Ballet Palm Beach Presents Wonderland

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Friday, April 10, 2015 – 7:30 pm 

Saturday, April 11, 2015 – 4:00 pm

Eissey Campus Theatre
At Palm Beach State College
11051 Campus Drive, Palm Beach Gardens

Tickets at balletpalmbeach.org or 561.207.5900

Palm Beach Gardens, FL – Ballet Palm Beach celebrates the magic of Wonderland on Friday, April 10th at 7:30pm and Saturday, April 11th at 4pm.  The wildly popular ballet, first performed by Ballet Palm Beach in 2013, is a refreshingly original interpretation of Lewis Carroll’s classic tale, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.  Join Alice as she sips tea with the Mad Hatter, plays croquet with the Queen of Hearts and follows the White Rabbit through Wonderland.  Director Colleen Smith contrasts Victorian reality with the fantasy of Wonderland using the music of three English composers, Britten, Holst, and Walton. “Smith has captured the essence of Carroll’s crazy, zany mixed-up madness … “ writes Palm Beach ArtsPaper contributor, Rex Hearn.  “With creativity of this caliber, Palm Beach County can be proud … the arts are exploding here.”  Tickets start at $15 and can be purchased at balletpalmbeach.org or at 561.207.5900.

“I wanted to use English composers who would have known the work of Lewis Carroll and whose music exuded the sound of an English countryside.  I love Benjamin Britten’s music and The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra has been heard and loved by so many people.  We use bits of that piece because it gives a grand feeling, which is so fitting for the Queen of Hearts scene.  The music from composers Holst and Walton are bits of Suites that are wonderful pieces named after parts of England.” says artistic director Colleen Smith.

The original story was told over 150 years ago by Charles Dodgson, also know as Lewis Carroll, to young sisters Lorina, Alice and Edith Liddell while on a boat trip from Oxford to Godstow, England.    Young Alice Liddell grew restless and begged Carroll to tell a story “with lots of nonsense in it.”  She loved the story so much that she asked him to write it down.  “The history behind the book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland fascinates me.  When creating the ballet we tried to bring alive on stage what young Alice was thinking that afternoon as she listened to the story.”  says Smith. Leah Heller plays the part of Alice, Adriana Salazar as the White Rabbit, Rogelio Corrales as the Mad Hatter, and Joseph J. Bucheck, III as the Queen of Hearts.  Audiences of all ages are sure to be entertained by the ballet Wonderland as the story of Alice unfolds through visually stunning costumes, scenery and dance.