting in my room, laughing.” 

While the Junior Ensemble learned about character development and performance for “Wonderland,” Brantman noted that there is an added discovery that he hopes the cast members make.

“There’s a lot of new folks in ensemble here, younger folks too, and that’s always exciting because they’re learning this for the first time, they’re getting to feel what it’s like to be in theater, and they’re finding their people, too,” Brantman said. “I was just reminded the other day of how special it is to find your group of people that understands you, and I think a lot of theater kids feel in school like there’s not that same group that understands them, and then they come to the theater and are like, ‘Oh, this is the group.’”

“Wonderland: Alice’s Rock and Roll Adventure” will be performed at Hastings High School, 1 Mount Hope Blvd. To purchase tickets, visit BroadwayTraining.com/Tickets. Tickets cost $22 for adults, $18 for students and senior citizens. For tickets purchased at the door, there will be a $3 surcharge.