Alice’s Wonderland Gets Curiouser and Curiouser

In GTC KIDS’ new “Alice in Wonderland,” the White Rabbit explains to a bewildered Alice how Wonderland offenders are punished even before their crimes have been committed and how wounds sting minutes before they’re inflicted. In fact, everything is quite upside-down and backward.

The same could be said for this show. With a script that was still being written well into previews and a director whose credits lean far more toward adult theater than family shows, “Alice” turns the usual youth-theater process on its head. The result, like Wonderland, leaves visitors entertained but frequently befuddled. The hourlong musical opened last weekend at the Gem Theater and continues most weekends through June 30.

Adapted and directed by GTC artistic director Kevin Cochran with input from his 13-member, 10- to 17-year-old cast, “Alice” reunites many of the characters and situations of Lewis Carroll’s 19th century classics, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There.”

Alice and the flowers still swap gibes in the garden; the White Rabbit still frets about the Red Queen’s ire, and the Queen obliges with her usual fits of pique.

The play, enlivened considerably by Tim Nelson’s original music and lyrics, attempts to retain Carroll’s riddling dialogue. But that dialogue is bent to suit the show’s own purposes, whether that means putting it into the mouths of different characters or updating it for young listeners.

When it works, and it often does, the thanks generally go to Nelson’s inventive tunes, such as the White Rabbit’s bluesy “A Backwards Song (or Song Backwards).”

Like other tunes in the show, it was hampered by an under-amplified score and a need for a chorus or at least a few backup singers. But Lindsay Mendez as the likable Rabbit gave it plenty of kick and sass.

“The Song of ‘M,’ ” a three-part round featuring the Dormouse, Mad Hatter and the March Hare, was also clever and sent more than one youngster humming into the lobby at intermission. (In an attempt to relieve youngsters’ restlessness, and to imitate traditional adult theater form, Cochran and KIDS coordinator Charles Johanson opted to split the show into two acts.)

The second-act zinger, “Croquet,” is a rock-spiritual number that Vanessa Ramich as the Queen plays to the hilt. It practically bowls you over with its energy and sheer volume, about twice that of the rest of the musical numbers.

Mood-wise, the number is way out of sync with the rest of the play, but the crowd at Sunday’s performance didn’t seem to care a whit. Don Nelson’s vivid costumes rivaled Nelson’s tunes at their best: imaginative, colorful and memorably off-kilter.

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The dialogue doesn’t always fare so well. There are several instances in which Cochran mishandles Carroll’s wit and wisdom, mostly when he tries to make the story more kid-friendly.

In an early scene, the mind-twisting riddles of the flowers (Jonathan Hoover, Erika Nicole Pedersen and Heather Hogan) are simplified to the point of bad puns.

Later, those same actors, as the Queen’s guards, segue for no apparent reason into a chummy ode to friendship, “I’ll Always Be There.” Musically and pacing-wise, it’s one of the show’s low points.

Through it all, April Quinn’s Alice remains constant: a 12-year-old girl who views Wonderland’s eccentricities with a critical eye but who is nonetheless willing to play along with the nonsense.

After all, as she points out to her young audience in the show’s opening tune and reprise, she’s the one who’s in control, because with her own vivid imagination at the helm, it’s all “In My Mind.”

* “Alice in Wonderland,” Grove Theater Center’s Gem Theater, 12852 Main St., Garden Grove. Saturdays and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. through June 30 (no performances Memorial Day weekend). (714) 741-9550. Running time: 1 hour, 5 minutes.

April Quinn: Alice

Lindsay Mendez: White Rabbit

Jonathan Hoover: Tiger Lily/Two of Hearts

Erika Nicole Pedersen: Rose/Seven of Hearts

Heather Hogan: Violet/Five of Hearts

Stephanie Biehl: Cheshire Cat

Natalie-Callista Ramich: March Hare

Dennis Bj Tong: Mad Hatter

Mitchell Le: Dormouse

William Cardamis: Caterpillar

Vanessa Ramich: Queen of Hearts

Andrew Levine: King of Hearts

Don Shapiro: Jack of Hearts

A GTC KIDS production based on the books by Lewis Carroll. Adapted by Kevin Cochran. Music and original lyrics by Tim Nelson. Producers: Cochran and Charles Johanson. Directed by Cochran. Musical director: Tim Nelson. Costumes: Don Nelson. Sets: Leonard Ogden. Lighting: David Darwin. Stage manager: Hunter Stevenson.