Stage Review - Alice By Heart (South Kitsap High School)

Stage Review - Alice By Heart
Presented By: South Kitsap High School - Port Orchard, WA
Show Run: January 31 - February 08, 2025
Date Reviewed: Saturday, February 08, 2025 (Closing Night)
Run Time: 90 minutes (no intermission)
Reviewed By: Greg Heilman

Every once in a while, I’m able to free up a night in my review schedule, or shift things around, allowing me to see something different, able to take a break from professional, regional, and community shows to get back to the roots of theatre, where many of the actors I see on the stages in the area have gotten their start, and with all of this I’m talking about high school programs. It’s difficult for me to fit these into my schedule as they usually have short runs, and even harder to get out to see them early, and so it was with the South Kitsap High School production of Alice By Heart, which closed this past Saturday, February 8. Alice By Heart is a different take on the Alice in Wonderland story, one that is set in 1941, right after the London Blitz of World War II. After the bombing, teenager Alice Spencer, her best friend Alfred, and other classmates have fled underground into the London Tube to get away from the destruction on the surface. Set in a makeshift infirmary, Alfred has been separated from Alice due to his coming down with tuberculosis, and while the overworked staff do their best to keep them apart, Alice is determined to comfort her friend as his health degrades. Her solution is to read their favorite story, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, to him, but when she’s caught and a nurse rips her book beyond repair, she’s not deterred, after all she knows Alice by heart, so as she continues relating the story to him, the pair take a fresh trip down the rabbit hole, her goal to freeze time, preventing the inevitable, but their final journey together in Wonderland isn’t about the characters they meet, it’s about the reconciliation and their coming to terms with the reality of living in wartime and of matters of life and death.

Many may not be familiar with this piece, it ran off-Broadway in 2019, but its music has a familiar name associated with it, Duncan Sheik, who along with Steven Sater’s lyrics (Sater wrote the musical’s book with Jessie Nelson) has written a collection of excellent songs for the story. And the tale is most definitely not a fluff piece, and not just because of the time it’s set in, it deals in some pretty heavy subject matter, and for a high school production, it’s asking a lot of the actors to reach into areas that they may not have had experience with, unlike some older actors. So, for Director/Producer Sarah Lloyd, it’s a risky show to put up. But with a high level of risk comes a high level of reward when it’s done right, and Alice By Heart is most explicitly done right. In fact, for a high school show, I would put it up against many of the community productions that I’ve seen over the past few years as far as quality goes, and this is top to bottom. South Kitsap has a decent reputation when it comes to the level of quality in its shows, but I was generally surprised at exactly how good this one is. It’s got a top notch scenic design, led by Erik Furuheim and Brian Horch, Christopher Lubitz with lighting and Dayton Swanson with sound, each contributing to the look and feel of a makeshift infirmary setup in an unused London Tube station in the middle of one of the biggest attacks in the 20th century. The opening scene is the first highlight, a silhouette of Alice, backlit through a screen picking up a book, it’s a beautiful look and a nice way to kick off the musical. The only criticism, if I have one, is that sometimes actors wandered out of the spotlight when they were singing into shadow, but if that’s the only thing worth mentioning on the production side, it could also be the performance side, I have to remind myself that this is a high school production, I think that says a lot about how good the overall design is.

Even more impressive than the design are the performances from the group that was cast for this show. A lot of credit of course goes to music director Mike Allen and choreographer Abigail Brown, working with students of surely varied abilities in each of their respective disciplines and making the most of them. Musically, there was one song that was a bit of a miss on Saturday evening’s show, that being Manage Your Flamingo, which seemed a bit chaotic and the only number where the ensemble harmonies broke down a bit, but otherwise the group does very well, they have a full sound and manage their harmonies with consistency. Abigail’s choreography is quite creative at times as well, particularly the way she invokes the motion of a caterpillar and then in the Lobster Quadrille part of “Those Long Eyes”. And rounding out the design elements of Alice By Heart is the costuming, from Nic Clay, Rabiya Usman, and Jennifer Skinner, which here is more or less understated, nothing extravagant as we might see in other Alice tales, but enough to let the audience know which character is which, and considering there are some fairly quick changes, the practicality of it all makes complete sense and in that context the costume design is exactly what it should be, though I like how the Queen of Hearts and her court are costumed, especially the creative use of playing cards in each of the wardrobe pieces for the members of the court.

