When you enter the auditorium for Alice By Heart at the Limelight Theatre, the stage makes a striking first impression. The set looked incredible including multiple secret entrances and even a fireman’s pole. It must have taken a lot of work to build.
I could be wrong but my memory is that in recent years Limelight has done more plays than musicals so it is great to see them do another musical here, as well as Tick Tick Boom which I couldn’t get to back in February. The story of Alice By Heart is of a young lady in a shelter during WWII escaping the realities of war through reading the book, Alice In Wonderland, to her sick friend. Her book comes to life and the various other people from the shelter become the characters in the book as the musical progresses.
The main character, Alice, is on stage for the whole show which can’t be an easy role. Ella McCaughey who played this character did so with real quality and became the perfect anchor around which the rest of the characters rotate.
The reviews of the original production in 2019 make for interesting reading on Wikipedia. For example, Matt Windman from AMNY described it as “disjointed” and “near impossible to follow without a working knowledge of the source material”. Such criticism is, of course, about the original text rather than any particular production. But it is nevertheless a valid point about the script and it would be helpful to read up on the plot beforehand; I did have to concentrate to follow.
Regardless, Limelight certainly provided a visual show with its set and costumes, the choreography was professional and well executed, the band was solid. There are also some nice songs and a clearly enthusiastic cast. I am interested to see which musicals Limelight choose to produce next.
