“This production is practically, well, impossible to embrace as a credible work of entertainment...’Alice by Heart' seems to lose its road map as soon as it begins...The real-world characters are so hastily established and sketchily drawn that there’s nothing compelling or surprising in their metamorphoses...The hazy, dreamy songs of 'Alice' feel as if they’ve had the edges sanded off them. The choreography, by Rick and Jeff Kuperman, mostly involves picturesque hand and arm movements."
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“’Alice by Heart’ has no hint of irony about it, and it’s hard to spark any heat...Whenever the Kupermans and the actors can let loose together, the show momentarily takes off, but Sater and Sheik have weighed it down with so much schmaltz, and tarted it up with so much half-assed sexiness, that 'Alice by Heart' can’t help but feel like a slog. As a production, it has moments of real ingenuity and charm."
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“'Alice by Heart,' joins the ranks of adaptations that have gotten tangled up in the details of nonsense, despite some dreamy melodies, clever staging and an emotional arc for the title character...The twin tales are burdened with so many symbols, riddles, wordplay and metaphors that it all ends up more exhausting than invigorating...It’s just no fun...The cast is solid...Though a coming-of-age approach gives this 'Alice' some distinction, a wonder it is not.”
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“’Alice by Heart’ demonstrates that it might be time to give Alice and those fantastical characters surrounding her a well-deserved rest...Some of the transformations are inventive...But there's precious little else to hang it all together, save for the omnipresent pop-rock score featuring no less than 20 songs blending into an unmemorable hodgepodge...Despite the efforts of the hard-working ensemble, ‘Alice by Heart’ ultimately doesn't have much heart at all.”
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"A muddled concoction, tangled up in too many layers of reality and fantasy, to deliver its emotional payload...It’s hard to keep the stakes straight or feel any real bond with the characters...Although staged, story-theater style, with inspired tableaux and choreography, Sater and Nelson’s concept is too static and circular, leaving us—and Alice—no one to credibly save, no dream from which to wake...The creative team means to rouse our imaginations, but the effect is perversely soporific.”
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“A new folk-pop musical...Although sincerely intended and full of creative touches, ‘Alice by Heart’ is a disjointed, depressing and bewildering mess. It would be near impossible to follow it without a working knowledge of the source material...Sheik and Sater’s songs are mellow and hazy and have little integration with plot...Considering that ‘Alice in Wonderland’ is a classic novel in the public domain, virtually anyone can write a musical based on it. Perhaps a good one will turn up."
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"While the score strikes several reminiscent notes, it smooths over the meatiest ambiguities in Alice's story in favor of gentle poetic metaphors. It may come out sounding very pleasant, but the result is far too tepid — both emotionally and cerebrally — to measure up to the eye-opening (and hopefully mind-bending) experiences that unfold in Wonderland...Nelson's precisely punctuated direction, ends up suggesting more clarity in the story than there turns out to be."
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“The production is a design and staging marvel...But the show holds its wounded characters and their shared heartbreak in such tender regard that you are left with nothing to do...Nelson's direction, aided by the inventive choreography of Rick and Jeff Kuperman, bristles with creativity...If ‘Alice by Heart’ had a more compelling Alice, it might work better, but Gordon adds problems of her own, beginning with a marked lack of vulnerability...This rabbit hole leads to a dramatic dead end."
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