LISTEN TO THE RADIO INTERVIEW HERE
Cast members perform songs from the Alice in Wonderland-inspired musical
Sarah Junette Dahmen, Henry McNulty, Jake Schaefer, Jonah Taylor and Taylor Wenglikowski joined E.J. Iannelli in the KPBX studio to talk about the Spokane Civic Theatre’s new production of Alice by Heart ahead of its opening this weekend.
Schaefer and Dahmen are co-directing this production, which is the Northwest premiere of Alice by Heart.
The musical features music by Duncan Sheik, lyrics by Steven Sater and a book by Sater with Jessie Nelson. Sheik and Sater were also the creative team behind Spring Awakening, the rock musical that Schaefer and Dahmen co-directed during the summer of 2019.
Taylor and Wenglikowski are playing Alfred and Alice, respectively, two friends who are sheltering from the bombs during the London Blitz. Alfred is dying of tuberculosis, and Alice attempts to comfort him by retelling the story of Alice in Wonderland.
The cast members offered some background on their characters, and the creative team discussed the music, the scene-shifting between London and Wonderland, and the large number of cast members who are making their Civic debut.
At the start, Wenglikowski and Taylor performed the song “Still” live in the SPR performance space accompanied by McNulty on piano. The same trio closed with the song “Afternoon.”
Unfortunately, due to a technical error, the audio recording of the interview did not save properly. However, we are still able to make the videos available that were captured during the live performance.
Alice by Heart opens this Friday (July 14) on the Spokane Civic Theatre’s main stage and runs until July 23.
Photo: Savanna Rothe