"MUST SEE: ALICE BY HEART: Come take the leap down rabbit hole with Alice and friends. Kokandy Productions' Alice by Heart is now on stage at the Chopin Theatre" - Gourmet Ramble, YourChicagoGuide.com 8/12/24

"Summer is a challenging season for theatres. After all, who wants to spend time indoors on a lovely sunny day? However, some plays are infinitely worth seeing, no matter the weather. If you only see one play this summer, I would hope it will be Kokandy Productions‘ Alice by Heart, currently on stage at the Chopin Theatre in the heart of Wicker Park.

You might have guessed that the play is an interpretation of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and you would be correct. And before you start counting how many theatre companies have done Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (and there are a lot!), hear me out. This one is special.

Alice by Heart is a musical, almost completely sung through.

Music is by Duncan Sheik, lyrics by Steven Sater, and a book by Sater with Jessie Nelson. The music is fantastic, the vocal performances do not disappoint, and time literally flies while you perch on the edge of your seat. The audience engagement starts in the lobby, before the doors even open. Characters we later see in the play make intriguing announcements that only make sense later on. Once the seating starts, more characters sneak through the audience for hijinks we get to interpret ourselves. Who are they? Why are they here? Where is this place?

Without giving too much magic away, let me offer some particulars here. In bombed out, World War II London, a handful of people seek shelter underground, inside the London tube. These strangers are thrown together by fear and danger. All of them are suffering in one way or another. Among the group are two teenage best friends, Alice Spencer and Alfred. They grew up together, we come to find out. And their favorite childhood past time was Alice in Wonderland. So much so, they seem to know the book by heart.
Alfred, suffering from tuberculosis, is quarantined. He is, in fact, not expected to live much longer. Alice urges him to escape with her into their cherished book and travel down the rabbit hole to Wonderland. Nurse Cross, who is in charge of keeping everyone safe, rips Alice's book as a punishment for visiting Alfred, despite his quarantine. Alice becomes very defiant and declares she knows it "by heart" and will read to him anyway.

She reads. Alfred becomes the White Rabbit. The people huddling in the tube morph into book characters of Alice's imagination. We encounter the Mad Hatter, the Caterpillar, the Cheshire Cat, the Duchess, the Queen of Hearts. The list goes on. The audience's ride is fast, intensely powerful, and open to interpretation. Alice begs the time to stand still to keep her friend alive. She tries to contract tuberculosis herself, so as to die with him. And finally, she grieves and lets him go, painfully and painstakingly. All the while, the book characters continue their hijinks. The tea party, the trial, the royal croquet, the lobster quadrille... Come for the music, stay for the magic!

The play is wonderful and moving. I would hate to ruin any of the magic, so go see it for yourself. It is well worth your time. Take that leap down the rabbit hole. After all, we are all mad here. We are entirely bonkers. But let me tell you a secret: the best people always are"

Kokandy Production's ‘Alice by Heart' is a complicated musical that reinvents Lewis Carroll - Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune 8/8/24

"Kokandy Production's Derek Van Barham, a very talented young director, has made a habit of rehabilitating failed musicals with intimate, Chicago-style stagings centered on runway configurations with the audience on both sides.

Last fall, in the famous Chopin Theatre basement, Van Barham took a worthy stab at "American Psycho," a bloodbath on Broadway. Now, in collaboration with co-director Brittney Brown, he's turned his attention to "Alice by Heart," a musical with a book penned by Steven Sater and a score by Duncan Sheik, the team responsible for the hit 2006 show "Spring Awakening," a game-changer when it came to innovative Broadway musicals.

"Alice by Heart," which credits Jesse Nelson as a co-writer, was commissioned and first produced by London's National Theatre in 2012; it then moved to New York and did poorly off-Broadway. To the best of my knowledge, it's not been professionally performed in Chicago before. And there's a reason for that.

As you might expect from the title, "Alice by Heart" is a riff on Lewis Carroll's novel "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland." In the outer frame, we meet a teenage Alice sheltering in a tube station during the London Blitz in 1941; her young pal Alfred has tuberculosis and is isolated within the shelter. Alice, scared for her pal, disappears into Wonderland, in her mind at least; Alfred (who was played by Ben Platt in an early workshop) morphs into the White Rabbit. Thereafter, we get a meditation on grief, loss, sexual awakening, the loss of childhood innocence and the journey toward self-actualization. (Pretty much the same themes as "Spring Awakening.")

The book not only doesn't sufficiently link the outer frame with the "Alice" story, it has too fractured an emotional trajectory, leaving you searching throughout the show for the heart of the story. The real appeal of the show, such as it is, resides in Sheik's music. If, like me, you're a fan, you'll enjoy hearing a plaintive and potent song suite. I'm listening to the beautiful "Afternoon" as I write this piece and "Some Things Fall Away" is quite lovely, too.

