A fittingly grand production for the final season at the State Theatre before its three-year renovation, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland makes a welcome return, sparkling anew with a fresh cast of dancers taking in the myriad quirky characterful roles.
Originating at Royal Ballet in 2011, Christopher Wheeldon’s fantastical work is expertly designed to surprise and delight. This third local season is a chance to appreciate the finer details of Wheeldon’s witty, wondrous work. A cornucopia of characters populate the idyllic opening scene, each foreshadowing the quirky role they are to become in Wonderland. There are subtle recurring themes to the choreography, including pointing, running, and ticking clock hands.
From a scenario by Nicholas Wright, Wheeldon has worked in close collaboration with his accomplished designers to craft a sequence of loosely connected vignettes, each sweetly absurd and delightfully whimsical. The threads converge for the courtroom house-of-cards climax, each character completely recognisable thanks to distinctive design and sterling performances.
The Duchess’ pepper and pig-laden kitchen may be the darkest sequence. This is later offset by a gorgeous waltz of the flowers, which features a charmingly playful pas de deux for Alice and her Knave of Hearts. This is contrasted again by the sharp black, white, and red precision of the massed ensemble deck of cards.
Subtly melodious, composer Joby Talbot’s neatly cohesive score is eminently danceable and yet also conveys the sense of an atmospheric film score, conjuring tingling suspense, wondrous magic, and festive ceremony. Maestro Jonathan Lo conducts the redoubtable Orchestra Victoria in a suitably splendiferous performance, expressively bringing out all manner of colourful highlights.
Bob Crowley’s ingenious designs boldly fill the space, flowing from moment to moment to capture the dreamlike story. Design is calibrated to allow the spectacle to ramp up, culminating in a vivid royal garden and full scale house of cards courtroom.
The combination of Crowley’s scenic designs and costumes, Natasha Katz’s lighting, Toby Olié’s puppets, and Gemma Carrington and Jon Driscoll’s projections is such that the stage picture is never the same for more than a few short minutes. By the end of the first of three acts, more design elements have passed by than might usually be seen in a full length ballet.
Olié’s puppets are a standout of the design, cleverly crafted and confidently manipulated, largely by the dancers. A Victorian illustration come to life, the sweetly grinning Cheshire Cat floats and reassembles in mystical style. Alarmed at being used as croquet mallets, pink flamingo puppets take on a life of their own. A combined costume and puppet highlight comes at the appearance of the full body of the caterpillar: delicate legs en pointe sport diamanté-encrusted pointe shoes.
Lovely in lilac, Benedicte Bemet takes on the role she was born to play as wide-eyed ingenue Alice. Given the spectacle of the production, the depth of Bemet’s talent is shown when she dances on stage alone, holding some 2000 audience members in as much awe as any massed ensemble sequence or special scenic effect. Bemet expertly brings to life all that Wheeldon gives Alice to play out through dance, from shrinking to growing to crying a river of tears. Of these moments, Bemet’s amusing portrayal of the psychotropic effect of the Caterpillar’s piece of mushroom is particularly delightful.
Joseph Caley brings a suitably boyish energy to Alice’s partner Jack, the pair beaming radiantly in each of their gently adorable pas de deux.
Beginning as the forbidding Mother, Robyn Hendricks commands with imperious flair as the vainglorious Queen of Hearts. Act three brings a fabulous pastiche of The Sleeping Beauty’s “Rose Adagio,” performed with wickedly hilarious precision by Hendricks. Special mention of the very game Tart Suitors, Saranja Crowe, Jeremy Hargreaves, Mason Lovegrove, and Misha Barkidjija.
Perennially boyish principal artist Chengwu Guo is characteristically nimble and pillowy light as the frisky, if fretful, White Rabbit.
Quality casting continues through numerous featured roles. Legend Stephen Heathcote reprises his role as the hen-pecked King of Hearts.
In the crowd-pleasing role of the Mad Hatter, George-Murray Nightingale delivers crisp, complex tap steps. Nathan Brook is hypnotically sinuous as The Caterpillar. Ben Davis brings a delectable campness to the full blooded Duchess.
Larissa Kiyoto-Ward loses herself in the maniacal, cleaver-wielding role of the Cook. Timothy Coleman beams with loveable fluffiness as the March Hare. Drew Hedditch (Fish) and Yichuan Wang (Frog) imbue their dance with abundant characterful flair.
As lavish as many a Broadway musical, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is guaranteed to astonish young audiences and reward return visitors with fresh delights.
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland plays at State Theatre, Arts Centre Melbourne until 26 March 2024. For tickets, click here.
The Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland cast list can be read online.
Footnotes:
Warmly received by the opening night audience, artistic director David Hallberg noted the occasion of the final opening night before the three-year closure of the State Theatre, passing on to the audience the promise he has been given that the beloved curtain will remain.
While this production has already played Sydney, it is worth a quick note that this is the first time that Heathcote and his daughter Mia Heathcote have shared the stage as adult members of The Australian Ballet in their home town of Melbourne. Mia Heathcote transferred from Queensland Ballet at the beginning of 2024.
Befitting the colourful production, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland skips the recent compact, matte program style, furnishing a large, glossy musical theatre-style souvenir program.
Photos: Christopher Rodgers Wilson