Alice by Heart

Lewis Carroll’s surrealist wonderland is transposed into the grim reality of the London Blitz in Alice by Heart, a haunting musical staged at the Manatee Performing Arts Center. With a score by Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater—the creative team behind Spring Awakening—the narrative follows a teenage girl taking refuge in an underground Tube station. Desperate to comfort her dying childhood friend, she recites their favorite book from memory, causing the frightened refugees around them to physically morph into the Mad Hatter, the White Rabbit, and the Queen of Hearts. The production relies on inventive staging and melancholic folk-pop music to explore the psychological utility of escapism.