Review: Bad Hats, with the help of Soulpepper, follow bigger theatre companies down the Alice in Wonderland rabbit hole

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Bad Hats, with the help of Soulpepper, follow bigger theatre companies down the Alice in Wonderland rabbit hole

Alice – it’s initially a shock to see her wearing red overalls rather than a blue dress – is a constant questioner, who derails math class by refusing to stop asking her teacher, Mr. Charles , why the trains in the number problems are running late or ahead of schedule.

Sue Miner, the veteran stage director, has kept things theatrical. The actors double roles with only minimal costume changes; the musical instruments, played by the actors, are visible, as is the marked-up stage floor and the lights hanging overhead; and a series of Plexiglas barriers are rolled around to prevent actors from singing into one another faces.

Encouraged by the Red Queen , Alice attempts to transform from a pawn into a queen by crossing eight squares, as on a chess board. “I see the queen inside of you,” Sears sings to her, in a song that reminded me vaguely of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s score forMany of the tuneful songs by Doak and Victor Pokinko have a quasi-familiar feel to them – and the influences of Stephen Sondheim and’s Benj Pasek and Justin Paul are as apparent as that of Miranda.

 

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