Kokandy's production comes with superb musical direction from Heidi Joosten; it's far from easy to perform this score with the five-piece orchestra off in the corner and the audience far closer. And the show has wonderful vocalist in the lead role of Alice: I loved hearing Caitlyn Cerza sing and Joe Giovannetti, who plays Alfred, is great, too. Add in some smokey and intense voices elsewhere in the ensemble and all are doing right by Sheik's music.

That said, much of the comedy feels overplayed for so small a space and Cerza's Alice is costumed austerely, so that her budding self struggles to break out from the period veneer. And although Van Barham and Brown have put together some very cool visuals, the issues with the book are very hard to overcome. Maybe a simpler production would have been a better choice; it's just a difficult piece to make fully work, not least because it never seems quite ready to commit to being a full-blown musical. The big themes are there but are insufficiently traced and developed.
On the way out, I was thinking it was past time for Van Barham, who I admire, to take on some top-drawer material. That way his immense creativity will get a head start".

Kokandy Productions takes us down the rabbit hole. Heartfelt performances overcome the tangled storylines in Alice by Heart. - Kerry Reid, Chicago Reader 8/7/24

"For their follow-up to 2006's Spring Awakening, composer Duncan Sheik and librettist and lyricist Steven Sater turned to Lewis Carroll's children's classic. Set in a bomb shelter during the London Blitz, Alice by Heart, now in a midwest premiere with Kokandy Productions in the wholly appropriate basement studio at the Chopin, feels like two different stories sometimes awkwardly held together by the fantastical yet familiar characters Carroll created. There's the hookah-smoking caterpillar, the Cheshire Cat, and the Mad Hatter, all trying to make sense out of the senselessness of war and not coming up with much beyond, "We're all mad here."

There's also a more personal and emotionally effective story of Alice (Caitlyn Cerza) and Alfred (Joe Giovannetti), two children who grew up together and who are now facing the latter's imminent death from tuberculosis. Alice's refusal to face that fact by escaping into Carroll's book provides the sturdier frame; the characters most directly referencing the war feel a little too on the nose. (Will Lidke's Mad Hatter is a soldier with PTSD, and Niki-Charisse Franco's Red Cross nurse who tries to bring Alice back to the reality of mortality is the Red Queen.)

But though the storylines get a little tangled up in twee, there is much to recommend in Derek Van Barham and Brittney Brown's staging (Barham also ably choreographs for the narrow runway set) and in the score (nicely rendered by a five-piece band under Heidi Joosten's musical direction). As is usually the case with Kokandy, the show delivers cunning visuals, particularly with Rachel Sypniewski's costumes and Jakob Abderhalden's props. (The appearance of the Jabberwock as the Grim Reaper is truly creepy.) And when the story and the score come together as a meditation on lives cut short (Giovannetti doubles as the White Rabbit, forever worried about running out of time), whether by illness or war, it's sad and lovely.

Change the Page: A Review of "Alice by Heart" by Kokandy Productions at Chopin Theatre - Tristan Bruns, NewCity Chicago 8/6/24

"Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" (1865) and "Through the Looking-Glass" (1871) have inspired spiritual sequels in books, movies, television, dance, plays, musicals, comic books, video games... It's hard to believe that the "Alice" well hasn't run dry, yet this story of a gentle girl conquering the otherworldly unknown continues to inspire new interpretations and draw in audiences.

Kokandy Productions presents their take on Wonderland with "Alice by Heart" through September 29 at Chopin Theatre. Co-directed by Derek Van Barham and Brittney Brown, this reproduction of the 2012 musical by Steven Sater and Jessie Nelson, with music by Duncan Sheik, is as zany as its premise and brings Wonderland to life with creative set design, rock concert lighting and a cast that is not afraid to get weird.

The story by Sater and Nelson borrows from past iterations of the property and other works while injecting something new and exciting. Familiar beats make their recurring appearance despite the musical being a sequel-The Cheshire Cat (Mizha Lee Overn) noting, "Most everyone's mad here." The Mad Hatter (Will Lidke) asking, "Why is a raven like a writing desk?" The Queen of Hearts (Niki-Charisse Franco) shouting, "Off with their heads!" The device of transforming people from the protagonist's real world into mirror-image fantasy characters is like "The Wizard of Oz." While the initial setting of London during the Nazi Blitzkrieg of 1940 is new, that it takes place with Alice being housed in an insane asylum and popping in and out of reality is not, previously presented in the horror-video game American McGee's Alice.

