Alice The Musical - pbmusicals.com

2008 - Castle Theatre, Wellingborough

photos by Castle Theatre, Wellingborough

2009 - Actors Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre, Miami

photos by Actors Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre, Miami

Alice The Musical, Paul Boyd's acclaimed adaptation of the books by Lewis Carroll, is his most popular musical and has proved to be a big hit time and time again in productions around the world.

The show premiered in 1998 at Northern Ireland's national producing theatre, the Lyric Theatre Belfast, and the original production was nominated as Best Drama at the 1999 Belfast City Arts Awards. Since then Alice The Musical has been produced by theatres across Ireland, the UK, and in 2009 the show had its USA Premiere at the Actors’ Playhouse at The Miracle Theatre, Miami Fl, where it proved so successful that it was revived for a second time the same year, and again for another record-breaking revival in 2015. In 2011 Alice The Musical opened in a Japanese translation by Merry Artists Company at Nagoya City Higashi Playhouse, Japan.

Celebrating its 20th Anniversary in 2018, Alice The Musical finally returned to its original home at the Lyric Theatre Belfast for the first time since 1998, in a great all-new production directed by the author. Featuring a host of Lewis Carrol's most infamous characters, Alice The Musical tells the story of Alice's adventures in Wonderland and her attempts to escape the clutches of the notorious Queen of Hearts.

"Paul Boyd’s music wonderfully reflects the

preposterous world of Alice’s imagination... a spellbinding production ... a great triumph"

Irish News

Alice The Musical is a full stage production written for children and adults alike, and features a full score of memorable and catchy songs, from pop to rock, that climaxes in Paul Boyd's infamous eight-minute mega-mix finale that has had audiences around the world on their feet cheering for more!

Paul Boyd is the writer and composer of 26 professional stage musicals, including Molly Wobbly's Tit Factory (nominated for 5 Broadway World West End Awards in 2012), The Snow Queen (nominated for 13 Broadway World Ireland Awards in 2023), and The Haunting of Helena (double nominee for the Stiles & Drewe Award for Best Song from a New Musical 2010).

Lyric Theatre, Belfast December 1998 - January 1999

An Grianán Theatre, Co. Donegal December 1999

An Grianán Theatre, Co. Donegal August 2000

Civic Theatre, Co. Dublin December 2000 - January 2001

The Market Place Theatre, Armagh December 2004

The Pavilion Theatre, Co. Dublin January 2005

The Castle Theatre, Wellingborough December 2008

Actors’ Playhouse, Miami FL January - March 2009

Actors’ Playhouse, Miami FL October - November 2009

Higashi Playhouse, Nagoya, Japan August 2011

Actors’ Playhouse, Miami FL January - March 2015

Lyric Theatre, Belfast December 2018 - January 2019

Nagoya University of Arts, Japan March 2021

Actors’ Playhouse, Miami FL October 2021 - February 2022

Nagoya University of Arts, Japan December 2024

"Cracking ... A really terrific night out"

"a glorious concoction, one part Lewis Carroll, one part Graham Norton and one part Paul Boyd … reinjected with all the arch wit and musical punch that Boyd's mischievous vision can conjure up … a party from start to finish that has everyone going crazy. This is a show that reaches the hearts, minds and funny bones of all generations, with punchy storytelling, terrific music and nicely naughty grown-up gags" Irish Times

"Paul Boyd’s hugely energetic musical ... a new, magical adventure filled with music and mischief ... this sophisticated musical is a feast for the eyes ... very clever and very enjoyable ... this wonderland will prove a real winner" Belfast Telegraph

"an enchanting story, beautifully told by Boyd’s pounding score... Paul Boyd has the talent for composing musicals that hit just the right note" The Stage

"Paul Boyd’s music wonderfully reflects the preposterous world of Alice’s imagination ... a spellbinding production ... I was even won over by the big production numbers and the rousing finale had young and old enthusiastically throwing themselves into the spirit of things ... a great triumph" Irish News

"There is enough of the charm and magic of Lewis Carroll’s original tale, to keep even the youngest customers hooked, while adults will lap up the clever word play and naughty jokes, which somehow manage not to get in the way of the super ensemble performances and fine stagecraft of this engaging production ... the big finale number has the entire audience on its feet, going wild and crazy!" Sunday Life

Promo featuring footage from the 20th Anniversary, Lyric Theatre Belfast 2018/19

Tumble down the rabbit hole with Alice in pursuit of the elusive White Rabbit, to discover a fantastic realm where nothing makes sense. On her journey Alice meets an assortment of strange characters, including the famous acting duo of Tweedledum and Tweedledee, the unpredictable and hilarious Caterpillar, the Mad Hatter and members of his underground political movement the Tea Party including the March Hare and the Dormouse, and the seriously mad inventor The White Knight - overseen at all times by the enigmatic Cheshire Cat. Will Alice and her new friends defeat the Queen of Hearts? Will the laws be changed so that Alice can get home? And most importantly, will the Caterpillar overcome his air-sickness before he becomes a butterfly?

