Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland a curiously big ballet hit

This wildly entertaining adaptation of the famous Lewis Carroll book is an extraordinary mix of commercial showbiz and ballet. 

Brilliantly put together by The Australian Ballet in a production where everyone from the orchestra pit to the dancers on stage are  clearly having fun, the only sad thing for Sydney is that its run at the Capitol Theatre is so short.

It only runs until March 5 – so our advice is storm the box office now! And if that fails, go and see it in Melbourne.

The Cheshire cat, the White Rabbit, the Queen of Hearts chasing her tarts – you know the story, but this ballet production has a wonderfully fresh take on it all.

The sets are clever in taking you down the rabbit hole and into another dimension that even AI would never be able to figure out.

The Cast

Sharni Spencer plays Alice in what must be a gruelling but captivating dance. The rest of the cast are a delight, with Brett Chynoweth playing Lewis Carroll and the White Rabbit.

If you want to relive some of the mayhem of the show, here’s a snatch of the  synopsis Carroll fans will recognise: “Three gardeners are painting the Queen’s rosebushes red after mistakenly planting white roses which the Queen loathes.

“The Queen arrives and sees their error ordering the gardeners executed. The Duchess and the Queen play a game of croquet with flamingos for mallets and hedgehogs for balls. The Queen accuses the Duchess of cheating and orders her to be executed.

“The Knave is discovered and brought to court to face trial. As wonderland’s inhabitants give their evidence, the court descends into mayhem, and Alice makes an impassioned speech admitting she stole the tarts, and that the Knave is innocent. The Queen is unmoved and seizes an axe, chasing Alice and the Knave.”

Best 9 things to do in Sydney at night

You know how the story ends – and if you don’t, I’m not going to issue a spoiler alert.

We heartily commend this ballet show as one to watch for fun, and to marvel that such a historic story can be brought to life in spectacular fashion.

Dress up – most of the audience at the night we went did!

Capitol Theatre until March 5. 

For more information, click here

Related
The Sydney Underground Film Festival brings weird cinema back to Newtown

Experimental cinema returns to Newtown this September with Sydney Underground Film Festival

The three-day Sydney Underground Film Festival returns to Dendy Newtown this September, gearing up for another eccentric program of boundary-pushing cinema. Kicking off on September 12th, SUFF ’24 will continue a long legacy of showcasing experimental filmmaking and divisive stories, ... Read more
Sydney's nightlife is coming back in a big way

Where to party in Sydney: the city’s best nightclubs and bars

Where are the best places to party in Sydney?  A common question for visitors to our beautiful city. Depending on who you ask, you’ll get several vastly different answers. Some say Sydney no longer has world-class nightlife. But we disagree ... Read more
Sydney Dance Company presents a new double-bill performance called Twofold.

‘Twofold,’ a massive double-bill dance performance, is coming to Roslyn Packer Theatre

A new Sydney Dance Company production, Twofold, is coming to Roslyn Packer Theatre in mid-September. Running from Wednesday, September 18 to Saturday, September 28, Twofold is conceived as a massive double-bill performance, taking Rafael Bonachela’s highly regarded Impermanence and standing it ... Read more
Installation view of new exhibition display in the Yiribana Gallery featuring artworks from The Horton Bequest 2024 © the artists, photo © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Jenni Carter

AGNSW expands Indigenous art collection with 193 newly gifted works

A New Zealand philanthropist and his late wife have donated a substantial collection of Australian Aboriginal art to the Art Gallery of New South Wales—the largest number of artworks ever donated to the AGNSW’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art ... Read more

1 thought on “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland a curiously big ballet hit”

Comments are closed.