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TBPAC To Produce A Musical 'Wonderland'

Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center

"Wonderland: Alice's New Musical Adventure" will debut in Tampa in December.

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By WALT BELCHER | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 5, 2009

TAMPA - A modern musical take on "Alice in Wonderland" is the first play 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.

It is not only an artistic investment, it's a business development plan, says Lisi.

The Center is investing $2 million in the production which would be recouped if the play is a success. If it is viable, more investors will step forward to get the play to Broadway, Lisi says.

"Wonderland" also would be a point of pride for the Tampa community and would entice other 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.

The play is being developed by New York based composer Frank Wildhorn ("Jekyll & Hyde," "The Scarlet Pimpernel" and "The Civil War") with lyrics by Jack Murphy and a book by Phoebe Hwang.

Gregory Boyd, artistic director of the Alley Theatre in Houston will direct. Other members of the creative team will be announced later.

"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 by going through the Looking-Glass to defeat the Queen of Hearts.

"Wonderland" is scheduled for TBPAC's Ferguson Hall 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 Sunday, Aug. 16, at noon.

For more information, go to www.wonderlandthemusical.org.

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

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