Short documentary marking the 20th Anniversary of Alice The Musical in 2018

2011 - Hogashi Playhouse, Nagoya

photos by Merry Artists Company

1999 - An Grianán Theatre, Co. Donegal

photos by An Grianán Theatre, Co. Donegal

1998 - Lyric Theatre, Belfast

photos by Lyric Theatre, Belfast

2004 - Market Place Theatre, Armagh

photos by pbm

20th ANNIVERSARY (2018) CAST RECORDING

DIGITAL DOWNLOAD - £7.99

hardcover imagewrap

£11.99 +p&p

FULL SCRIPT & LYRICS

softcover

£5.99 +p&p

plus 2018 cast and production team credits, production photos, and a foreword by Sir Cameron Mackintosh

Reviews from previous productions

MERCHANDISE

"The story of Alice and how she fell into Wonderland is one that has been enchanting generations and as the Lyric Theatre prepares to bring the curtain down on its 50th birthday celebrations this year it’s Alice The Musical which is set to entertain Christmas audiences.

Alice The Musical is a terrific family night out with a brilliant cast, great songs and dazzling visuals. The perfect starter to the Christmas season" Belfast Media Group

"A West End quality show at a fraction of West End prices and close-up seating also, something even higher-cost London tickets don’t deliver – that sums up the dynamic, colorful and zany Alice The Musical at Belfast’s Lyric Theatre.

Upon first entering the auditorium one senses this may be a humdinger of a show, what with the name ALICE in big illuminated ‘Las Vegas’ like letters across the stage and two giant moveable eyes that seem to rove around the audience.

Not only does director-cum-orchestrator-and-musical-director Paul Boyd and all the team at the Lyric present a West End quality show, the songs, the showmanship, the costumes, the songs, the dancing, are so much superior to ‘Wicked’ at the Apollo Victoria Theatre" worlditineraries.co

"Alice The Musical is an undoubted and proven triumph for Boyd, a supremely successful revival of his own Lewis Carroll adaptation at the Lyric two decades after its premiere at the Belfast theatre.

Alice The Musical is so much more than a musical. It is exceptionally intelligent family entertainment and adult enlightenment that plays as well as it does because Alice herself, and director Boyd, recognise how easy it is to make one smile and think if you apply the right energy, choreography and common sense to counter and handle problems swallowed up and prolonged by nonsensical and unnecessary over-complication. That makes Alice The Musical a capsule of, and a brave new hope for, our times.

By the end you won't be pondering, with apologies to Roy Chubby Brown, “who the (censored) is Alice?” You’ll be wishing there were more of Alice as a musical and a person" The Big List

★★★★ "In this fizzing 20th anniversary revival of Paul Boyd’s Alice The Musical it is impossible to ignore sly references to everything being in a muddle, nobody having a plan, life never being the same again and the necessity to depose a headstrong female leader.

It is difficult to register that a mere seven performers could carry this big, blousy musical with such confidence and aplomb ... sounding as polished as anything on a West End stage.

After a cracking first act ... a breathless, max volume finale sends everyone out into the winter chill floating on a really terrific night out" Irish Times

★★★★ "Twenty years after its first outing at Belfast's Lyric Theatre, Paul Boyd's colourful helter-skelter ride down a rabbit hole into Wonderland returns with enough energy to light a forest of Christmas trees.

Alice The Musical celebrates Boyd as a natural storyteller of imagination and invention - and one with an eye for topicality.

Turned up to 11 in the playback, Boyd's thumping, through-composed prerecordedmpop-rock score keeps energy levels in the red. This has the makings of a Christmas treat full of charm, fantasy and fun" The Stage

"I didn’t see Paul Boyd’s Alice The Musical at the Lyric twenty years ago, but I can’t imagine it was anywhere as camp and colourful as this year’s take on the original Lewis Carroll tale - which was my favourite theatre experience this Christmas - because after touring the world for two decades, I can only guess that this production gets better with every performance.

Just seven actors covered all the roles in this massive musical revival - and I have to compliment the nanosecond synchronicity in the choreography as well as truly West End-worthy singing and acting across the board.

All in all this is a truly Broadway-standard production and the big number finish left me baying for more" theFwords.com