What is refreshing are the new additions to the tale and how they are interpreted through the direction and choices of the actors. Catchy songs allow the actors to stretch out, run around and physically embody the madness of each character; Sheik's pop-style compositions with trademark mellow chord changes and key modulations are like an emotional gust of wind that propels the action on stage. All the Wonderland characters are familiar, but many are satirically reshaped: The Mock Turtle (Alex Stetkevich) goes around literally mocking people; The Caterpillar (Elliot Esquivel) is a hippy pothead; The Duchess (Patrick O'Keefe) is a boisterous drag queen with a chip on their shoulder. The revelation in the denouement is the sweetest twist of all and presents a touching revelation that deliciously melts into the story like dark chocolate on the tongue.
The cast of actors hold nothing back. Caitlyn Cerza as Alice is the right combination of vulnerability and toughness, equally afraid of losing her beloved friends as she is battling monsters and belting out bangers like "I've Shrunk Enough" and "Down the Hole." Joe Giovannetti as the fidgety, time-obsessed White Rabbit complements Cerza both in physical chemistry and in song to deliver some magically harmonious duets. Will Lidke's Mad Hatter is marvelously maniacal. O'Keefe's Duchess is razor-sharp and hilarious. Despite being limited to bit parts, Darian Goulding proves to be a talented character actor, and his well-defined character is a delight.

Creative production elements make for an immersive world. The Kokandy crew used Chopin's large basement theater to great effect, bisecting the audience lengthwise and placing in the middle a long, ramped platform that actors can dart on and off without breaking pace. Lighting design by G "Max" Maxin IV is composed of a 360-degree array of multi-colored LEDs and incandescent lamps, a plot nimble enough to create moods that are big like a stadium concert, or soft like a moonlit bridge. A live band directed by Heidi Joosten does Sheik's music justice, although the lack of drums (perhaps too loud for the moderately sized venue) took some of the energy out of the music. Co-director Van Barham doubles as choreographer and sets quirky, zombie-esque dance moves that create the atmosphere of a twisted madhouse.

Though the "Alice in Wonderland" property has been thoroughly mined, there is still gold to be found. Fresh off their Jeff Award-winning 2023 season, Kokandy Productions shows no signs of slowing down with "Alice by Heart," breathing new life into an old favorite".

Review: Kokandy Productions Stages an Imaginative Journey Down the Rabbit Hole with Alice by Heart - Lauren Katz, ThirdCoastReview.com 8/5/24

"This isn't just some silly game. I've got no time left."

Alice (Caitlyn Cerza) is lying about with the Caterpillar (Elliott Esquivel) and Cheshire Cat (Mizha Overn). The duo convinced her to take it easy, and whatever substance it was they were consuming seems to have done the trick. Alice was looking for a way to freeze time, and for better or for worse, it feels like she did. When the White Rabbit happens upon her, he is far from amused. He is very focused on the ticking time clock, and they have to get to the next point in the story. A fight spirals between the two friends, causing him to snap with the quote above. As he runs off, Alice remains alone on stage-full of guilt and unsure of how to move forward.

Those familiar with Alice's Adventures in Wonderland are no stranger to the White Rabbit. As you may remember from many popular adaptations, the rabbit is obsessed with time, and is forever focused on lateness and getting from one place to the next. Alice by Heart is no exception, and the White Rabbit's character is infused with a similar urgency. However, part of the intriguing creativity of this particular adaptation is the multiple layers in which this story unfolds. The White Rabbit is not just in a storybook tale, but also represents an important figure in young Alice's life-her best friend, Alfred (Joe Giovannetti).

Early in the play we learn that Wonderland is an imaginary space to which Alice and Alfred would escape as children. When reading the cherished book, Alfred pretended to be the White Rabbit, adventuring alongside Alice as they encountered the many famous characters. Once again, Alfred and Alice find themselves diving back into the story-only this time, with an added level of urgency. The friends are now teenagers in the middle of the London Blitz of World War II. As they take refuge in a bunker, they learn that Alfred is suffering from tuberculosis. As he is ripped away from Alice to quarantine, the two return to playing out their favorite story as a form of comfort, which once again brings us to the quote:

"This isn't just some silly game. I've got no time left."

The White Rabbit may have no time left, but Alfred has less. As he races against the ticking time clock that is the remainder of his life, he begs Alice to quickly resume so they can finish before it's too late. Suddenly, Wonderland does not feel quite so light, and the nightmarish qualities that bubble to the surface feel even more frightening. As we watch Alice sit alone crying in this adaptation by Steven Sater and Jessie Nelson, wishing the rabbit would return, the story starts to beg the questions: What do we do with the time we have left, and what would we do if we had the power to freeze it? Perhaps, like me, you will lean in a little closer upon this realization of the double meaning, hoping that the wonder of the story might help the friends find some kind of comfort.

