An audience favorite since the sensational company premiere in 2018, Christopher Wheeldon’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland returned to the National Ballet of Japan, following the 2022 revival. This time 13 performances were scheduled, mostly sold out. This work is also currently staged by The Royal Ballet and Joffrey Ballet, which indicates its global success, one of the most popular three act ballets of the 21st century.
The White Rabbit that leads Alice into Wonderland, a tap-dancing Mad Hatter, a puppet Cheshire cat manipulated by Japanese-style puppeteers, a sensual Caterpillar, comical Duchess, jumpy Frog and Fish, March Hare and Dormouse, the animals of Wonderland in the Caucus race and the fearsome Queen of Hearts, the ballet is vividly depicted by many attractive characters. Bob Crowley’s clever and colorful designs of Wonderland based on playing cards, fabulous lighting design by Natasha Katz with the clever use of projections and puppets, and of course the memorable score by Joby Talbot, all contribute to this production being filled with fantasy and charm.
On opening night, the role of Alice was performed by Yui Yonezawa, who had returned earlier in the season after an illness and is now at the top of her game with enough stamina to last the three hour marathon on stage. This production sets Alice as a teenager and here Yonezawa played a curious, lively and adventurous girl with clean movements and superb musicality, sometimes naïve but always with wit and courage. Takafumi Watanabe as her sweetheart, Jack the Knave of Hearts, showed excellent partnering skills and gave an emotional account of the solo at the trial scene that was very touching. The two told the story in detail with their eloquent steps (apparently inspired by Frederick Ashton but with the flair of a Broadway musical) and brought life and familiarity into the characters.
However, the strong supporting characters were the most delicious part of this ballet. The violent Queen of Hearts who rules Wonderland, wearing a voluminous red dress and mimicking “Off with your head”, was performed with relish by Yuri Kimura who will dance Giselle next month at the Royal Opera House in London. Kimura was hilarious in her Rose Adagio parody, the “Tart Adagio”, where she was partnered by four terrified cavaliers who delivered it all with comic brio. Kosuke Okumura in the dual role of Lewis Carroll and the White Rabbit, was a brilliant storyteller who lead Alice to her adventures and also showed beautiful footwork in his solo, maintaining his fussiness throughout. Shunsuke Mizui was a sensual and captivating Caterpillar with fluid movements and Misato Nakata vividly playing the wild rampaging cook. And on top of this, a special treat in the form of Steven McRae from The Royal Ballet. He created the role of the Mad Hatter in the original production and here displayed his excellent musicality in his show-stopping tap dance. He was also humorously crazy in the garden party scene at the beginning of the first act. A true superstar characterization bringing the whole performance to an even higher level.
The company shone in the waltz of the flowers corps de ballet sequence in the second act which is a nod to both Tchaikovsky ballets and 1930’s Broadway musicals. The ensemble of dancing cards at the trial scene, with fast rhythmical and accurate footwork, marching towards the climax, was also spectacular. Wheeldon’s choreography was also very clever in quoting an arabesque pose reminiscent of Balanchine’s Apollo, which was performed by Alice, March Hare and Dormouse.
Joby Talbot’s colorful score was brilliantly conducted by David Briskin (Music Director of the National Ballet of Canada) an expert of conducting this score. Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra did a good job to bring the liveliness and chaos of Wonderland on stage and especially the use of many unfamiliar percussion instruments: 43 of them！
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is a truly entertaining ballet that is dazzling, funny and impresses first time ballet viewers, young children, as well as die-hard ballet fans. With the company rich in talent (this time four casts including Akane Takada of The Royal Ballet guesting as Alice) and in high spirits with the London tour scheduled next month, it proved to be a great live experience.
