Opening July 31st, CCT presents Alice the Musical at the East County Performing Art Center with some of San Diego’s finest creators. Written by composer/writer Jon Lorenz, choreographed by Invisible Children’s Jason Russell and performed by award winning musicians, comedians, recording artists, and dancers.
Alice the Musical parallels the theme of Lewis Carroll’s famous story, Alice in Wonderland, the whimsical tale of a girl whose curiosity propels her into a wild world of imagination, now with a fresh and enthralling approach.
According to Lorenz (Director) and Russell (Choreographer), Alice, as an idea and a production, has been in the works for about ten years. In 2005, Lorenz was selected to showcase Alice at The Disney ASCAP Musical Theatre Workshop which proved to be an important step in the creation process. According to Lorenz, “At the Disney Studio in Burbank, we performed sections of the show in a staged reading format for an audience and panel of Creative Professionals,” including prolific composer Steven Schwartz, who wrote the internationally acclaimed musical Wicked, as well as Prince of Egypt, Godspell, and contributed to the musical Enchanted winning him three Grammy Awards, three Academy Awards and six Tony Award nominations.
After receiving positive and enthusiastic feedback, Lorenz restructured the story to connect with modern day audiences. This account of Alice is one of identity and uses themes from the high school experience as a catalyst to discuss the way society shapes us as a whole. Alice is a student on the brink of graduation and more importantly, the rest of her life. “Alice is a present day girl with present day girl problems: boys, school, and identity.” Says Lorenz, “While characters in Carroll’s version were based on royalty of the day, our characters are based on America's version of royalty: So instead of Queens, Kings, Duchesses, and Knights, we have Rock Stars, TV personalities, and superheroes.”
Scenes like “Song to Comfort You” performed by Ryan Hansen, long time actor who’s work as Dick Casablancas on the hit TV show, Veronica Mars, brings a hilarious portrait of vanity and false chivalry found in so many corners of popular media and well, life.
Other characters, like Piz and Chaz, who charmingly double as the two stooges Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, played by Brad Davis and Sean O’Donnell from the award winning band Reeve Oliver charm us with witty quips; and the wailing front woman of Red Queen, Alice’s favorite band, is performed by Erika Jermasek, who has just finished her own jazz record with a voice that never fails to impress.
Alice the Musical runs Thursday, July 31st through August 10th at the East Country Performing Arts Center. For more info visit www.cyt.org.
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