CHAPTER 19 -- THE ALICE IN WONDERLAND NEWSPAGE

IT WAS BOUND TO HAPPEN!

Although "Alice In Wonderland" has fascinated Harold Egeln since childhood, among countless other fascinations, he wrote his first published article on "Wonderland" in March 2002 in one of the newspapers he works for as a full-time general assignment reporter and photo-journalist. He, also, recently became a dues-paying member of the Lewis Carroll Society of North America, based at Princeton University in New Jersey. It was bound to happen! Here is the newspaper article, reaching nearly half of Brooklyn's neighborhoods, with more items to follow....

PUPPETWORKS' 'ALICE IN WONDERLAND' DELIGHTS! By Harold Egeln, March 23, 2002 You don't have to follow the White Rabbit too far to get into Wonderland. You can take the "R" subway train, as in "rabbit." For Wonderland, along with Alice and the Cheshire Cat, can be found in Park Slope, Brooklyn, thanks to woodcarved marionettes. "ALICE IN WONDERLAND" is the latest musical production by Puppetworks, Inc., at 338 Sixth Avenue, on the corner of Fourth Street. "They took me and my children into Wonderland. The magic came alive and ourfamily was in another world," said Gerry Wiiliams at a recent performance. "It was pure delight, an awesome fantasy." The production, performed every weekend through Marc 24, combines the popular Lewis Carrol stories of "Alice's Adventures In Wonderland" and "Alice Through the Looking Glass." It is produced by the marvelous ,agic-makers of Puppetworks, whose hand-carved marionettes are designed and directed by Nicholas Coppola, the Bensonhurst-born wizard behind "the looking glass" of the little stage at the storefront theater. When Alice is with her cat Dinah, steps through the Looking Glass and meets the White Rabbit, the audience of cildren and adults is transported to a realm that has enchanted generations since its creation in 1863 by British mathematician Charles Dodgson, a/k/a Lewis Carroll. The show also has favorites like the Mad Hatter, Caterpillar, the March Hare, the Queen and Knave of Hearts, and Tweedledum and Tweedledee, among others. It features original music and songs worthy of a hit Broadway musical show by composer George Brackman, score arranged by Bruce Hauck, with background music by great classical composers Michael Praetorius and Benja,on Britten. The wonderful stage scenery is by Kevin Frisch, with sound and lighting by Terry Alan Smith, Puppetworks' general manager. Chief puppeteer is Michael Leach, who is assisted by a pool of nine talented puppeteers and voices.

PUPPETWORKS WAS FOUNDED in 1980 by Coppola, and is a not-for-profit esemble which grew out of his childhood fascination with marionettes. When he was a third grader at P.S. 200 in the mid-1940s, he saw the Suzari Marionettes, which so enchanted him that his mother, a seamstress, and an uncle, a tailor, made his first marionette. At age 19 in 1954 Coppola joined the Suzari Marionettes, his inspiration, of which he became artistic director in 1962 at age 27. The marionette company then became the Nicolo Marionettes, which also toured nationwide. In 1976 Puppetworks was invited to stage performances at Macy's Herald Square store, and the two have been stringing along ever since, with shows familiar to families in the holiday season near Macy's Santa-Land. When "Alice" leaves the Park Slope neighborhood of Wonderland, "Pinocchio" will come on stage each weekend from April 6-7 to August 23-24, followed by "Sleeping Beauty," weekends from August 31 through mid-December. Puppetworks also performs group shows and birthday party shows. On show days visit the souvenir boutique, managed by Lawrence Rush, with puppets and related items on display. #30# (This article originally appeared in one of the newspapers for which I work as a general assignment reporter and photojournalist.) (: (: (: (: (: (: (: (: (: (: (: (: (: (: (: (: (: (: (:

