Alice By Heart

See it if A show that has good acting and some goods songs set in ww11 backdrop. Nice lighting in this production.

Don't see it if A story that gets lost in metaphors, symbolism and riddles. Story goes downhill fast.

See it if Forlorn fantasy of staying a child when confronted with death. Dreamy music with wonderful vocals & choreography. Youthful exuberance.

Don't see it if Fractured fantasy on a fantasy is too confusing. Overly sentimental, repetitive dialog. 4th wall breaks take you out of the show.

See it if you love the imaginative magical aspects of the Alice books. The clever use of the unusually wide stage creatively produces a moving story.

Don't see it if you are expecting a children's Alice in Wonderland. This is very sophisticated.

See it if you enjoy fairy tales, imaginative theatre, and know the story of Alice in Wonderland very well.

Don't see it if you prefer straightforward narratives. This show tries too hard to be clever and trips over itself. I found it confusing and tuned out.

See it if Love or like Alice and love seeing different way of the story.

Don't see it if If you want the old Alice only.

Also Alice is one of the most popular story that people like to reform in a different way. I have loved each one I have seen.
The stage is WWII bunker that is the underground track Station. The dancing and singing was great, all the actor are talent. My favorite was the Queen of Hearts, love to see more of her.... Read more Read less

See it if you enjoy a very entertaining and creative setting of the Alice in Wonderland story. Very talented cast.

Don't see it if you want to see a traditional telling of Alice story.

Also New state of the art theater for MCC.

See it if you enjoy young actors in the beginning of their careers giving their all to a script that needs more focus/ depth. Good Queen of Hearts.

Don't see it if you're looking for well developed characters with well developed relationships. Music is enjoyable but not memorable. Stage is too high.

See it if You appreciate inventive well done theatre.

Don't see it if You want a traditional musical.

See it if The production and staging are really top-notch and some great singing. The caterpillar and queen's songs are standouts.

Don't see it if you can't stand terrible English accents. It's very off-putting at first. A lot of the songs are bland & forgettable, but some good moments

See it if A weird retelling of the Alice in Wonderland story. If you are an Alice fan, you might enjoy this.

Don't see it if I found it confusing and hard to follow. And the music was not memorable.

See it if There is one very nice song. Staging, costumes, set all lively if not always serving the story. You know Wonderland.

Don't see it if You want a cohesive narrative, you expect anything approaching the craftsmanship of Spring Awakening. You dont like loud and chaotic.

Also My expectations were high despite the reviews that were coming in. This does not come close to the cohesiveness of Spring Awakening. But SA was a more direct adaptation of an old story. There is one song I would WANT to listen to again, there were several I might not turn off, but there is no immediately memorable and haunting "Mama" . There is no defining anthem like "The Bitch of Living".

There are things that work here. I really like the concept of Alice in the Underground while war rages outside. I wish there had been more integration of the war. I think there must initially have been more mirroring of the phantasmagoria of war with Wonderland.
the surrealism of displacement in wartime.

Too often I find diversity and sexuality undercutting plays. Here they have integrated color and sexual pairings seamllessly. The blurring of gender lines felt natural.

My biggest complaint was Alice's speech impediment. Communication is paramount in theater and it was lost here.... Read more Read less

See it if characters in a WWII bunker become contemporary versions of Alice in Wonderland characters; theme of escape into imagination when life bad

Don't see it if Alice in Wonderland purist; want choreography to involve more than repetitive hand movements; want chemistry between male and female leads

Also possibly affected by where I was sitting - up front left closer to band (hidden above stage) which made hearing lyrics difficult.
There are some very funny moments with great characters but I still looked at my watch 3 times.... Read more Read less

See it if you want to see one of the most creative pieces this season. The supporting cast especially excels, especially Noah Galvin & Heath Saunders.

Don't see it if you need UK accents to be on point. The worst offender here was Alice herself, which made the misadventures in dialect particularly glaring.

Also The marriage of costuming and choreography here is unmatched, and fortunately has justly been recognized this award season.... Read more Read less

See it if you want to see one of the more exceptional, yet weird, new musicals in a comfortable new theatre space designed to maximize your immersion,

Don't see it if uninvested in quirkier works heavy on choreography-as-storytelling; lacking imagination or empathy with the traumatized. Some bawdiness

Also An enchanting love-letter to bildungsroman, literature, friendship, and history’s tragedies, Alice by Heart stole my heart. I'd see it again. I’m invested in literary stories and have seen many weird, misguided, or just plain bad adaptations of Lewis Carroll’s works. AbH is more an “inspired-by,” original piece that still embodies the flair of 1865’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The choreography is integral to the storytelling, surprising and poetic—almost too distracting (part of the reason I’d love to see the show again is to focus on another part of the stage or listen more deeply—I kept marveling over the way the dozen actors came together to literally form a single entity, or how someone would be lifted, spun, swept away, etc.). I hope AbH makes a Broadway transfer with longer, more complex songs that fully flesh-out the characters. This cast is stunning—and up to the task. Enjoy your imaginative romp: just don’t expect to finally learn why a raven is like a writing desk.... Read more Read less

See it if you like modern dance, pop hypno-music & don't mind a show that is painfully slow and feels long even at 90min. Actors all worked hard

Don't see it if I was really not a fan of this show. Sadly it was boring. Misconceived original musical. I agree with the critics.

