REVIEW: Area Stage's 'Alice' Is Lively Adventure -Miami Artzine

Thursday, October 10, 2024

Aaron Krause, theater critic

John Mazuelos as The Mad Hatter. (Photo by Giancarlo Rodaz)

Visionary and versatile live theater artist Giancarlo Rodaz’s new immersive and audience participatory stage adaptation of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” is a piece for our time.

Indeed, with its unpredictability and darkness, Rodaz’s version reflects the uncertainty and anxiety we face in today’s often-dark and scary world – a world not unlike Wonderland, at least to the titular character. Sudden darkness and repeated banging on a door, for instance, may unsettle you. And, be aware, there's a chance you'll get wet.

A costumed cast member in Area Stage's production. (Photo by Giancarlo Rodaz)

But at the same time, the adaptation, running through Sunday, Oct. 20 in an energetic Area Stage Company (ASC) world premiere production, doesn’t lose sight of the fact that “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” is a children’s story. Undoubtedly, there’s enough of a playful vibe to satisfy youngsters and young ones at heart. In fact, at times you’ll feel like a young child with other kids much like attending story time at your local library.

The roughly 70-minute production without intermission plays out in a spacious room within ASC’s black box and studio space in the Shops at Sunset Place in South Miami.

The fact that the show is unpredictable not only reflects today’s anxiety and uncertainty but should keep audiences attentive – you just don’t know what will happen next. And if you’re the type of audience member who doesn’t want to participate, no problem. You can simply observe and you won't be judged.

Rodaz’s adaptation, described as “part party game, part escape room, and part play” takes audiences into a space that looks like some type of art/music room. In particular, paint looks like it’s peeling from walls and a piano rests in one corner. In another area of the space, a turf-like surface graces the ground, perfect for a croquet game.

Even the lighting instruments appear party-ready. The instruments move while changing hues from red to blue.

“Have you guessed the riddle yet?” a man wearing a black coat asks. It’s hard not to be curious after hearing this question.

The Queen of Hearts (Katie Duerr) is in no mood to party. (Photo by Giancarlo Rodaz)

Soon, characters with whom you may be familiar enter the room -- The Queen of Hearts, the titular character, The Mad Hatter, Mock Turtle, Caterpillar, Cheshire Cat, White Rabbit.

Of course, if you’re a fan of English author and poet Lewis Carroll’s beloved story “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” these fictional folks will be familiar to you. If you’re a newbie to the story about young Alice, you may feel lost at times, like her.

So, for newcomers, background information may help.

Greta Hicks as Alice and John Mazuelos as The Mad Hattter. (Photo by Giancarlo Rodaz)

In Carroll’s imagination, Alice is a young girl who falls asleep in a meadow and dreams of following a White Rabbit down a rabbit hole. She lands in Wonderland, a place with numerous strange creatures and bizarre adventures. They include attending a tea party with the Mad Hatter and the March Hare, as well as playing croquet with a flamingo and hedgehogs. And yes, in Rodaz’s adaptation, you can play along.

During her time in Wonderland, Alice not only experiences such adventures, but wrestles with questions of identity, reality, and the nature of imagination.

The titular character is full of wonder and uncertainty while in Neverland. And in ASC’s production of “Alice and the Mad Tea Party,” cast member Greta Hicks deftly captures these qualities. Hicks, a performer with long reddish hair and bluish eyes, looks lost and confused as her character wanders around the strange land.

John Mazuelos as The Mad Hatter (standing) and Katie Duerr as the Queen of Hearts at the piano. (Photo by Giancarlo Rodaz)

Hicks leads a cast of performers with whom you may be familiar if you frequent ASC’s productions. Specifically, in addition to Hicks, John Mazuelos plays The Mad Hatter and Mock Turtle, Katie Duerr portrays The Queen of Hearts and Caterpillar, Maggie McNeil steps into the skin of The Dormouse and Cheshire Cat, Frank Montoto becomes The March Hare and Dodo, Tico Chiriboga plays White Rabbit, and child performer Antoinette Jane Mass steps into Young Alice’s shoes.

Each performer creates a distinct and interesting character and appears to have a blast playing make believe. In addition to creating the adaptation, Rodaz helmed the production, directing it with playful, even rowdy energy.

Rodaz, who has received well-deserved acclaim for his immersive productions, also designed the set, lighting, and sound.

In addition to performing, Duerr also worked behind the scenes as musical director (you’ll likely recognize some songs, such as “Jump in The Line” (“Shake Senora”) from “Beetlejuice.” And who among us isn’t familiar with “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” an English lullaby featuring lyrics from an early 19th-century English poem. The Queen of Hearts plays the latter song on the piano while the others sing. It’s a nice change of pace from constantly hearing her demanding “Off with (his or her) head!”

For the most part, the queen doesn’t appear to be in a party mood, despite the fact that she sports a party hat. The hat, as well as her white and black outfit, are among the colorful and varied costumes that Sofia Ortega designed.