With music by Duncan Shiek and lyrics by Steven Sater, the score features a list of songs that highlight the overlap of emotional depth and childlike wonder of the musical. West of Words, Down the Hole, Sick to Death of Alice-Ness, and I've Shrunk Enough are just a few of the many that audiences experience. Helmed by co-directors Derek Van Barham and Brittney Brown, the stellar ensemble brings this story to stunning life. Cerza and Giovannetti in particular as Alice and Alfred create the beating heart of the story, filling their love story with a heartbreaking genuineness that you might just find is impossible not to root for.

Van Barham's choreography does not disappoint, adding a creative spin to the ensemble numbers that thrust the audience further into the twisted, magical nature of Wonderland.

Brilig Braelig is the Jabberwock's solo, and those familiar with the story will know that this is meant to be the largest monster. Darian Goulding infuses the much-needed dark, nightmarish qualities into the character, but Van Barham does not stop there. Costume designer Rachel Sypniewski outfits Goulding with a large, black set of wings, and provides every ensemble member with an equally terrifying mask. Van Barham brings them all together, connecting each ensemble member to Goulding, thereby creating a larger-than-life monster that feels as if it consumes the space. Alice is vastly outsized, and when combined with lighting (and scenic) designer G "Max" Maxin IV's flashing bright lights, you might just find that you too feel outsized and outmatched alongside the young girl. Van Barham and his design team allow the theatricality of the production to feed the magic of the story. The effect? A series of unexpected and creative approaches to the material that leave you sitting on the edge of your seat, wondering what feat will come next.

Maxin IV and Sypniewski are joined by sound designer Matt Reich and properties designer Jakob Abderhalden, wig designer Keith Ryan, and makeup designer Syd Genco in this endeavor.

Full of imagination and impressive talent, Alice by Heart is the epitome of a theatrical event"

ALICE BY HEART: FULL-HEARTED PRODUCTION; HALF-HEARTED SCRIPT - Emma S Rund, StageandCinema.com 8/5/24

"Alice by Heart follows a young girl, Alice (Caitlyn Cerza), during the London Blitz of World War II as she takes refuge in her beloved copy of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Alice and her friend Alfred (Joe Giovannetti), who is deathly ill with tuberculosis, seek shelter in an underground tube station. Not ready to say goodbye to her beloved friend, Alice reads him their favorite book so they can escape into Wonderland one last time. Kokandy Productions' Midwest premiere of Alice by Heart directed by Derek Van Barham and Brittney Brown is a perfectly OK musical, but at The Chopin Theatre, it's performed by an exceptional cast.

The musical by Steven Sater (book and lyrics), Jessie Nelson (book), and Duncan Sheik (music) is fairly successful once they enter into Wonderland, but it has a little trouble getting off the ground. I think the time spent in the tube station in London could have been better used by the bookwriters to establish more history between Alice and Alfred, who apparently are in love. Alice's grief is palpable, but a deeper connection between the two would raise the stakes. And it's a bit odd that Alfred is dying of TB when he had also been apparently pulled from the rubble of a bombed building just before the story begins. Both TB and being buried alive feel like overkill (literally). As a whole, Sater and Nelson's book is rough around the edges, functioning often as rushed transitions between musical numbers rather than well-rounded scenes.

Sheik's music is certainly the highlight of the original material. He puts teenage angst to music fantastically well, as is evident in his much more famous musical with Sater, Spring Awakening. While Cerza played a bit too adult for this Alice, who the text frequently suggests is going through puberty, both she and Giovannetti did Sheik's music justice with effortlessly soaring vocals (music direction by Heidi Joosten).

The entire cast gives very strong performances, but a few stand out as exceptional.

Mizha Overn as Tabatha and the Cheshire Cat had my attention from the very beginning. Her powerful stage presence and rich voice consistently draws focus to her. Patrick O'Keefe immediately delights as the Duchess, wielding a hand fan like a weapon. Niki-Charisse Franco gives a powerhouse performance as the queen, showing off both comedy chops and a wonderful voice. With his impeccable comic timing, I particularly loved Darian Goulding as the King of Hearts and the Mock Turtle, but he shows his range by pulling out a genuinely fearsome Jabberwocky. Will Lidke gives a crazed performance as the Mad Hatter, while still managing to stay in control. He struck a balance between horrifying and endearing at the Tea Party that makes him astoundingly appealing.

