A Dazzling Drop Down the Rabbit Hole

I took in an unusual doubleheader last night: an utterly charming performance of the Firehouse/TheatreLab co-pro “Alice: A New Musical” and a thoroughly dispiriting final episode in the Netflix series, “Marvel’s The Defenders.” The two were near mirror images: the former was surprising, delightful, and satisfying; the latter was predictable, dull, and disappointing. Lucky for me, the positive power of “Alice” was stronger than the suckitude of “The Defenders” so the night was a net boost to my spirits.

First, to dispatch with this Marvel monstronsity: my ire is fueled largely by my fondness for the antecedents. I loved Jessica Jones and Luke Cage -- both bold skews on the standard superhero dreck – and really liked most of Daredevil’s two seasons. (I’m not a completist so I left Iron Fist alone based on its critical reception.) Defenders diminished both Jones and Cage and, while it was fun to see Sigourney Weaver as the big bad, nothing was bold or imaginative about this mash-up. Secret, spooky organization with world-threatening evil plan – check; heroes thrown together uneasily into a ragtag team with much internal conflict – check; lots of nearly random fighting that made little sense and, worse, mostly has no real impact – check. And OMFG that ending. I won’t spoil anything but I will draw the comparison that it’s actually worse than the ending to “Batman v Superman,” and that’s pretty bad.

So: turning to the bright side, how about that “Alice?” The show’s been selling out and extended and for damn good reason. Director Adam Ferguson has assembled a cast of stunning talent and put them to work in service of a joyful-but-not-without-angst take on the classic Wonderland adventure. There are many aspects of Ferguson’s work to laud: from a set (also by Ferguson) that makes great use of the nooks and crannies in TheatreLab’s Basement venue to the clever, thoughtful scenic transitions that never impede the action. How happy many theatergoers would be if directors paid more attention to cutting the momentum-killing time expended on scene transitions.

I could go on about the production but, while still enjoying freedom from the writing-for-publication straightjacket, I’d rather recognize each performer of this uniformly winning cast. Starting from the bottom as listed in the program:

Emily Berg-Poff Dandridge as White Rabbit: Hers is the first character from “Wonderland” that wanders into Alice’s life and Dandridge provides a perfect introduction to this alternative reality. Anxious without being manic, arch without being angry, and moving with a jaunty springiness reflecting her skill as a dancer, Dandridge leads Alice down the rabbit hole in a way that certainly anyone would follow. Her renown as a choreographer has been growing, but did everyone else know she could sing and act so well, too? Clearly, Ferguson did and he made a great choice casting her.

Anne Michelle Forbes as Duchess/Dormouse: With appearances in 6 significant productions in the last year or so, Ms. Forbes has become a welcome new staple on the local stage scene. Her Duchess is a deep dive into the wackadoodle mentality of Wonderland, childishly delighted one moment, dangerously enraged the next. Forbes makes these transitions as quickly and easily as donning and doffing a baseball cap, a testament to her still-burgeoning acting chops.

Maggie Bavolack as Tweedle Dum/Caterpillar: There are few comedians who generate laughs as easily and deftly as Bavolack. When she appears with her entourage as the Caterpillar, the audience is giggling before she says her first line. Her crying baby elicits howls without requiring any dialogue. From what I hear, the Tweedle brothers were going to be played by men and that would have robbed Richmond of the comic stylings of Bavolack and Hindman, a team that could do a “Dumb and Dumber”-style road show that would surely surpass the Carrey/Daniels duo in hilarity.

Rachel Hindman as Tweedle Dee/Mouse: A good slice of Hindman’s power onstage has to do with her extraordinary eyes – wide, far-searching eyes that infuse her seafaring mouse character with a look of nomadic fervor and just a bit of out-in-the-sun-too-long madness. Hindman was impressive as St Jimmy in Ferguson’s American Idiot last summer and she’s no less impressive here.

Mallory Keene as March Hare/Cook: Ms. Keene gets fewer chances to stand out as others in this exceptional cast but she makes good use of the times she gets. Her pepper-wielding Cook makes a fine foil for Forbes’s Duchess and she and Sneed partner for a fabulously nutty tea party. I look forward to the next chance to see her shine.

Caitlin Sneed as Mad Hatter/Girl with the Cat/Chesire Cat/Dinah: I simply couldn’t take my eyes off Sneed almost every scene she was in. There are actors that seem effortlessly confident and self-possessed on stage – actors who never seem to be consciously “acting” – and that is certainly Sneed. Not to mention a soaring, powerhouse voice that starts the show with a clear signal that there are some capital V voices at work in this production.

Rachel Dilliplane as Sister/Frog-Footman: A bit of an unsung hero in this piece, Dilliplane plays some of the more reserved characters in “Alice” but does so in a fully realized way. Her recurring appearance as Alice’s sister, in particular, establishes a reassuring energy that acts as a reminder that the real world that Alice may return to will welcome her back with love.

Kelsey Cordrey as Mother/Queen of Hearts: In another actor’s hands, the Queen of Hearts could have been a cartoon-y villainess. But in creating a compelling Mother/Queen duelism, Cordrey makes us feel empathy, even affection, for the big bad in this story and her song to Alice at the ending is a true heart-tugger.

Grey Garrett as the White Queen: At this point, I’ve run out of adequate adjectives to do justice to Garrett in this role. So much of what she does here is unspoken, her quiet curious spying on Alice’s progress, and the sweet melancholy she brings to their ultimate interactions. From the beginning, you can sense a longing for a true companion in Alice and a sadness in her knowing that their time together will be so brief. Garrett adds this to a growing list of powerful performances where she commands attention in the most unassuming way, a talent I don’t know if they teach in acting school.

Rachel Marrs as Alice: It’s not easy playing an adolescent. Many actors portray them as sullen angst buckets or as bratty grown-up 2-year olds or sometimes as overly prescient empaths. Marrs captures the wonder and innocence without making Alice too childlike, and the budding intelligence and self-assertion without making her a punk. She serves as a delightful tour guide of the alternate reality Ferguson has created and a winning protagonist that this father-of-daughters was rooting for the whole time.

That’s a lot of words about “Alice,” but here is a more simple, concise summation: I would rather see 10 more fights between the Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee from this production than I would even 1 more fight between Daredevil and Elecktra from “The Defenders.”