Promotion for the production asks, “Are You Mad Enough to Join?” Go and enjoy – and don’t worry; and everyone leaves with their heads intact in spite of the queen’s demands.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: “Alice and the Mad Tea Party.”
WHEN: Through Sunday, Oct. 20. Show times are 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. Thursdays-Sundays.
WHERE: The Shops at Sunset Place (above Barnes and Noble), 5701 Sunset Drive in South Miami
TICKETS: $50.
INFORMATION: Go to www.areastage.org or call (305) 666-2078

REVIEW: "Area Stage Invites You to Step Into Wonderland" -Miami New Times

By Juan Antonio Barquin

October 10, 2024

Stepping into the world of Alice and the Mad Tea Party, Area Stage's latest production, is just as disorienting at the top as Alice's adventures in Wonderland must have felt. Audiences are escorted into a space that looks more like an expansive escape room than a stage, littered with party cups and an instrumental version of Earth, Wind & Fire's "September" playing while clearly costumed actors coax them into taking a seat — or a stand — anywhere.

Disorientation is only momentary, though, as soon enough, Greta Hicks' Alice takes center stage by standing on a table to deliver the tale of how she got to this precise moment. From there, Giancarlo Rodaz's show becomes a relatively straight adaptation of Lewis Carroll's novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, albeit one that has taken a few liberties with structure and presentation. It still features Alice falling down a rabbit hole, meeting all kinds of characters, and facing a number of predicaments, but rather than stick to the script in following Alice through her own adventures, the play chooses to bring the audience into itself, sometimes for the explicit purpose of moving things along and other times purely for the glee of it.

This kind of interactivity is part of what Area Stage bills as "a thrillingly interactive and rowdy night of theater," resulting in two modes. There's a sincere delight that comes with being asked to dance and race alongside these characters or even being handed a chalkboard when asked to participate in a jury for the Queen of Hearts. The kind of improvisation that requires audience participation also results in a few dead moments where everyone awkwardly tries to navigate that very engagement. Those beats are few and far between and will more than likely change depending on the audience. Some may choose to sit in a corner and try to avoid engagement, while others embrace it, but they still reveal the limitations of interactivity.

Greta Hicks as Alice and Frank Montoto as the March Hare in Alice and the Mad Tea Party

Photo by Giancarlo Rodaz

Alice and the Mad Tea Party's interactivity does, however, bring new life to an oft-told tale in little ways, whether that's being dressed up like the suite of cards at a croquet tournament or being lectured by the Mock Turtle and asked to be his assistant. Beyond that incorporation of the audience, witnessing the ways Rodaz chooses to present some of the story's more fantastical elements is nothing short of delightful. Take Alice's size changes upon eating or drinking. Her shrinking is as simple as having one actress be swapped out with a child actor, appearing from just under a table as though transformation has truly happened. When she becomes a giant, gorgeously made puppet hands come through doors and corridors for all to witness. This kind of moment, as well as one space transforming into another, enlivens the text and makes all the tiny technical issues — like a soundscape that sometimes overwhelms spoken dialogue — easy to ignore.

Other translations of the text to life are less inspired but no less amusing, like the costuming for the Queen of Hearts, exquisitely played by Katie Duerr, being something of a lampoon of Eddie Redmayne's idiotic Cabaret fits or the Caterpillar (also played by Duerr) simply being stripped down and depicted as a snotty French critic at a café. To their credit, the ensemble embodies each and every one of these characters with the same passion, with even those with less showy roles, like Maggie McNeil as the Dormouse and providing the vocals for a Cheshire Cat that exists exclusively on a television screen, getting to shine. John Mazuelos (as the Mad Hatter and Mock Turtle), Frank Montoto (as the March Hare and Dodo), and Tico Chiriboga (as the White Rabbit), alongside Duerr and McNeil, are all comfortable bouncing between roles and diving straight into character, but the show's constant comes in Alice.

Maggie McNeil as the Dormouse in Alice and the Mad Tea Party

Photo by Giancarlo Rodaz

To that point, there's something endlessly captivating about Greta Hicks' Alice, who doesn't lean into naivety and instead fixates on her endless curiosity and skepticism in the face of the inane. There's as much of a wandering soul as there is a determined young woman in there, and the few beats where Hicks is swapped out with Antoinette Jane Mess (who plays her as both a "young" self and a "small" self in a charmingly minor role) showcase how well the two fit together as one.

At a breezy 75 minutes, Giancarlo Rodaz's Alice and the Mad Tea Party is a short but sweet time at the theater. Its deceptively simple staging gives way to all the imagination and playfulness it requires and deserves. Those who are willing to give into its general ridiculousness — which, considering it's an Alice's Adventures in Wonderland adaptation, you should be — will find exactly the kind of scrappy, charming play they expect.

Alice and the Mad Tea Party. Through Sunday, October 20, at Area Stage, 5701 Sunset Dr., Ste. 286, Miami; 305-666-2078; areastage.com. Tickets cost $65. Performances occur at 6 and 8 p.m. Thursday through Sunday.