"Sick to Death of Alice-Ness," the song sung during the Mad Hatter's tea party, was perhaps my favorite, partially due to Sheik's delightful composition, but also because of Barham's clever choreography. A stunning moment comes with the Mad Hatter scrambling under the table, crawling at Alice like something out of a horror movie, aided by Matt Reich's strong sound design.

Costume designer Rachel Sypniewski pulled together simple costuming to distinguish between characters played by the same actors and allude to the beloved children's book without being too on the nose. Costumes for the Duchess and Mad Hatter were particularly successful.

The one design element that didn't really work was the set by G "Max" Maxin IV. Planks of wood covered the space and were removed by actors occasionally to use as props. Perhaps it was a nod to the idea that buildings are falling apart in London as the bombs drop, or perhaps it was somehow thematically connected to loss, but it feels aesthetically disconnected from the production.
Emily Ling Mei, Joe Giovannetti and Peter Stielstra with the cast
With themes of growing up, loss, and learning how to grieve, Alice by Heart is a perfectly charming little musical, especially if you have a special connection to Alice in Wonderland. For me, it was a nice evening, and I'm glad I've seen it, but I wouldn't go out of my way to see it again. I'll certainly be back for more from though.

Alluring musical 'Alice by Heart' contrasts Wonderland with the Underground under attack. London residents hiding from the Blitz take on Lewis Carroll's characters in Kokandy Productions' Midwest premiere. - Catey Sullivan, Chicago Sun Times 8/4/24

"In Kokandy Productions' Midwest premiere of the alluring musical "Alice by Heart," fantastical characters from Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland" emerge like specters from within a war-ravaged London.

Set against the brutal Blitz that saw German bombs raining down on London in the early years of World War II, the 95-minute musical at the Chopin Theatre weaves an intertwined tale of two Alices: one from Carroll's famous stories, the other hunkered down in the London underground, hoping to survive the bombings while desperately seeking escape in her battered copy of "Alice in Wonderland."

As the production veers from drama to fantasia and back, co-directors Derek Van Barham (who also choreographs) and Brittney Brown shape a sonically gorgeous and visually beguiling musical that delivers a rueful meditation on grief, loss and the ruthless nature of time.

If that sounds grim, know that "Alice by Heart" is also about full-throttle joy and the crucial importance of celebrating life itself, even when - especially when - it feels like it could end at any moment.

As he did with the Tony-winning "Spring Awakening," composer Duncan Sheik instills "Alice by Heart" with an intricate, multi-style score. There are raging rockers alongside anthemic ballads and wall-of-sound vocals.

Music director Heidi Joosten (who leads and plays keyboards in a small-but-mighty orchestra composed of Sophie Creutz on reeds, drummer Craig Buckner, cellist Rachel Schuldt and guitarist Samuel Stein) sends the ravishing score coursing through the Chopin Theatre's basement space.

As for the plot, it grows curiouser and curiouser. The narrative centers on Alice Spencer (Caitlyn Cerza, who also plays Alice in Wonderland), as she clings to her dying tubercular best friend Alfred (Joe Giovannetti, who also plays the perpetually out-of-time White Rabbit) in London's tube tunnels. Everyone seeking refuge down alongside the duo is in varying degrees of war-induced trauma and shock.

Like Alice and Alfred, everyone is double-cast: Every Londoner has not just a doppelganger but an alter ego in Wonderland.

Schoolboy Nigel (Ezra Borrero, also the enigmatic Dormouse), babbles frantically about a test he has to take at noon. A belligerent Harold Pudding (Will Lidke, who also growls with menace as the Mad Hatter) raves about horrors only he can see. A nameless Red Cross nurse (Niki-Charisse Franco, who also plays a ferociously imperious Queen of Hearts) is overworked to the outermost limit of compassion.

As the sirens wail and the lights tremble, Alice Spencer cajoles the others into acting out "Alice in Wonderland," certain all will be well if they can just escape into her beloved book.

As fictional and historical narratives are braided together, Carroll's playful verse speaks with pointed relevance to both the circumstances of Wonderland and real life.

When the White Rabbit sings of time's relentless passage in "Still," Giovannetti merges exquisite vocals with an undertow of melancholy to maximum emotional impact. When the White Rabbit dourly frets about running out of time, Alfred's fatal prognosis gives the words an urgent, anxious immediacy.

And when the Cheshire Cat (Mizha Lee Overn) purrs "we're all mad here," the words ring true for both the denizens of the Mad Hatter's belligerent tea party and the anguished Londoners hoping to survive the Blitz.

The ensemble is at its strongest when in song. With the aching opener "West of Words," Cerza sets the vocal standard while evoking worlds that defy verbal description, be they on earth or in the imagination.

