[TheWitch]

Hey, what do you all think of a very dark and frightening staging of Alice in Wonderland? The director for the next production was mulling over that idea and I wanted to get other people's opinian. I'm not sure if there's an actual script for a dark frightening version or not but it's also possible to go through the original skript and (without changing any dialogue at all but more through charecter directing and back ground music) see where you can alter the feel of it. One thing that we've come up with so far is having Alice slitting her wrists at the end of the "dream". Where every one is attacking her at the trial she finally loses it and slits her wrists and as she collapses the Queen of Hearts will walk to her and kneel down over her while every one else crowds around. The shouting and music rise in volume and a sort of "violence". Then the Queen takes out a knife from her dress (the dress will be covered in them) and as the music and shouting gets to it's loudest point the Queen brings the dagger down on Alice with an immediate black out and complete silence. As the lights come up we see Alice in the same position but with her sister crouched over her trying to wake her up. Do you all think it's too heavy? Or do you just hate it?

[Sweeney Hyde]

Is this for Community theatre, college, ...what?

[Monsieur D'Arque]

It just depends on your audience. But don't be discouraged- the idea has been done before with some success. Look at American McGee's Alice, the upcoming film based on the game of the same name, and Marilyn Manson's current film project, Phantasmagoria. All of those are the same concept as you described.

Alice In Wonderland is public domain, I believe, so feel free to write your own script to suit your needs. I'd go see it. I love a new take on anything.

[TheWitch]

comunity theater but a seperate company from that theater. you see most if not all of the shows done around here are geared towards children. Sweeney Todd was supposed to be our big summer musical but was scrapped for Bye Bye Birdie because it was not "child friendly". So because of that a few friends and I started up our own group that does more adult shows. We've just finished Rocky Horror which was a huge success and very well recieved so now we want to do something a bit more serious and dark. We went through a bunch of plays (posted about those) and came to the idea of doing Alice.

[TheWitch]

[what_the_heck013]

That sounds a bit extreme... and sad. You could have Alice emerged into a world of modern day controversies. Like Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum could be gay lovers. The Duchess could get an abortion. The Red Queen could be like a terrorist. A sort of modern allegory.

[Monsieur D'Arque]

However, as we've seen many times before, Alice can be taken to any extreme. Go with your gut.

[Dvarg]

[Monsieur D'Arque]

If you need a collaborator, I'm very interested. Send me your ideas. I've written three plays, the libretto for a jukebox musical, done a few adaptations from screenplays to stage plays, and reconceptualized one musical to a minimalistic staging, so I know a thing or two about experimental theatre.

[prettypanda09]

[TheWitch]

Thanks, Panda, I'm sure I'll be posting more as the play progresses. And, D'Arque, I'll deffinately be getting a hold of you once we start really getting into it.

[jayzee]

Wonderland was one of the top shows at the 2006 Minnesota Fringe Festival. I didn't get a chance to see that one but it was supposedly pretty good. You could contact the writers and see what they did and if they'd let you see a script.

[Monsieur D'Arque]

Wonderland was a gay camp disco erotic comedy version of the story, though. I think the show The Witch and I are shooting for is currently a darker than flamboyant style.

TheWitch, I've been brainstorming some ideas since we started discussion. I've got a lot of ideas and influences going into this, and I've broken them down into three major categories. Which one are you aiming for, or do you want to combine them? This is just two days of brainstorming, mind you...

1. Modern Goth: Terminally bleak, with industrial music and suicide galore. Influences include movies like Requiem for a Dream, Marilyn Manson and NIN music, and the nightclub rave scene.

2. Dark Comedy: Strange, surreal, and sometimes silly in a sick sort of way. Influences include the music of Voltaire, Tim Burton's Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands, the Threepenny Opera, and everything Jhonen Vasquez has ever done, especially Johnny the Homicidal Maniac.

