The annual summer feature for children at Stages St. Louis is fun for many reasons, not the least of which is watching the audience respond to live actors. Stages is offering a slick production of the Disney version of "Alice in Wonderland" this week and next at the Kirkwood Community Center, and while the Disney writing skills are not up to those of Lewis Carroll, the original author, there’s song, and dance, and some nifty performances.
And during a question period afterward, the children asked some questions that showed they were paying attention to the characters, the acting and the world around them. One audience member asked how the Caterpillar turned into a Butterfly and Monte J. Howell, who plays the role, allowed as how it was a costume design while someone else muttered, "Metamorphosis."
Then, a small boy piped up, "Was the King of Hearts on his knees?" That took the cast aback for a moment and left Shaun Sheley in a good-news, bad-news situation. The actor had to admit that yes, he was on his knees, but he also got to stand up, which obviously made him much more comfortable. Sheley plays both the March Hare and the King, but only the latter got into the curtain call.
The 50-minute production, nicely directed by Ben Nordstrom, features Alexis L. Kinney as a sparkling Alice, blonde and perky, a delightful segue from her work last month in the New Line production of "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee".
She and Howell are flashy in "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah, which dates from a 1946 Disney film, "Song of the South," and she teamed with the Golden Afternoon Girls, Violet (Kim McClay), Rose (Taylor Louderman), Petunia (Jacqueline Probst) and Lily (Taylor Pietz), all dressed and acting like the Pink Ladies from "Grease" in a rather inspid song. The children in the audience can look forward to a better reprise in a few years.
Ellen Isom’s choreography was bright when Alice worked with Tweedle Dee (Michael Baxter and Tweedle Dum (Andrew Kruep) and Brian Ogilvie was effective as the White Rabbit as he demonstrated the difficulties with his lack of promptness. Katy Tibbets was properly arrogant and foolish as the Queen of Hearts, but I found that Edward Juvier, as the Mad Hatter, lacked some of the necessary spontaneity and glee as the Mad Hatter, a pivotal role in the silly goings-on in Alice’s bedroom, which a barely satisfactory substitute for as Wonderland, a fact noted by one small member of the audience. He probably will grow up to become a critic.
Exposing children to theater is one of the best things a parent or grandparent or great-grandparent can do (I’m all three), and the Stages production of "Alice in Wonderland" is a good place to begin.
At the Kirkwood Community Center, through Aug. 16