"Chillin' With Regrets'' is a trippy showstopper featuring the whiskey-over-gravel vocals of Elliot Esquivel as an unforgettable hookah/gas mask-wielding Caterpillar. The number has pure Jefferson Airplane circa "White Rabbit '' vibes, Esquivel's slinky, sloe-eyed insect urging all to join him in creepy crawly oblivion.

As the monstrous Jabberwocky, Darian Goulding (he also plays London physician Dr. Butridge) brings an outsize, phantasmagoric menace in "Brillig Braelig," a number about a grotesque creature of massive malintent. Goulding nails both the humor and the horror.
With "The Key," Cerza leads the ensemble into a full-force reckoning of the heart, the number ending on a majestic surge of a capella vocals worthy of an amphitheater. She also shines on "I've Shrunk Enough," turning the number into a manifesto.

Playing out on G. "Max" Maxim's minimalist set - essentially a ramp, a series of platforms and several subtle banks of mirrors - "Alice by Heart" isn't especially subtle. But as Alfred/the White Rabbit sings of time's relentless passage in "Still," one thing becomes clear: "Alice By Heart" is time well-spent.

Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" (1865) and "Through the Looking-Glass" (1871) have inspired spiritual sequels in books, movies, television, dance, plays, musicals, comic books, video games... It's hard to believe that the "Alice" well hasn't run dry, yet this story of a gentle girl conquering the otherworldly unknown continues to inspire new interpretations and draw in audiences.

Kokandy Productions presents their take on Wonderland with "Alice by Heart" through September 29 at Chopin Theatre. Co-directed by Derek Van Barham and Brittney Brown, this reproduction of the 2012 musical by Steven Sater and Jessie Nelson, with music by Duncan Sheik, is as zany as its premise and brings Wonderland to life with creative set design, rock concert lighting and a cast that is not afraid to get weird.

The story by Sater and Nelson borrows from past iterations of the property and other works while injecting something new and exciting. Familiar beats make their recurring appearance despite the musical being a sequel-The Cheshire Cat (Mizha Lee Overn) noting, "Most everyone's mad here." The Mad Hatter (Will Lidke) asking, "Why is a raven like a writing desk?" The Queen of Hearts (Niki-Charisse Franco) shouting, "Off with their heads!" The device of transforming people from the protagonist's real world into mirror-image fantasy characters is like "The Wizard of Oz." While the initial setting of London during the Nazi Blitzkrieg of 1940 is new, that it takes place with Alice being housed in an insane asylum and popping in and out of reality is not, previously presented in the horror-video game American McGee's Alice.

What is refreshing are the new additions to the tale and how they are interpreted through the direction and choices of the actors. Catchy songs allow the actors to stretch out, run around and physically embody the madness of each character; Sheik's pop-style compositions with trademark mellow chord changes and key modulations are like an emotional gust of wind that propels the action on stage. All the Wonderland characters are familiar, but many are satirically reshaped: The Mock Turtle (Alex Stetkevich) goes around literally mocking people; The Caterpillar (Elliot Esquivel) is a hippy pothead; The Duchess (Patrick O'Keefe) is a boisterous drag queen with a chip on their shoulder. The revelation in the denouement is the sweetest twist of all and presents a touching revelation that deliciously melts into the story like dark chocolate on the tongue.

The cast of actors hold nothing back. Caitlyn Cerza as Alice is the right combination of vulnerability and toughness, equally afraid of losing her beloved friends as she is battling monsters and belting out bangers like "I've Shrunk Enough" and "Down the Hole." Joe Giovannetti as the fidgety, time-obsessed White Rabbit complements Cerza both in physical chemistry and in song to deliver some magically harmonious duets. Will Lidke's Mad Hatter is marvelously maniacal. O'Keefe's Duchess is razor-sharp and hilarious. Despite being limited to bit parts, Darian Goulding proves to be a talented character actor, and his well-defined character is a delight.

Creative production elements make for an immersive world. The Kokandy crew used Chopin's large basement theater to great effect, bisecting the audience lengthwise and placing in the middle a long, ramped platform that actors can dart on and off without breaking pace. Lighting design by G "Max" Maxin IV is composed of a 360-degree array of multi-colored LEDs and incandescent lamps, a plot nimble enough to create moods that are big like a stadium concert, or soft like a moonlit bridge. A live band directed by Heidi Joosten does Sheik's music justice, although the lack of drums (perhaps too loud for the moderately sized venue) took some of the energy out of the music. Co-director Van Barham doubles as choreographer and sets quirky, zombie-esque dance moves that create the atmosphere of a twisted madhouse.

