August in Wonderland: Alice in Wonderland

The Alice books are a popular subject for the stage as well as film.  (Your humble scribe was once cast as the Caterpillar's butt.)  In 1983 PBS's "Great Performances" broadcast an adaptation of the recent Broadway revival of Alice in Wonderland, retaining Kate Burton as Alice but recasting most of the other roles.  And the end result is visually striking, recorded in a TV studio but with constructed sets and a light splashing of special effects and transitions, making it look like an enhanced stage play.

There is also a new framing device.  Rather than a bored Alice watching her sister read, Alice (Kate Burton) is an understudy for a stage production of Alice in Wonderland, desperately running lines as the rest of the cast and crew gossip about whether she's ready.  Alice flubs a recital of "Jabberwocky," then slips through the looking glass and meets a White Rabbit (Austin Pendleton.)  That is not the way this normally goes, but from that point onward it's a fairly faithful (if abridged) adaptation of the book.  Alice tangos with a Mouse (Nathan Lane), consults the Caterpillar (Fritz Weaver), argues with a Cheshire Cat (Geoffrey Holder), crashes a mad tea party (featuring Andre Gregory, Željko Ivanek, and Dean Badalto), plays croquet with the Queen of Hearts (Eve Arden) and then interrupts the trial of the Knave of Hearts (Tony Cummings) before declaring that they're "Nothing but a pack of cards!" and returning to her dressing room.

Only for a moment, though, because this is an adaptation of both books.  Alice meets the Red Queen (Colleen Dewhurst) and eagerly agrees to become a pawn in the ongoing chess game so that she can reach the Eighth Square and become a Queen.  That means more episodic adventure, including dancing with Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee (Andre De Shields and Alan Weeks) and assisting the White Queen (Maureen Stapleton).  

After a frustrating meeting with Humpty Dumpty (Richard Woods) Alice is on the verge of tears, and then the movie wheels out its secret weapon: Kate Burton's father Richard, playing the White Knight, riding on a pantomime horse.  There's a sudden shift from nonsense to sincerity, as Alice and the Knight have a brief but sincere conversation, the Knight sings a sad song, and then he goes on his way.  The two have managed to cheer each other up, and Alice is prepared for the madness of the finale.

The sudden shift in tone might be surprising, but it is exactly what happens in the book; in all of Alice's journeys, the White Knight is the one character who is consistently kind to her, and he is the one person she's said to remember fondly.

"Of all the strange things that Alice saw in her journey Through The Looking-Glass, this was the one that she always remembered most clearly. Years afterwards she could bring the whole scene back again, as if it had been only yesterday—the mild blue eyes and kindly smile of the Knight—the setting sun gleaming through his hair, and shining on his armour in a blaze of light that quite dazzled her—the horse quietly moving about, with the reins hanging loose on his neck, cropping the grass at her feet—and the black shadows of the forest behind—all this she took in like a picture, as, with one hand shading her eyes, she leant against a tree, watching the strange pair, and listening, in a half dream, to the melancholy music of the song"

 And the Burtons seem to be delighted to be on screen together.  It is a big shift in tone, but it works.

 Alice in Wonderland has a fabulous cast, and I haven't had time to mention them all.  While the whole production looks and feels stagey, most of the acting is understated and naturalistic, which really works; when the Mad Hatter isn't busy being flamboyant and wacky, for instance, the menacing tone of the text really comes through.  The one exception to this is, surprisingly, Kate Burton's Alice, who is almost aggressively chipper.  This is an Alice who is having a great time until she's not.

Finally, the costuming and scenery is gorgeous.  Everything is designed to look like a Tenniel illustration come to life.  Not inspired by Tenniel - the stage is made of black and white illustrations, and the costumes include cross-hatching and line work.  It's one of the best looking Alices I've ever seen, as well as a great performance.