Alice in Wonderland

Synopsis

In 1865, English author, Lewis Carroll, wrote a book for Alice. Edith and Lorina, children of his friend, Henry Liddell. Our ballet opens with Carroll creating the characters for his book who come to life in his imagination. Carroll presents the book to Alice which she shares with her sisters at the park. A White Rabbit hops by, glancing at his pocket watch, and upset about being late.

Burning with curiosity, Alice follows and falls down the rabbit hole after him, "Down, down, down. Would the fall never come to an end." At the bottom of the rabbit hole is a hall of doors where Allice experiences changes to her height. She becomes so frustrated that she cries many tears and some animals are swimming around in them. All of the animals decide to dry off by having a race. Alice finally enters the garden and encounters a caterpillar and other magical insects and flowers. "Who are you?" Said the Caterpillar. "I hardly know, Sir, just at present.....at least I know who I was this morning, but I have changed several times since then...."

After leaving the garden, Alice sees footmen with an invitation for the Duchess. At the house of the Duchess, the cook was putting too much pepper in the soup and the baby was howling and everyone was sneezing. The Cheshire Cat only grinned when it saw Alice. "Cheshire....would you tell me, please which way I ought to go from here?" Alice wanders and encounters the Mad Hatter, the March Hare and the sleepy Dormouse having a perpetual tea party.

As the second act opens, Alice discovers gardeners painting white roses red. The Royal Grand Procession comes into the garden on their way to the croquet ground. "......and last of all came the King and Queen of Hearts." The Queen had only one way of settling all difficulties, great or small. Off with their heads!" The croquet match sarts with live hedgehogs as balls, the mallets as live flamingos and cards as wickets. Jack, the Knave of Hearts, is accused of stealing tarts at the game and brought to trial. Alice pleads for Jack during the trial and becomes angry at the Queen. "Who cares for you? You're nothing but a pack of cards!" The cards are thrown into the air.

The ballet ends as Alice awakens in the park with memories of her adventures in wonderland.

Malia in the Green Room with her dancing buddy Tessa. They are parade cards.

Because the Parade Cards were not in Act 1 they had a lot of time to entertain themselves. Silly silly girls.

I wish I could have taken more photos but it was strictly forbidden. The only place to photograph was in green room. I bought the video and will have that as a keep sake. What a wonderful opportunity this has been for Malia.

 Flowers her Dad bought after her matinee performance.

In between performances, the cast was invited to a Gala at the bowery. It was a great day, so sunny and bright. The girls were fed and then given time to autograph each others poster of the event. There was a huge line for the high school girl who played Alice. It was so cute to sit back and observe.

Before the Gala began, a lady had reserved the bowery for her daughter's birthday party. She wanted the bowery longer than what she had it reserved for so when we showed up to set up the Gala she began screaming at us telling us we did not need to set up so early. Then she exclaimed that she needed the bowery and did not care that we had it reserved. The lady who dealt with this was kind and just kept telling her that she was sorry but we needed the bowery. The birthday mom was so distraught she poured her soda pop all over our bags of food for the girls. Can you believe that? Some people have a lot of pent up issues. Luckily we were able to salvage enough food that all our girls got lunch. Mind boggling that a grown lady would act so childish.

I had a super touching experience that I would like to share. During the 2 o'clock matinee  I was helping with costumes. If a dancer had an issue with her costume, she came to me to fix it. Now, people, I am not a seamstress AT ALL. It kind of stressed me out but I guess it was all good with my make shift fix-it jobs. Anyway, a little dancer dressed as a skunk came in for assistance. I could tell right away she pulled her hair out. My heart just sank for her and her dear mother. I have been there, I knew exactly what the mom was feeling. I asked the lady who was working aside me if she knew who her mother was. She pointed her out to me later in the day. I just knew I needed to approach the mother but was nervous to. "Hi, I am a total stranger and I want to talk to you about something so personal with your daughter". I was reluctant for several minutes than just pulled up my big girl panties and walked up to her. Luckily, the mom began walking to her car so she was alone. I was behind her and just said,"Oh excuse me Madam". She turned and gave me the most odd look. I said I am so sorry to approach you on this matter but does your daughter pull her hair? She was first pretty hard and said why do you ask. I explained that I had gone through the same situation about a year ago. She looked at me and burst into tears. I literally saw her entire body just crumble in front of me. I told her of a therapist that I had found that helped Malia in as little as 6 to 8 visits. She wanted the number and was so grateful.
I saw her the Monday after the performance and she once again thanked me and said that she already had an appointment. I am so grateful that I was prompted to do this, I know this little 9 year old girl will get the help she deserves and be able to live a normal life.