On the night of Monday, March 2, I went to Park Square Theatre in downtown St. Paul to see a concert reading of Alice’s Wonderland, a new musical from two young theatermakers in the Twin Cities: Jack Moorman (book, lyrics) and Lucas Ellingson (music). Remember those names. I have a feeling we’re going to hear a lot more from them in the future.
If you missed it, you won’t be able to catch Alice’s Wonderland, at least for the moment, as it was a one-night-only presentation. Although, before the musical began, Jack said that their hope was to fully complete the show before the reading so that any theater could license it and stage it themselves — and they accomplished that. Hopefully some intrepid theater company will take them up on that offer. (You can email jackmoorm@gmail.com if you’re interested.)
So what’s it about? The title implies a riff on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, but it’s got a unique spin. Here, Alice has become an adult and realized that life isn’t as magical as she thought when she was a child. Maybe it’s not worth living at all. Enter: younger Alice, who arrives in Wonderland in similar fashion as the story we all know, but must save the topsy-turvy world from the Queen (who we discover is actually older Alice) who is bent on destroying it. Along the way, little Alice alternately befriends and butts heads with characters from the Caterpillar to the Cheshire Cat to the Mock Turtle.
It’s a wild and tender and heartfelt musical. It was thrilling to be in the audience that night.
The pop-rock score Moorman and Ellingson have employed here makes it feel fairly similar to Alice by Heart, the Carroll-inspired musical from the Spring Awakening team of Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater (plus book co-writer Jessie Nelson) that had its Off-Broadway debut in 2019, and which also happens to be one of my favorite musicals of the past decade. The similarities are not exactly a surprise, as Moorman was a directing fellow on a production of that show put on by the Emerging Professionals Ensemble in July 2024 (which I reviewed). The cast here also has some carryover from EPE, as Sophie La Fave (who played Alice in that Alice by Heart) played the Queen and Marie Faustina Peterson played the Cheshire Cat in both productions. I was glad to see both of those actresses back — they have some of the most arresting voices you’ll hear on Twin Cities stages. Local directors: please seek them out and cast them.
Alice’s Wonderland also reminded me of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, for two reasons: it’s one of the first musicals from a dynamic new duo (Joseph being the first show performed in public from Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice); and while I believe pop-rock is a good general description of Ellingson’s music, this musical also spans a multitude of styles, from pop to folk to dance to punk to jazz standards. Even with that broad range, it still feels cohesive.
The cohesion was clear on that Monday night when I saw a cast of 14 young performers and five musicians (conducted by Ellingson) throw themselves into this material with abandon, anchored by the young and supremely talented Kenley Janzen as Alice. It’s also clear on the album. Yes, there’s an album of Alice’s Wonderland, which was actually released over a year ago when the show had a workshop at the Black Forest Inn through the New Play Series from Melancholics Anonymous.
That is the main reason I’m writing this. You may not be able to see Alice’s Wonderland right now, but you can listen to it (on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music). I don’t know about you, but I love brewing myself a cup of coffee or mixing a cocktail and sitting down to listen to an entire cast album I’ve never heard before that comes highly recommended — and I do highly recommend this.
If you’re not convinced yet, here are my five favorite songs from the album. Listen to them, add them to your playlists, share them with your friends, tell your local theater to check out Alice’s Wonderland, and keep an eye out for more from Moorman and Ellingson.
1. “Blue Skies”
In the concert reading I attended, this song was sung with bright-eyed optimism by Kenley Janzen, who played young Alice. On the album, Sophie La Fave takes on the main role, and she turns this introduction to Alice into a rose-colored earworm. I especially love Moorman’s lyrics, which capture the easy poetry of childhood, like here: “snow angels in early May / watching all the trees sway in the wind / their limber limbs.”
2. “Mad”
This solo for the Cheshire Cat, played by Marie Faustina Peterson (on the album and in the reading), doesn’t go where you think it will musically, and that’s part of why I love Ellingson’s composition. I also love that it feels like a melancholy jazz standard, thanks in large part to Peterson’s lush vocals. It was even better live — looser, more lived in — but I guess you’ll have to take my word for it.
3. “Croquet”
The soundtrack for a croquet match with the Queen, this one starts off with a bang. Thirteen seconds in and we’re already in the Lady Gaga-style chorus. It’s one of the more repetitive songs, but I love this dance club track because it shows the range of Moorman and Ellingson, and that they’re not afraid to have some fun. The cast let loose during this one.
4. “Turtle Soup”
In Lewis Carroll’s original story, there’s a point where the Mock Turtle sings a song called “Turtle Soup,” egged on by Alice and the Gryphon. While Moorman nabbed a couple lines, that’s where the similarities end — they took that suggestion and ran with it, creating this seven-minute ode to staying true to yourself. It’s written as a folksy campfire singalong, and I was a fan from the first listen. Since the show, though, it’s also become a favorite of my two-year-old daughter. She asks to listen to it all the time, and she knows almost all the words. I literally sing it to her at bedtime. Another reason for a local theater company to do this: all ages appeal.
5. “Growing Up”
You may be thinking, this is all well and good, but where’s the song that shows their classic musical theater chops? Where’s the tear-jerking duet with beautiful harmonies that could be sung at auditions and cabaret performances and in car singalongs? Here it is. I have no notes for this moment between little Alice and big Alice.
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