Though the "Alice in Wonderland" property has been thoroughly mined, there is still gold to be found. Fresh off their Jeff Award-winning 2023 season, Kokandy Productions shows no signs of slowing down with "Alice by Heart," breathing new life into an old favorite"

ALICE BY HEART at Kokandy Productions
The Midwest premiere of Duncan Sheik, Steven Sater, and Jessie Nelson's ALICE IN WONDERLAND-themed musical - Rachel Weinberg, Broadwayworld.com 8/4/24

"While Kokandy Productions' ALICE BY HEART has some lovely performances, the musical itself is far less imaginative than its ALICE IN WONDERLAND-inspired title suggests.

Set during World War II, Duncan Sheik, Steven Sater, and Jessie Nelson's show finds the titular Alice ostensibly in a British bunker avoiding the air raids (though, based on her bunker companions, the space could also be either an orphanage or an asylum - the book doesn't make it clear.) Alice, in denial about her best friend Alfred's terminal tuberculosis, decides to descend into Wonderland so that the pair might have one last adventure. The show is so titled because she's memorized the entire novel ALICE IN WONDERLAND. Once Alice and Alfred descend "Down The Hole," he morphs into the White Rabbit. It's one of many on-the-nose choices that Sheik and Nelson's book contains; the White Rabbit is running out of time, as is Alfred.

Directors Derek Van Barham and Brittney Brown have assembled particularly talented singers to perform Sheik and Sater's score, but the musical itself isn't that memorable or creative. Sheik and Sater's score is recognizably theirs; it has the melodic, breezy quality of their biggest musical hit SPRING AWAKENING, but the songs are watered down versions of that music. The story includes the classic cast of ALICE IN WONDERLAND characters, as the other children from the bunker assume those roles, but it doesn't add any new layers or dimensions to the Wonderland experience. The songs are mostly drawn from the book's themes, or in the case of "Brilig Braelig," the actual text of the novel, but they're rather straightforward interpretations.

Both the lyrics and book contain numerous, overt references to time. It's evident that the musical wants to use the theme of time - and Alfred's limited days - to become a poignant reminder for the audience. But the text is so obvious on that front - and Alice and Alfred's characters are so broadly drawn - that it doesn't resonate on a deeper level.
I think the most effective number for the show's themes is "Your Shell of Grief," in which the Mock Turtles share with Alice their reluctance to let go of their own mourning. The show depicts Alice as petulant and stubborn (and Caitlyn Cerza's take on the role reinforces that childish, unyielding energy), and the song mirrors her stuckness. It also includes the show's best puns. I particularly enjoyed the lyric, "My life has lost all porpoise."

While it's less lyrically memorable, the eleven o'clock number "Afternoon" has a pretty melody, and Cerza as Alice and Joe Giovanetti as Alfred/White Rabbit (touching) have gorgeous harmonies in it. Overall, because the characters are essentially sketches, I was more taken with this cast's beautiful singing than with the acting - but I think that's mainly a product of the material they have to work with. Will Lidke as the Mad Hatter, Patrick O'Keefe as Duchess, and Niki-Charisse Franco as Queen of Hearts are terrific character actors and make bold, defined choices - but even with their great acting work, I didn't find their characters' material actually funny. Mizha Overn has a beautiful singing voice for her role of The Cheshire Cat; she's definitely one of the strongest singers in the ensemble. Ezra Borrero, Elliot Esquivel, Darian Goulding, Emily LIng Mei, Alex Stetkevich, and Peter Stielstra round out the cast - and the whole ensemble of 12 harmonizes gorgeously. Kokandy's singers are wonderful. It's a shame that the Wonderland itself as written in ALICE BY HEART isn't all that wonderful.

"Alice by Heart" - Alan Bresloff, AroundTheTownChicago.com, August 2024

"We all grew up with "Alice's Adventures In Wonderland" written by Lewis Carroll. Many of us know it as "Alice Through The Lookingglass" or the Disney animated "Alice In Wonderland". Chicago audiences, familiar with Lookingglass Theatre have also seen the wildly creative "Lookingglass Alice" in several productions. The story is one of vivid imagination and unusual characters, so it is perfect that the new musical, making its Midwest premiere at Chicago's Chopin Studio Theatre, "Alice By Heart" lives up to its expectations. This amazing 90 minutes ( no intermission) of whimsical story telling exceeds what I anticipated, making it a must see for anyone who loves Alice!

With a book by Steven Slater and Jessie Nelson and music by Duncan Sheik with lyrics by Slater, this is a story with several twists. First of all, for those who have yet to visit a Kokandy Production in their home at Chopin Theatre's Studio located at 1543 West Division Street ( between Ashland and Milwaukee Avenues on Division), this is a very intimate space. The last productions have been done on what one might call a "runway stage" that is in the center of the space with chairs on both sides. The action moves from side to side with actors coming very close to audience members.

