Alice in Wonderland (musical)
| Alice in Wonderland | |
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Original Poster
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| Music | Walter Slaughter |
| Lyrics | Lewis Carroll, H. Savile Clark, and Aubrey Hopwood |
| Book | H. Savile Clark |
| Basis | Lewis Carroll's novels Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass |
| Productions | 1886 West End West End revivals in 1888, 1898,1900, 1908, 1910, 1914, 1915, 1916, 1921, and 1927 |
Alice in Wonderland is a musical pantomime by Henry Savile Clark (1841–1893; book and lyrics), Walter Slaughter (music) and Aubrey Hopwood (lyrics), based on his books Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. The piece, billed as "A musical dream play in two acts", achieved considerable popularity. At Carroll's request, Slaughter retained the old tunes in the parodies such as "Bonny Dundee".
The pantomime opened on 23 December 1886 at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London. Phoebe Carlo played Alice. The Theatre wrote in its review, "Alice in Wonderland will not appeal to the children alone. ... Mr. Savile Clark has done wonders. ... The play is beautifully mounted, and splendidly acted, Miss Phœbe Carlo being very successful as the little heroine... she played in a delightful and thoroughly artistic fashion, and in this respect she was closely followed by a tiny mite, Miss Dorothy D'Alcort, who plays first the Dormouse. ... Mr. Edgar Bruce, Mr. Walter Slaughter (who has written some charming music for the piece), and Mr. Savile Clark, all deserve unstinted praise." The piece was frequently revived over the next four decades.
Act I, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", is in two scenes: "A Forest in Autumn" and "A Glade in Wonderland". Act II, "Through the Looking Glass", consists of four scenes: "Through the Looking Glass"; "The Garden of Live Flowers"; "A Sea-Shore"; and "The Banqueting Hall – The Forest Again." A review in The Theatre summarised the story as follows:
The musical was frequently revived during West End Christmas seasons during the four decades after its premiere. London productions were mounted at the Globe Theatre in 1888, with Isa Bowman as Alice; the Opera Comique in 1898; the Vaudeville Theatre in 1900, with some new additional music by Slaughter; the Camberwell Theatre in 1902; the Savoy Theatre in 1908 produced by William Greet; the Savoy in 1910; the Wimbledon Theatre in 1914; the Savoy in 1914; the Duke of York's Theatre in 1915; the Savoy in 1916; the Garrick Theatre in 1921; and the Savoy in 1927.
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