Alice By Heart, now receiving its Midwest Premiere at Chopin Theatre in an intimate Kokandy Productions offering, is a sweet coming of age musical about loss and love when you are forced to leave childhood behind. Set in 1940’s London, this telling is aptly in the basement space at Chopin (the setting is an underground tube station/bomb shelter) and eases the audience into the tale as characters move on the bridgelike set and around the house trying to find comfort and solace in difficult times. There is a Doctor and a nurse and several shell shocked characters who are also sheltering in this underground space as the bombs go off. Alice, played by the silver piped and winsome Caitlyn Cerza has arrived with her best friend Alfred, played by the sincere Joe Giovannetti. Unfortunately the medical team notes that Alfred is in the terminal phase of tuberculosis and they quarantine him. Alice is distraught and tries to “escape” with him into their favorite book Alice in Wonderland. Niki-Charisse Franco’s Red Cross Nurse character will not tolerate such nonsense and rips the book apart. Alice realizes she knows the tale by heart and recounts it, allowing the various shelter inhabitants to morph into the characters ranging from Mizha Overn’s delicious Cheshire Cat to Patrick O’Keefe’s fantastic Duchess. Franco of course becomes the Queen of Hearts and Will Lidke is a boundaryless Mad Hatter. As Alice grapples with the impending loss of her best friend and the loss of her childhood, the characters weave in and out of her imagination. Growing up is so hard to do.
Duncan Shiek’s score teamed with Steven Sater’s lyrics confirms this duo’s knack for capturing the yearning and ambivalence of teenagers. Sater’s book goes down a few too many side streams for my taste, muddying the water of a cold clear river of a story about letting go of childhood and learning that your best friend can die. But ultimately it is a tale about how a good story can save us by keeping us going straight through to an end even when that end is not the one we want, and it demonstrates how we live on through the stories we create. There is no happy ending but there is closure to the grief of growing up through tragedy.
Derek Van Barham and Brittney Brown pull this ensemble into a moving community of young characters that touches our heart. Van Barham’s choreography masterfully works with what I found to be an awkward set and creates evocative and memorable visual moments.
Rachel Sypniewski’s costumes and Keith Ryans wigs are outstanding. And special kudos; as no one is credited as the dialect coach, this ensemble handles a subtle British accent well.
Alice by Heart is playing Thursdays through Sundays at the Chopin Studio Theatre, 1543 W Division Street in Chicago through September 29,2024. For tickets and information go to https://www.kokandyproductions.com/
For more reviews go to https://www.theatreinchicago.com
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