By By JONATHAN CLAYBORNE
jonathan@wdnweb.com
Staff Writer
A cast and crew of 34 P.S. Jones Middle School students invite you to disappear down the rabbit hole tonight — at least for a while.
The school’s players will present Disney’s “Alice in Wonderland Jr.” at 7:30 p.m. tonight, Friday and Saturday in the middle school’s “cafetorium” off Market Street Extension in Washington.
Tickets cost $7 per person at the doors, which will open at 6:30 p.m.
For more information, call 252-946-0874.
“It’s based on the animated Disney version of ‘Alice in Wonderland,’” said director Neva Cashion, the school’s music teacher. “It’s not the Johnny Depp (movie) version. It’s just a trip that Alice, on hearing her sister read all these stories, she falls asleep and goes into this wonderland and meets all these unusual characters.”
The production features multiple musical numbers set to prerecorded accompaniment.
Songs aside, the plot closely conforms to author Lewis Carroll’s classic tale, Cashion confirmed.
“It’s designed particularly for middle school kids, since it is an abbreviated version,” she commented.
In keeping with the tale, which has Alice shrinking and growing at various points on her strange journey, the show presents three different Alices of varying sizes.
Alice is played by Taylor Abele, while Catie Dority takes on the role of “Tall Alice” and Kate Miller portrays “Small Alice.”
This trio’s members confirmed they are making attempts to sound and walk alike for continuity’s sake.
“We kind of have three different personalities, but onstage we’re all one person,” Abele said.
Asked why people should see the play, Miller took the lead: “I think they should come because it’s a very magical experience through a world of wonder.”