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Show May Take Its Magic To Broadway

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By WALT BELCHER

wbelcher@tampatrib.com

Published: March 5, 2009

TAMPA - A modern musical take on "Alice in Wonderland" is the first production that the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center will attempt to take to Broadway, the center announced today.

Plans are for "Wonderland: Alice's New Musical Adventure" to debut in Tampa in December before possibly touring other performing arts centers and then opening on Broadway, says Judith Lisi, president of TBPAC.
TBPAC is investing $2 million in the production. If it is viable, more investors will step up to get the play to Broadway, Lisi says.

"Wonderland" also would be a point of pride for the community and would entice producers to bring plays here, she says.

"So many Broadway shows open first in California and we would like for them to open here," Lisi adds. "We have one of the largest and best facilities in the country and we're only a two-hour flight from New York."

"Wonderland" is the first project of TBPAC's Broadway Genesis Project, an effort to "help create new works of American theater." "We would like to produce one play a year," Lisi says.

Lisi said "Wonderland" was picked for the first play because the script is "charming" and the story is "uplifting, funny" and "perfect for the times that we are in right now."

"The message is that we're all living in a wonderland every day, we just don't see it," she adds.

"Wonderland" is set in present-day Manhattan and tells the story of author Alice Cornwinkle (a descendent of Lewis Carroll's muse Alice Liddell), who is struggling with her career and her daughter, Chloe.

The magical Wonderland that the original Alice visited is in danger of disappearing into nothingness and only the new Alice can restore balance and joy.

"Wonderland" is scheduled for TBPAC's Ferguson Hall from Dec. 5, 2009, through Jan. 3, 2010, with preview performances scheduled Nov. 24 through Dec. 4. Tickets will go on sale to the general public on Aug. 16, at noon.

Today's Birthdays

Actor Fred Williamson is 71. Magician Penn Jillette is 54. Pop singer Teena Marie is 53. Actress Eva Mendes is 34.

Source: The Associated Press

Walt Belcher can be reached at (813) 259-7654.

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