3. Magic Realism: Surreal, dark, dreamlike and beautifully impenetrable. Influences include Cirque Du Soleil's "Quidam" video and CD, "Pan's Labyrinth," Japanese anime and manga, Alice Cooper's "Welcome To My Nightmare" album and concert video, and the earlier music of Genesis, especially the "Nursery Cryme" and "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" albums.

[TheWitch]

I'd say it would be a combination of Magic Realism and Dark Comedy. We want it to be very dark but have decided that it should have and edge of comedy here and there. What we've decided on is that each scene and each meeting of new charecters will have a slightly different visual theme and have them get darker and darker as the play goes on. We talked about having the Tea Party scene be almost like a cheap 1920's speak easy and have the Hatter slip spirits in his tea with a flask as the scene goes on. The Hatter will be tipsy, the March Hare drunk (trying to light a cigarette through out the scene but always shifting his attention so that the match burns his finger and he just starts all over), and the Door Mouse being completely sloshed (his being asleep through out most of the scene helps). We've also started talking a lot about music. And it's funny that you mention Pan's Labyrinth because it was after I saw the film that I had the idea of Alice slitting her wrists at the end. But yes would love to go over more with you.

[Monsieur D'Arque]

Like I said, PM me, AIM me, or email me

[luckystar_30]

So random..my theatre company up here in good ol' Canada was looking to do a rock musical Alice and Wonderland for the fringe festival this summer.
Has anyone seen Wonderland or familiar with the company who did it?
I'm looking for some info on how I would approch them with rights and such. Any suggestions?

[Monsieur D'Arque]

There is a link to a review on the previous page. I'm not sure I'd call it a rock musical though, so much as a gay camp revue with an Alice in Wonderland theme.

[luckystar_30]

Oh I know. I read that review and some others. The company was just throwing around ideas and when I saw that it seemed awsome. I was just hoping to get a copy of their script somehow. I emailed them, so hopefully I'll hear something soon!

[Monsieur D'Arque]

I believe it's all-male. Would that be a problem?

[Monsieur D'Arque]

Hey, TheWitch, are you still interested in working with me? I had some great ideas, but I just want to know if the project is still on.

[madhatterster]

I WAS working on a short musical of "Alice Underground" which would be a splatter-show (Evil Dead, Lieutenant Of Innishmore) puppet piece. Completely insane!

The idea started with me after I expressed an interest in adapting an extreme and psychotic ALICE. I wrote 9 lyrics for it, titles including "Lost In A Wonderland", which was sung by the character of Lewis Carroll 'confessing the truth' and damning the rumours of paedophilia, "Blood Is Thicker Than Water", which was an hallucinatory song in Wonderland, "Put This In Your Pipe (And Smoke It)", the caterpillar's song, the theme "Most Everyone's Mad Here", the nightmare song "The Monster In The Ice Field In The Darkness", the Mad Hatter and March Hare's show-stopping tour de FARCE "As Mad As It Gets", "I'm The Queen Of Hearts That Go POUND!" in which the Queen would describe the various satisfactions derived from executing people and the finale "God Works In Mysterious Ways" with the reprised opening song. *takes breath and continues*

It would be VERY faithful to the first book with the element of horror applied, enhancing the darker aspect of the story. It was also a play on perceptions, people back in Victorian times wouldn't have been bothered by half as many episodes as we are today. The Scotland writer who did the script changed everything, I mean EVERYTHING, and it became a psychotic piece of Alice being in a mental asylum-like hell, the Jabberwock being a deranged sign of the apocalypse who escapes at the climax of the musical. It's really quite BIZARRE. I don't know if I'm at liberty to share the script with anyone, but wow

The project fell apart, mainly because me and the composer have been working on something PARTICULARLY MAJOR, in addition to "The Dark Side Of Oz", another musical, and a fall-out with the Scotland writer (his credits included new musicals of "Phantom of the Opera" and "Jekyll & Hyde". Yeesh)

Is Brother Marvin Jr. still on this forum? He knows all about this.

Anyway, if anyone can pull it off, please keep me updated. It's definitely an intriguing concept