In a previous review I believe that I described Shelby Skinner as “one of the brightest young actors in the region”. I mentioned this after seeing her in a supporting role in a community production that I reviewed last season. Here, as Alice, Shelby has a chance to carry a show, to display her versatility in acting, singing, and dancing, and in a show that requires her to dig deep emotionally, to face things that many three times her age haven’t even yet had to face. As a result of this performance, Shelby hasn’t only further entrenched herself as one of the brightest and most promising actors in the region, she’s made a believer out of me, I’m convinced that she’s headed for much bigger things, if she chooses to pursue them. Her work as Alice is simply wonderful, she embodies everything we’ve come to expect out of the character from the stories we grew up with, but this is a more complicated Alice. Shelby’s Alice loves her friend, cries for her friend, and grieves for her friend, all things that are portrayed so well by the young actor. When Shelby moves across the stage, it seems as though she floats, as though there’s a force guiding her smoothly from one point to another, and she handles Abigail’s choreography effortlessly, but her strongest quality is her voice. Vocally, Shelby is outstanding, displaying quite a nice range and, although toward the end of the show on Saturday she struggled with some of the higher notes in her register, a good deal of confidence and power. All of this comes together to equal an incredible amount of stage presence that Shelby exudes, though without upstaging those around her. And the one around her for most of the story is Alfred, played by Tyson Wolfe, who also plays the White Rabbit and March Hare on the pair’s journey into Wonderland, when the other teenage patients all take on their own alter egos. Tyson, who I’ve reviewed in other community productions as well, is excellent as the ailing Alfred, his portrayal is mature beyond his years, impeccably carrying the range of emotions called for by the role. Tyson is at his best when he’s the White Rabbit, panicking about time, challenging Alice about ending the book while she wants it to keep going, thinking it will delay the inevitable, which of course it doesn’t, and when that inevitability is upon him, it’s absolutely heart wrenching. Scenes like these aren’t easy for anyone to perform, much less a teenager, but Tyson’s performance of each of them in this show are all so good, so human, and so real. Tyson, like Shelby, is surely going places, again if he chooses to. The maturity of his acting is well on display in this role, and his stage presence is on par with Shelby’s, the two of them together are a force, and while Tyson lacks her range vocally, he keeps up with her within their harmonies and when they sing together in songs like “The Key Is”, which is a fantastic ensemble number that features the pair, they sound wonderful.

There are nice performances among the supporting cast as well, in addition to their work as an ensemble. Vocally, Macy Byrd is a very good Cheshire Cat, Alice’s voice of reason, Megan Hubbs as the Queen of Hearts does very well especially in her “Isn’t it a Trial” featured number, and Biya Usman is a soulful caterpillar with a phenomenal voice. Each perform their musical numbers with a good deal of skill. Max Hovley as the Mad Hatter is also very good in his role. It’s a supporting cast that is rounded out by Izzie Cardinal as the Duchess, Ali Fager as the Dormouse, Joseph Paquette as the King of Hearts, Elaina Bagcal as the Queen of Diamonds, Robyn Payumo as Caterpillar 2, Star Spencer, Lydia Shook, and Moana Heinze as the Knaves, Clarke Stewart, Nic Clay, and Lillian Abdallah as the Mock Turtles, and Lily Zacharda and Evan Lindseth as Young Alice and Young Alfred, respectively.

Alice By Heart is a lesser known derivative of the Alice in Wonderland canon, but with catchy songs and an emotional and human story, it’s one that when it’s seen it’s not soon forgotten. The latest production of Alice By Heart just closed at South Kitsap High School, but to consider it a high school production doesn’t give it nearly enough credit. The overall quality of the production, from the scenic design to the lighting and sound, music and choreography, are all on par with anything that is on community theatre stages in the region, while the performances from this cast, and especially leads Shelby Skinner and Tyson Wolfe, have a quality and a maturity well beyond their years. And while the production has closed, keep an eye out for more from this group, both at the high school and community levels in the next few years, and down the line on much larger stages.

The South Kitsap High School production of Alice By Heart has closed, but keep an eye out for future performances.

Photo credit: Joe Saladino