Alice by Heart

C-

I had misgivings about seeing this latest riff on the Lewis Carroll classic because, through some genetic quirk, I have always been immune to its charms. However, since the new musical has music by Duncan Sheik and a book by Steven Sater (with Jessie Nelson, who also directed), the team behind Spring Awakening, I decided to chance it. I was also eager to see the larger of the two theaters at MCC’s new space in the Far West 50’s. Loved the theater, endured the musical. In this version, set in a London Underground station in use as a bomb shelter during WWII, Alice (Molly Gordon; Sweeney Todd) is a young girl, orphaned in the Blitz, who tries to combat the awfulness of shelter life by rereading her beloved Alice in Wonderland. When her best friend Alfred (Colton Ryan; Girl from the North Country) is brought to the shelter severely ill, the two share their love of the Carroll book and fall through the rabbit hole into Wonderland where the residents of the shelter become characters from the book. I will leave matters there because further developments were too confusing to try to explain. Perhaps a closer knowledge of Carroll’s work might have helped, but I doubt it. I particularly objected to the book’s pandering to the audience by throwing in an occasional word like “kvell” or “haftorah.” A few of the songs made a strong impression, but they began to sound alike after a while. The talented young cast of 12, also including Mia Dilena, Zachary Downer, Noah Galvin, Zachary Infante, Andrew Kober, Grace McClean, Nkeki Obi-Melekwe, Catherine Ricfort, Heath Saunders and Wesley Taylor, was in fine voice and moved well. The choreography by Rick and Jeff Kuperman (The Light Princess) was inventive. The scenic design by Edward Pierce (Angels in America) was appropriately gloomy. Many of  Paloma Young’s (Permission, Yen) costumes were clever. Honesty compels me to report that many in the audience reacted to the show with great enthusiasm. The new theater shows great promise. It is wide but shallow, with no orchestra seats more than nine rows from the stage and just two rows in the mezzanine. Running time: one hour 40 minutes; no intermission.

Waitress

C+

It took me 2 1/2 years, but I finally got around to seeing this slick musical adaptation of Adrienne Shelly’s 2007 film, with music and lyrics by Sara Bareilles and a book by Jessie Nelson. With one exception, the entire cast has changed since the show opened. My reason for seeing it now was to catch the Broadway debut of the delightful Nicolette Robinson (Invisible Thread, Brooklynite) as Jenna. The roles of Jenna’s sidekicks have been recast well with NaTasha Yvette Williams (Chicago) as the brash Becky and Lenne Klingman as the shy Dawn. Benny Elledge is their boss Cal, Ben Thompson (Matilda) is Jenna’s abusive husband Earl and Al Roker (yes, that one) is the owner of Joe’s Pie Diner. Alex Wyse (Spring Awakening) is a scene stealer as Ogie, Dawn’s persistent suitor. Drew Gehling (Jersey Boys), the sole holdover from the original cast, is both goofy and ardent as Dr. Pomatter. The book offers no surprises other than its casual acceptance of adultery. The running pie-baking motif becomes tiresome quickly. The music is pleasant, but it is often difficult to make out the lyrics because the voices are harshly overamplified. The musicians, although only six in number, sound so loud that they occasionally threaten to drown out the singers. With today’s advanced technologies, these problems should not be hard to solve. The scenic design by Scott Pask (The Book of Mormon) is both attractive and flexible and the costumes by Suttirat Anne Larlarb (Of Mice and Men) are appropriate. Diane Paulus’s (Pippin) direction is relatively restrained. The show is only moderately entertaining, but apparently that’s enough to have kept it running this long. Running time: two hours 35 minutes, including intermission.