Lewis Carroll’s timeless classic has been adapted for the stage once again, this time as a mimed circus show with a live original score featuring Grammy- and Emmy award-winning vocalist LC Powell.
In this production inspired by “Alice in Wonderland,” Alice, The White Rabbit, The Mad Hatter, The Cheshire Cat, The Blue Caterpillar and The Queen of Hearts are all played by acrobats, aerialists, jugglers, dancers and contortionists.
(Courtesy of MOTH Live Entertainment)
Deena Marcum Selko, MOTH Live Entertainment
Alice may not be able to shrink and grow with the help of animation here, but she still has plenty of tricks up her sleeve – and sure knows what to do with a hula hoop. As a matter of fact, promotional materials say members of the all-star cast have appeared in Cirque du Soleil productions, in films such as “The Greatest Showman” and in TV shows including “America’s Got Talent.”
“I hire triple threats in the circus world. The spectacle and level of skill is there,” said show creator Deena Marcum Selko, artistic director of MOTH Live Entertainment. “My specialty is honing in on the individual artists that I have and showcasing each performer.”
The world premiere of this family-friendly show will be at the Adrienne
Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Miami for two days only on Friday, July 28, and Saturday, July 29. It will subsequently tour in South and Central America before returning stateside.
(Courtesy of MOTH Live Entertainment)
Alice getting ready to be lifted skyward in “Alice in Wonderland, A Musical Cirque Adventure.”
Not affiliated with Cirque du Soleil, this production was created by Selko through the company she founded in 2008. MOTH is actually an acronym for Movement of the Heart. The circus artist, teacher and producer has a BFA in dance from Marymount Manhattan College in New York, with a specialization in contemporary ballet. Her musician and visual-artist parents were also an influence.
“For me it’s about telling stories, from Broadway-style to the grand spectacle of circus. All of these things have become the foundation to tell stories,” she said.
Besides “Alice,” which was supposed to premiere right before the pandemic struck, Selko has developed “Cirque Side of the Moon,” “Voodoo Mardi Gras Circus,” “Metamorphoses,” E’Lectrique Dollhouse Circus’” and “The Nutcracker Circus,” among others.
“Alice” opens with a short narration, a poem from the original book to set the tone, then it’s all up to the performers. Powell sings the plot to the audience in Broadway style, coming in and out of the story, although “the score is so beautiful and tells the story without words, the way that music should be for a musical cirque adventure,” said Selko.
In the end, the experience should transcend anything that’s happening in the outside world.
“It’s about feeling something as a human being ... If people are seated in a theater together their hearts are syncing and we’re coming together in humanity,” Selko told Biscayne Times.
Sounds like something worth following Alice down the rabbit hole to Wonderland for.
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(Courtesy of MOTH Live Entertainment)
An acrobat in “Alice in Wonderland, A Musical Cirque Adventure.”
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(Courtesy of MOTH Live Entertainment)
A little juggling at a tea party never hurt, just don’t spill the tea.
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(Courtesy of MOTH Live Entertainment)
The cast of characters in “Alice in Wonderland, A Musical Cirque Adventure” being distracted by an aerialist, no doubt.
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(Courtesy of MOTH Live Entertainment)
The Mad Hatter being very dramatic – as he is wont to do – in “Alice in Wonderland, A Musical Cirque Adventure.”