Directed by Derek Van Barham and Brittney Brown with Barham doing the choreography, they use the stage quite well, never getting in the way of the audience and also making sight lines as perfect as can be. The music is directed by Heidi Joosten (who also plays the keyboards) and with the band: Craig Buckner (drums), Sophie Creutz (reeds), Rachel Schuldt (cello) and Samuel Stein ( guitar) they never overpower the talented singers on stage.

This version of Alice's story is quite different. We are in the rubble of the London Blitz during World War II. Because of the bombing, Alice (Caitlyn Cerza is amazing) and her friend Alfred (deftly handled by Joe Giovannetti, who also takes on the character of The White Rabbit) are in the underground "tube station" ( we know this as subway station, in our lingo). Alfred is placed under quarantine, and so, Alice figures that it will take his mind off the problem to open her journal ( her Alice In Wonderland" book) and go down the rabbit hole to visit "Wonderland". This is when the magic begins!

The creativity of the story and the music is powerful, showing us that no matter what we think we know, there is always something new to learn. The ensemble that they have assembled to tell this amazing story is filled with very talented people: Ezra Borrero ( is a wonderful Doormouse, among others), Elliot Esquvel is a dynamic caterpillar, Niki-Charisse Franco plays several roles but is a wonderful Queen of Hearts, and Darian Goulding plays her king in addition to The Jabberwocky and Doctor. You can't do anything Alice without The Mad Hatter (Will Lidke is hysterical),and Patrick O'Keefe is another multi role performer who will have you in stitches as The Duchess as well as his Dodgy. The Cheshire Cat is another important character and Mizha Lee Overn brings her to life with ease. Other ensemble members that move this story along are Alex Stetkevich as The Mock Turtle and Clasrissa along with Peter Stiestra ( young Alfred) and Emily Ling Mei as young Alice.

On the tech side, the costumes were quite clever (Rachel Sypniewski), although I think if they had young Alice and Young Alfred dressed in the same outfits , people would have caught on quicker. Matt Reich's sound was perfect as was the lighting by G "Max" Maxin IV ( who also did the set design). If you are one that has always loved "Alice" in any form, you should mark your calendar to make sure that this one is on your schedule. Thank you Kokandy Productions for another reason to love theater!"

From Kokandy Productions:

From the Tony and Grammy Award-winning creators of Spring Awakening, Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik, and co-written by Jessie Nelson (Waitress), Alice by Heart is a touching musical inspired by Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

In the rubble of the London Blitz of World War II, Alice Spencer's budding teen life is turned upside down as she and her dear friend Alfred are forced to take shelter in an underground tube station. When the ailing Alfred is quarantined, Alice encourages him to escape with her into their cherished book and journey down the rabbit hole to Wonderland. As they travel through the tale, Alice by Heart explores the poignancy of first love, coming to terms with loss and finding the courage to move forward. This Chicago premiere encourages us all to celebrate the transformational power of the imagination, even in the harshest of times.

Caitlyn Cerza stars as Alice, the young girl who takes refuge in her beloved copy of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. She is joined by a whimsical cast of curious characters including Ezra Borrero (Nigel, Dormouse), Elliot Esquivel (Angus, Caterpillar, u/s Alfred), Niki-Charisse Franco (Red Cross Nurse, Queen of Hearts), Joe Giovannetti (Alfred, White Rabbit), Darian Goulding (Dr. Butridge, Jabberwocky, King of Hearts), Will Lidke (Harold Pudding, Mad Hatter), Emily Ling Mei (Young Alice), Patrick O'Keefe (Dodgy, Duchess), Mizha Lee Overn (Tabatha, Cheshire Cat), Alex Stetkevich (Clarissa, Mock Turtle) and Peter Stielstra (Young Alfred). Swings include Sophia Mae Brenner, Victor Lopez, Kevin Parra, Jack Saunders and Ava Stovall.

Production Team:  G "Max" Maxin IV (Scenic Design and Lighting Design), Matt Reich (Sound Design), Mike Patrick (Sound Consultant), Rachel Sypniewski (Costume Design), Jakob Abderhalden (Properties Designer, Scenic Décor), Syd Genco (Makeup Design), Keith Ryan (Wig Design), Nicholas Reinhart (Production Manager),Shane Roberie (Casting Associate), David Moreland (Technical Director), Lynsy Folckomer (Sound Engineer), Shelby Burgus (Stage Manager) and Mikaley Lane (Assistant Stage Manager).