Spinning the Westerville South stage into the spitting image of 1940’s London, Troupe 513 put on a production of Jessie Nelson’s “Alice by Heart” last weekend. Students morphed the piece into a beautiful rendition of the Disney classic, “Alice in Wonderland,” over a rigorous six week process.
Matthew Wolfe, with the assistance of Tyler Domer and Cindy Straub, directed the contemporary musical. Wolfe, while being the primary theater educator in Westerville, put a lot of effort and time into making sure the show was ready for the public. Wolfe said that he was able to manage this by “leaving all of the show stuff until after school, and not stressing about it when he’s supposed to be in teacher mode.”
“Alice by Heart” follows the title character, Alice, and her best friend Alfred as their lives intertwine into the classic “Alice in Wonderland.” The story follows the pair as they travel through the story together, and explore the universe of “Alice in Wonderland.”
“Alice by Heart” was beautifully executed with very few flaws. Standout performances included Sophomore Josh Monson, who portrayed Alfred Hallem, the leading man and the two caterpillars, played by Juniors Susanna Mylin and Asher Light.
Onstage, did an amazing job vocally, specifically in the song “Down the Hole”,as it was one of his first singing features in the show, and he caught lots of people by surprise. He worked hard on developing his character, and it showed.
This was Monson’s first lead experience in a high school production. In past productions, Monson has played more upbeat characters; but as his first lead in experience in high school, he did exceptionally well portraying the darker, emotional aspects of Hallem’s character.
Monson and his onstage love interest, Junior Addie Gurgiolo, who portrayed Alice, appeared to have a genuine bond, which created a phenomenal chemistry on stage. Monson said a way he worked to develop this was “to really channel the character, all [Alfred] had was Alice, all of his family was dead so all he had was her, and I thought about that when trying to develop my character.”
Monson and Gurgolio’s body language highlighted their close relationship and enabled their characters to really be in sync with one another. As a result, the audience connected with them and enjoyed watching their characters develop throughout the show.
On the other hand, Light and Mylin also stood out with their interesting dynamic for Caterpillar 1 and Caterpillar 2, and the audience took notice of such.
The Caterpillars are more harsh and pus
hy characters, and they channeled this very well, especially in the song “Chilling” when the audience sees the Caterpillars try to persuade Alice into smoking.
Being longtime friends, Mylin and Light w
ere able to execute their characters w
ith ease. Light and Mylin have acted together in the past, in one acts or other school productions so working together is nothing new for either of them.
Mylin said, “The nature of the roles lent themselves very well to our friendship and had us in sync with each other.”
Being that “Alice by Heart” had a smal
l cast of only 20 students, Mylin said being in a show like this means “all the attention is on you; the people you’re trying to impress are your friends so it makes it kind of scary.”
When you’re trying to act around people you’re acquainted with, it can be scary and you won’t want to mess up. Mylin said this was one of the hardest parts of the performance.
Junior Maggie Benton, who played the Cheshire Cat, elaborated on the challenges of a small cast, “There’s so little time offstage, and it’s exhausting. Everyone is almost always used [on stage], so you don’t really get time to rest. It’s rewarding, but also really busy.”
The choreography of “Alice by Heart” was different from past South shows because the music had more of a contemporary feel and Straub helped convey that vibe with the dance routines. Straub has been choreographing at Westerville South for years, and the modern choreography was a new aspect in this show.
Gio Gooden, a senior, said, “The choreography for the show was definitely a new style for me, but I like the way it turned out and it definitely fit the show.” Contemporary style dances, or more slow and sad dances, are not usually what is shown in a musical, but for this show it made sense.
While performing a musical most students had never heard of, Troupe 513 delighted the audience with strong acting and vocal performances, as well as creative choreography and a detailed set, which brought the production to life.
If this show qualifies for the Ohio theater awards, the Marquees, a future award is a definite possibility for Troupe 513.