Also BEWARE:
This is the first show in the new theatre. If you attend this show, I recommend NOT sitting in the first 2 rows. The stage is pushed forward and very high, and the front rows have to crane their necks and would have a hard time see upstage. I did not sit in these rows. My review is not from any problem seeing the show.

Additional side note: The inconsistent accents or lack of them during musical number annoyed both myself and the person I saw the show with. There was only one number in which they used accents.... Read more Read less

See it if wish to see another Alice version. nice use of space and set and movement.

Don't see it if songs and tone of the whole piece is very repetitive.

See it if You want to experience a different type of "Alice". The highlights are the melodic score and high energy performances by the talented cast

Don't see it if The story may not be easy to follow at times, but the overall production holds your attention.

See it if You enjoy fantasy and are willing to go along for the ride.

Don't see it if You don't like Alice in Wonderland and adaptions of it.

Also After reading the reviews, I did not expect to enjoy this, but I was really enchanted. It's impossible not to be drawn in by the young, energetic cast. And the staging and choreography are amazingly inventive. I think Alice by Heart really captures the tone and mood of the original book.

Is this Duncan Sheik's best work? I would have to say no, it is not on a level with the genius of Spring Awakening. The Alice songs are professional and very well performed, but they don't engage the mind and heart like the music in Spring Awakening. Still, this is worth seeing!... Read more Read less

See it if Love the true story of Alice.

Don't see it if Do not like fantasy.

See it if you're a fan of Sheik/Sater's work...or if you're really familiar with Lewis Carroll's work. There's some great components to this, but it..

Don't see it if ..just doesn't come together as a cohesive show. Really cool choreography, excellent performances, interesting concept...but needs more work

See it if Sheik/Slater team. Dark and real, with a heart. Maybe needs some more work, but totally worth it.

Don't see it if Looking for traditional AiW story.

See it if and only if you were interested in a new spin on the classic Alice In Wonderland tale.

Don't see it if you are a traditionalist and thus a musical version of Alice In Wonderland isn't something you ready for.

Also While the ensemble cast was wildly TALENTED with some really stand out spotlight performances, the "wonderland" costumes FUN, and the choreography is exciting, I was disappointed by the actress playing the title character, and thus waned interest early in the start of the musical. Oh well!... Read more Read less

See it if If you love all incarnations of Alice, you will like this well performed and intensely charged high drama musical.

Don't see it if You want fully drawn characters and clear connections between book and song. Also, if you don't know Alice, this would be bewildering.

Also Set in the underground in London during the Blitz this version of Alice has a love story, and is a deconstructed narrative retelling of the story of Alice from memory. The characters are clever, I like the concept, and quite a few of the songs I loved the choreography, the performers were great but overall the whole thing was messy and flawed and needs a lot of work. Still very worth seeing.... Read more Read less

See it if You are a fan of Duncan Sheik's music or Simon Hale's orchestrations. You are intimately acquainted with the source material.

Don't see it if You are a fan of Steven Sater. This is the weakest piece in his wonderful catalogue of work. You

Also "A little talk could hold me for a little while
Another brush of whiskers and that distant smile
And soon the days are hazy
And the shadows won’t contain me
The butterflies go floating by the child" -Alice By Heart

Equal parts melancholia and absurdism, Alice By Heart is a musical that is fundamentally hard to follow and spread too thin.

The music is, at its best, beautiful with orchestrations by Duncan Sheik go-to Simon Hale. But if you've heard Spring Awakening and Whisper House, it seems to fall a little short of both scores.

Even in the "real world" moments, the characters often speak in rhyme, which makes the transition to the "dream world" muddled.

Usually shows suffer from an excess of expositions, but I think all the characters could do with a little more fleshing out to begin with before we reach Wonderland.

The set and costume design are wonderful. The band sounds fantastic, helped by the fact that they are present on the set.... Read more Read less

See it if You love Alice in Wonderland, love contemporary choreography inserted for no reason, and like talented singers/actors being wasted.

Don't see it if You’re looking for a coherent book, you loved Spring Awakening (weak echoes here), you don’t like mania (tender moments followed by farce).

Also I had high hopes for this, and was saddened by how unfocused it was. The Alice in Wonderland moments detracted from, rather than enhancing, the central story. I’d have liked to see more of that story, and less contrivance. You could also hear the tone of Spring Awakening, which is expected, but a much weaker score. There’s a good show in here that hasn’t been fleshed out. If you go with low expectations, you won’t walk out disappointed.... Read more Read less