ALICE DEBUTS IN PARK SLOPE WONDERLAND By Harold Egeln, July 19-27, 2002 Following in the steps of the White Rabbit is a theater troupe in Park Slope, Brooklyn, where people find themselves drawn diwn a rabbit hole into Wonderland. "ALICE IN WONDERLAND: A NEW MUSICAL" by Park Slope resident Phil Greenwood debuted on July 12 and runs for four weekends through August 4, performed by the Brooklyn Famly Theater at the Church of the Gethsemane, at 1012 Eighth Avenue at Tenth Street. In a clever twist, the musical alternates between two worlds. One has the stories of "Alice's Adventures In Wonderland" and "Alice Through the Looking Glass." The other is that of the real life Alice Liddell Hargreaves, as a child and an adult, and that of British author Lewis Carroll (whose real name was Charles Dodgson), a mathematician at Christ Chuch College in Oxford. The musical is based on the classic books, the letters of their author and the diaries of the real life Alice. Playing Carroll/Dodgson is baritone Walt Frasier and playing Alie is Erin Iwanusa. The new musical, under the direction of Lorraine Stobbe, begins on a golden afternoon in the church garden as the audience stands under the trees. FROM OUT BEHIND A TREE hops the frantic White Rabbit, played by Joe Sonnenshein, inviting the audience to follow him. The path narrows as if one were passing through a rabbit hole into Wonderland and its source, set in the church, which serves as the stage. In the background is Carroll's study, encircled by three large black and gray paintings of the Mad Hatter's Tea Party garden, the Caterpillar's mushroom and the Queen of Hearts' chessboard lawn. These are made as faithful recreations of artist John Tenniel's original Victorian illustrations in the Alice in Wonderland book, published in 1865. The setting is arranged so that the characters and scenes seem to emerge from the famous author's study, as if though a looking glass that reflects his imagination. Nine actors, invluding two children, play the musical's 25 roles, using various artistic headgear, based on Tenniel's drawings to identify their characters. Through the ensemble's unique and innovative theatrical style, used in past productions such "Godspell," the audience enters into Carroll's imagination as he talks about how his story was created and as Alice Liddell flits between the storybook Alice and her real self. THERE ARE 12 ORIGINAL musical numbers, scored and scripted by Greenland, with a mix of music styles from the Victorian Age, along with marches, polkas and Dixieland, all played on piano, compiter electronic keyboards, percussion and clarinet. It all gets "curiouser and curiouser" as the music enchants with songs such as "The Young Heart" and "Gloria As in Highest Heaven" sung by Carroll, along with delightful foot-tapping songs. They include "The Walrus and the Carpenter" sung by Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum (Daniel Zinamo and Troy Lescher), ad "Happy Unbirthday" with the Mad Hatter (Lescher), the March Hare (Roxanne Rose), the Dormouse and Alice. Other fun songs are "The Lobster Quadrille" and "Beautiful Soup" making everyone smile like a Cheshire Cat. There are two emotionally moving songs. The first is "The Letters" sung by Fraiser and Iwanusa, based on actual letters by Carroll to the child Alice. The second is "When You Think of Love," sung by Alice and Wonderland's cast in the finale. The other actors are youngsters Alia Akili and Mint Tro, playing roles that include the Three and Five of Hearts, Tiger Lily and Rose, and Laurice Fattal. Helping the production are Joey Del Bruno, Jonathan Valuckas, ric Kever Ryle and Larry Lust, with support for the play by Reverend Liz Alexander, the Justice-Works Committee, and the church, among others. "ALICE HAS BEEN ON MY BACK BURNER for a few seasons and I am proud to see it staged now," said Greenland. "In bringing such a piece of work to the stage, we wanted the audience to witness the creative process," said director Stobbe, founder of the Brooklyn Family Theater. "Greenland's adaption personalizes the auhor and his inspiration, the real life Alice." The first staging of the classic book was an operetta in 1886, when Carroll was alive, and the last production in Park Slope was by Puppet Works this past Spring. (This article appeared in July 2002 in two of the newspapers that Harold Egeln works for.) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)