Ballet Quad Cities' "Alice in Wonderland" at the Adler Theatre -- April 9 (photo from Ballet Quad Cities' "Alice in Wonderland" at the Outing Club in 2021)
Saturday, April 9, 2:30 & 7:30 p.m.
Adler Theatre, 136 East Third Street, Davenport IA
On April 9, the talents of Ballet Quad Cities return to the Adler Theatre with two performances of Lewis Carroll's storybook classic Alice in Wonderland, its score boasting a collection of beautiful Pyotr Illyich Tchaikovsky compositions, and Carroll's unforgettable characters enacted by 13 gifted professional dancers. If the combination of company and venue sounds familiar, that might be because you saw Ballet Quad Cities stage this work at the Davenport theatre in 2018. Then again, a lot of people didn't – included the members of the production's originally planned-for orchestra.
“There was a crazy spring snowstorm,” says Ballet Quad Cities Artistic Director and Alice in Wonderland choreographer Courtney Lyon of March 24, 2018 – the day of Alice's two Adler performances that found even the ballet's Orchestra Iowa musicians unable to able to attend. “We put on the show anyway. But the orchestra couldn't get here because of snow on the highway, so we had to use a recorded version of the score. And a lot of people couldn't get out of their driveways to see it.”
To help make up for those performances that Ballet Quad Cities fans were deprived of, the company decided to re-stage its Alice in Wonderland last year at Davenport's Outing Club, albeit in one-act form. “It went awesome,” says Lyon. “Because that's a much smaller venue, I shrunk the cast down to, I think, six professional dancers and a handful of student dancers, and we tried to keep it down to an hour. But people loved it. Those costumes are super-fun, and the audience was so close to it – like, they were just a few feet away. They were right in front of you.
“But for me,” Lyon continues, “it feels really good to get back on a big stage. So for this one, we have our 13 paid, professional dancers, and then we have a handful of community dancers joining. So it has a bigger cast, but it also has all the backdrops and the lighting and the effects and new props … . And we're ending our 25th-anniversary season with this one – with these dancers who've come from all across the country and are phenomenal dancers and actors.”
Among the cast for the 2022 Alice in Wonderland is Madeleine Rhode in the featured role of Alice, and her dozen fellow company members will be showcased in roles that every Lewis Carroll fan is surely familiar with, including: the White Rabbit (Claire Cordano); the Mad Hatter (Jillia Van Cura); the Dormouse (Isabelle Millet); the March Hare (Eleanor Ambler); and the evil Queen of Hearts (Mahalia Zellmer). Participating students from the Ballet Quad Cities School of Dance include Ava Coussens, Livia Dodd, and Julia Ellis. And with numerous additional roles also danced and acted by company members Ruby Anderson, Nicholas Bartolotti, Elizabeth Brooks, Sierra DeYoung, Madeline McLaughlin, and Kira Roberts, Ballet Quad Cities' Christian Knopp plays the Cheshire Cat – a role happily returning to the ballet after being sidelined-for-necessity last year.
In order to turn Alice in Wonderland into an effective hour-long Outing Club entertainment in 2021, says Lyon, “There were certain scenes I had to cut that didn't necessarily further the story. Like, I had to cut the Cheshire Cat scene. That dance I originally created as a pas de deux for Alice and the cat, with the cat becoming invisible and his smile the only thing left. At the Adler, my idea was that the dancers would be dressed in black against a black backdrop, and then when the cat is partnering Alice, it looks like she's floating. And then there a huge gobo light of the Cheshire Cat's smile across the stage, to give the idea that the cat is there but you can't see him. But that scene didn't work when we were in the Outing Club ballroom and we had no effects.”
As Lyon says, however, “the Cat is back” in the April 9 Adler performances, and she's thrilled for Ballet Quad Cities to again stage its Alice in Wonderland with the grandeur it deserves, and for the varied generations of viewers who adore, and have continued to adore, Carroll's legendary tale.
“I think it's the humor in it that gets to everyone,” says Lyon. “And also, it's the fact that while it seemingly appeals to kids with all the bright colors and the funny characters and animals that come to life, I think the wiser you are, and the longer you've lived, you start understanding how the story is put together. It just gets wilder and wilder – and it just gets richer and richer the older you get.”
Ballet Quad Cities' Alice in Wonderland will be performed in Davenport on April 9 at 2:30 and 7:30 p.m., admission is $15-25, and tickets are available by calling (800)745-3000 and visiting AdlerTheatre.com. For more information on the production and its company, call (309)786-3779 and visit BalletQuadCities.com.
