Lüneburg. 1941, German bombers attack London. A group of young people fled into a subway shaft. Among them are Alice Spencer and her terminally ill friend Alfred Hallam. The teenagers in the musical “Alice By Heart” move between fear, panic, pain, sadness, anger and a few sparks of hope. There is more spark between Alice and Alfred, which can now be experienced in T.3 of the Lüneburg Theater.
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Sometimes it is books and stories that bring comfort and make you forget bitter reality. Alice takes refuge in the classic “Alice in Wonderland”. She reads aloud as the audience enters the theater. And she will be with Alfred, the Dr. Butridge (Sascha Littig) wants to be quarantined and escape into the fantastic world of the classic book.
A strong role for Pia Naegeli
As in previous years, director Friedrich von Mansberg has a huge group of actors in his team for the musical theater production with young people. For the first time, the production is running under the banner of Akademie Junges Musiktheater, in cooperation with the music school. Pia Naegeli, who received a scholarship to the academy, sings wonderfully as Alice at the premiere. Isolde Gogolin will take on the role alternately.
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Barbara Bloch (stage, costumes) pushed two movable, two-story platforms into the room for the production, a few stools, a few blankets, a few (air) hoses, not much else is needed. Mansberg succeeds in the scenery, as he has shown in previous years, in giving everyone an individual task. The team includes some new ones. They fit in well with the group of experienced musicians who have long been able to perform variably and offensively with their voice and playing.
Cheshire Cat and Mock Turtle
The music was written by Duncan Sheik, whose “Spring Awakening” has been performed twice in the theater in recent years, most recently by the Junge Musiktheater in 2022. The “Alice” sound is pop-informed, doesn’t penetrate the ear, but is variedly instrumented and often features harmonies that can already be experienced in Beatle songs. It’s not always easy to sing, but it almost always works really well, certainly thanks to Anna Schwemmer’s vocal training. The band in the back of the stage does an all-round successful job, led by Philipp Lang, with Pascal Skuppe taking turns.
After entering the fantasy world that Lewis Carroll invented in 1865, the plot becomes jungle, especially since the comprehensibility varies with the large amount of text. If you don’t know the template, you may have problems assigning plots and types. But that is not crucial. The atmosphere of uncertainty that is building up comes across. March Hare, Queen of Hearts, Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter, Jabberwocky, Mock Turtle and many more fantastic characters attack Alice and Alfred.
The spirits she called
She doesn’t want to lose Alfred, whom Leo Ehmke portrays as a sensitive boy (Lasse Kuk will do it alternately). She probably wants to stay in her illusory world with him. But despite all his first love, he makes it clear that he has to move on – to where only death awaits. It’s often touching how Alfred and Alice play with each other and apart.
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On the other hand, there is some comedy and a certain scary horror factor. Because the fairytale spirits that Alice called, who are full of wit and imagination, don’t behave the way she wants them to. The dream she enters becomes a nightmare – like reality, which cannot be escaped. Alice has to learn to accept them.
The ensemble knows how to convince and receives plenty of applause at the end.
Quelle: Jan Hoek
Against the dark sides that lie on the material is the love of life that cannot be taken away from the young people. It finds its expression particularly in the dance scenes staged by Rhea Gubler. After almost a hundred minutes, the team received huge applause. In addition to those mentioned, they are also at the premiere: Davina Yousef, Anneke Kramer, Janosh Kratz, Franziska Hasenauer, Jonathan Blankemeyer, Carla Rossow, Hanna Langenbrink, Mona Langenbrink and Luisa Rosenbaum.
At the last piece, some in the audience stand up. They come from the alternating cast, which includes Margarita Georgiadis, Frithjof Gerken, Leonie Naujoks, Lotta Wroblewski, Arndt Möller, Carolin Rohde, Carina Bähr, Jakob von Mansberg, Mina Meyer and Josephine Engelhardt.
The next “Alice” on November 6th is sold out. Tickets are available for most performances from November 13th.
LZ
