Wonderland

About the show

The story, in the Broadway production, was as follows: Act 1 Author Alice Stetson and her daughter have just moved to Queens, New York so that Alice can have some space from her husband, Jack ("Home"). Her young daughter, Chloe, laments about the move and her family's demise, as Alice notes that her life isn't going in the direction she had hoped. Edwina, Jack's mother, is cooking dinner for Chloe. Alice, who has just hit her head on the light of the building's service elevator, receives her children's book manuscript back from the publishers, who have coldly rejected it, saying it is too dark for children. She sadly makes a comment that Alice in Wonderland, the book Edwina had been reading to Chloe, was dark. As she lies down, she is awoken by a white rabbit who she follows down to Wonderland ("Down the Rabbit Hole"). In Wonderland, she encounters strange people and creatures who are dressed in the same dresses that the original Alice in Wonderland is known to wear ("Welcome to Wonderland"). She tries to discover why she has been brought there, and finds a mysterious drink ("Drink Me"). She then encounters the Caterpillar, whose advice is to follow in the footsteps of El Gato (the Cheshire Cat) to find out who she is ("Advice from a Caterpillar" and "Go With the Flow"). El Gato believes himself to be invisible, but he has lost the power; Alice learns from the Caterpillar that the characters in Wonderland "don't have the heart to tell him". El Gato leads her to the White Rabbit, when White Knight makes a grand entrance. He and his cohorts promises to save her at all means ("One Knight") and invites her to the Tea Party ("The Mad Tea Party"). At the party, the Mad Hatter announces with flair that she intends to rule things in Wonderland ("The Mad Hatter"). She reads Alice's tea leaves, commenting on Alice's bad qualities as the Queen arrives. The Queen announces that she is the ruler and all must obey her, or it will be off with your head ("All Hail the Queen"). Alice promises to take the Queen a brand new kingdom – the kingdom of Queens (a reference to her home in New York). The Hatter, angry, goes with Morris the March Hare to find her revenge on Alice who is a threat to the Hatter's plans. The Rabbit, El Gato, Caterpillar and Jack the White Knight all agree to help Alice find the service elevator that brought her there. Alice just wants to go home, as she and Chloe, in their new apartment, yearn for the way things used to be ("Home Reprise"). The Mad Hatter, who uses the name "Maddie", and the March Hare ascend the rabbit hole to Chloe's bedroom. They convince Chloe to come with them to help with Alice and Jack's marriage treatment to bring the family closer together ("A Nice Little Walk"). Chloe goes with them to Wonderland. However, the Hatter takes Chloe to the Land of the Looking-Glass as a prisoner, the Hatter's side of the kingdom, given to her by the Queen of Hearts, where she captures and turns her prisoners' "brains to tapioca". Jack agrees to help Alice in exchange for a kiss, as the White Rabbit makes mention of this news. Together, Alice, Jack, Rabbit, El Gato and the Caterpillar agree to break through the Looking-Glass to save Chloe ("Through the Looking Glass"). Act 2 Inside the Hatter's war room, she locks Chloe in the tallest dungeon. She also captures the Caterpillar, El Gato and the White Knight as they fight to free Alice (and the Rabbit). The Hatter declares she will win her battle ("I Will Prevail"). Alice finds herself in front of a door with the comedy and tragedy masks. She notices above the door the word "THEATRICAL" (which changes spell HATTER and ALICE, with the letter "E" rotating between the two names) though she misses the clue the first time, this is when the Rabbit tells Alice that he can turn back time by just "winding back his watch". Alice tells the Rabbit to get captured and use the watch to save everyone. After the Rabbit leaves, Alice enters and encounters Lewis Carroll (the Victorian Gentleman). He encourages her to write something that is important to her, something she dreamt of ("I Am My Own Invention"). The Hatter delivers the list of executions to the Queen of Hearts, 7 beheadings, with the names of 6 of the characters and a "wildcard" slot (meant for the Queen). The Hatter eggs her on that she is the only one who can say "Off with their heads" with such flair, and convinces the Queen to allow the beheadings to take place in the land of the Looking-Glass. The Queen delights in the truth of her signature phrase ("Off With Their Heads"). Lewis Carroll leads Alice to a hall of mirrors, where she believes she has found Chloe. However, she realizes she is talking to a young Alice. She finally learns why she was brought to Wonderland: to remember and love who she is and was ("Once More I Can See"). Back at the prison, the Rabbit is captured. When Morris the March Hare asks for any valuables he wants them to keep safe, he hands over the watch. When Jack asks why he was captured, he explains about the watch to save them, but the prisoners are dismayed at the news. Jack tells the Rabbit to find dismiss his fears, that they will get the watch back, but they must attack the very men they are trying to save. They defeat the prison guards, who are Jack's Boy-Band Knights that were transformed after the Hatter brought them under her control, and return them to their normal mindset when they get the watch back. They free the rest of the guards from the Hatter's command, leaving her defenseless. The boy-band, Jack, Caterpillar, Rabbit and El Gato save Alice from the dungeon and learn that together, anything is possible ("Together"). Morris hands over the beheading list to Jack, where they learn of the Hatter's plans to overthrow everyone, including the Queen. When the Hatter arrives to taunt Alice with a final riddle, Alice learns that the Hatter is the alter-ego of herself. Alice did not come to Wonderland when she was supposed, due to her mother's death and her childhood coming to an end, over two decades prior. Due to this, the Hatter was created out of every bad moment Alice has ever faced in her life. The Queen, learning of the Hatter's plan to behead her, banishes the Hatter to the underground world. Alice, who tries to defend the Hatter, is held at knife-point until Jack saves her. However, he is brought down to the underworld as well. Alice is happy that she may leave with Chloe, but the two lament Jack's death as they go home ("Heroes"). Alice awakens from her dream when her husband, Jack, arrives with Chloe's forgotten doll and claiming it is his White Knight syndrome that drove him there and his desire to protect his family since they're under a new roof. Alice embraces him and realizes what she has in front of her eyes, the family is together once again. As they all head down for dinner, she remains behind for a moment to write down what she has learned from her adventures in Wonderland, but especially what she learned from the rabbit, that time is fleeting, and from her dream: "ordinary magic happens every single day", and it is all around us in the simplest ways ("Finding Wonderland").