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Bonkers White Rabbit
Musical Deserves To Succeed!
Neil Eckersley
presents
Wonderland
Sunderland Empire
Until Saturday 4th
February 2017
Based
very loosely on the characters in Lewis Carroll’s Alice Through The Looking
Glass, Wonderland makes its English debut in Sunderland this week. A really
strong cast present an engaging, yet totally bonkers story. The show has some
rough edges but makes up for them with some real heart. The resultant tale is
firmly positive about strong female identity and that is to be applauded.
The
show opens in the grey real world. Recent divorcee Alice (Kerry Ellis) lives in
a block of flats with her daughter Ellie (Naomi Morris). Alice is having a
meltdown on her birthday as her former husband has announced that he is to
remarry, her car is stolen making her late for work and she ends up getting
sacked from her job. By contrast her daughter is mature and stable. Living
below her is council worker Jack (Stephen Webb) who wishes Alice would acknowledge him.
Their
world takes an unexpected turn when the White Rabbit (Dave Willetts) appears.
First Ellie gives chase and finally Alice and Jack follow and they find
themselves in the colourful Wonderland. Mayhem and chaos follow. The Queen of Hearts (Wendi Peters) wants to try and
execute someone, but she wants to finish her tarts first. The Dormouse (Divine
Cresswell) wants to sleep while Tweedle Dum (Benjamin McMillan) and Tweedle Dee
(Benjamin Yates) strut their stuff around.
Where
the show is clever is that the role of the Mad Hatter is given to the wonderful
Natalie McQueen. She is aided by the March Hare (Ben Kerr). Meanwhile the
Cheshire Cat (Dominic Owen) is given a stand-up comic type role bordering on
the style of Russell Brand.
The
early notices have mentioned the Frank Wildhorn’s music and Jack Murphy’s
lyrics. It is true some songs stand up better than others, but that is often
true in most musicals. The vocal talents of the cast really make the songs
work. Natalie McQueen is superb in the opening number of act 2 I Will Prevail. She is joined by Kerry
Ellis in the fab This Is Who I Am. In
fact Kerry Ellis features in a number of delightful songs. Wendi Peters, Dave Willets, Kayi
Ushe, Stephen Willetts and Dominic Owen all have the chance to show off their
singing ability, backed by a very strong ensemble. We loved Stephen Webb is his boyband moments too. It is no Les Mis or Phantom but the music
helps to let the story of the show flow. I’d even go as far as to say that my
son was disappointed not to see a cast recording for sale on the merch stand
afterwards.
The
book by Gregory Boyd & Jack Murphy has been given a UK update by Robert Hudson.
This results in references to Ofsted and the like.
It
feels like the show will, if it is given a chance to grow and develop, become a
popular one. Director Lotte Wakeham may still have some work to do to polish
elements of this show further. However Andrew Riley’s set design and Nick
Richings lighting design serve the show well.
We
are big fans of live music and it is great to see 8 musicians creating the
sound for the show. Musical Director Alex Parker ran a tight ship in the pit.
So
we have a show in which Alice (and Jack and Ellie) find themselves – thanks to
a journey to Wonderland. It is a family friendly show and running at 2 hours
plus interval, it doesn’t overstay its welcome. A strong cast combine to make
the show a delight which we really enjoyed.
It is a very pleasant way to start the year at the Sunderland Empire.
…and
did we mention it was bonkers?
Review
by Stephen
Oliver
Music
by Frank Wildhorn
Lyrics
by Jack Murphy
Book
by Jack Murphy & Gregory Boyd
UK
adaptation Ava Eldred
Directed
by Lotte Wakeham
Musical
Supervision by Jason
Howland
Choreography
by Lucie Pankhurst
Set
Design by Andrew Riley
Costume
Design by Grace Smart
Lighting
Design by Nick Richings
On The Web:
Website: http://www.wonderlandthemusical.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/wonderlandstage
Tickets:
Tickets on sale now and available in person at
the Box Office on High
Street West,
from the Ticket Centre on 0844 871 3022* or online at www.ATGtickets.com/Sunderland*
*Calls cost 7p per
minute plus your standard network charge. Booking fees may apply to telephone
and online bookings
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