Review: Children's Theatre offers a trippy 'Alice in Wonderland'

Run, white rabbit, run.

Even after the actors take their bows in the Children's Theatre Company's breathless production of "Alice in Wonderland," you get the feeling that Alice is still chasing that white rabbit down the rabbit hole from one hallucinogenic realm to another.

And whether she meets Humpty Dumpty with his endless and eggs-cessive puns, or Tweedledee and Tweedledum in balloon suits that make them look like blown-up molars, we're liable to laugh with glee.

Peter Brosius' production of the Lewis Carroll classic, which opened Saturday at the Minneapolis theater, has Alice hurrying after the bunny around the audience, in and out of doors and randomly across the stage. That enveloping action creates a sense of playful propulsion.

Brosius pulls out all the stops for his witty production, whose list of puppets and props alone reads like a treatise. And he taps a huge cast led admirably and unflaggingly by Audrey Mojica (she alternates the title role with Anja Arora).

Mojica, whose memorable roles have included title characters in "Matilda the Musical" and "Annie," is proving to be a genuine stage star. With her clear, well-paced gloss, she gives us a window into Alice's curiosity, pluck and strength as she encounters a world of zaniness in Wonderland.

Scholars have long argued that any comparison of "Alice" to a psychedelic fantasia says more about us, and our time of acid drops and mushroom hits, than about Carroll and his Victorian era. Carroll wasn't into psychotropic experiments, they insist, even if his juvenile book inspired everyone from Jefferson Airplane ("White Rabbit") to "The Matrix."

No matter, "Alice," Carroll's most famous creation, remains a trippy jaunt, even if Brosius tries to tame those comparisons by, for example, not having the caterpillar smoke a hookah. This stage adaptation by Sharon Holland also incorporates Carroll's nonsense poem "The Jabberwocky."

Standout performers at CTC include Taj Ruler as the Cheshire Cat. She has that signature smile, sometimes disembodied, and the roving wherewithal to be present everywhere.

Using limber physicality and effective stage tricks, Dean Holt and Nathan Keepers make daring stage magic at a table as the Mad Hatter and March Hare. The two are a deft physical show unto themselves. In other segments, Keepers also leads an inventive human-chain Caterpillar while Holt scares us with a potentially great fall as Humpty.

Kudos also to China Brickey as the menacing and sometimes otherworldly Queen of Hearts, and to Janely Rodriguez for her frightfully stylized Duchess. Bravo to Keegan Robinson and Antonisia Collins for their standout turn as Tweedledee and Tweedledum.

Brosius' production has lots of striking design elements, from G.W. Mercier's transporting set and Victorian era-nodding costumes to Paul Whitaker's lighting. Victor Zupanc's musical accompaniment offers vivid, full-throttle sounds that add dimension and color to the action of an "Alice" that's studded with delightful discovery.

'Alice in Wonderland'

Who: Adapted from Lewis Carroll's original by Sharon Holland. Directed by Peter Brosius.

Where: Children's Theatre Company, 2400 3rd Av. S., Mpls.

When: 7 p.m. Tue.-Sat., 2 & 5 p.m. Sun. Ends March 31.

Tickets: $15-$87. 612-874-0400 or childrenstheatre.org.