Collide Theatrical Dance Company Is staging a dance interpretation of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland at two outdoor locations. The show runs 5-15-21 thru 5-31-21 outdoors at the James J. Hill House in St. Paul before transfering to the Mill City Museum for shows 6-5-21 thru 6-20-21. The seating is socially distanced which limits the size of the audience per show so it’s recommended that you purchase your seats early. For more details and to purchase tickets go to https://www.collidetheatrical.org. I think of this as phase one in getting back into the theater for shows. It’s spring and with summer on the way, hopefully by fall we are able to gather indoors for shows regularly.
I was looking for something special to mark my return to reviewing shows. Readers of the site will probably be familiar with the name Miranda Shaughnessy. A young dancer, actor, singer, choreographer, videographer who wowed this reviewer from the first time I saw her perform very early in this blogs existence. When I was alerted to her attachment to WonderLand, I realized this was the show to begin phase one with. WonderLand was created by Regina Peluso, directed by Peluso and Heather Brockman, and choreographed by the company. Shaughnessy who plays Alice displays the physical talents which originally brought her to my attention over a year and a half ago. Precision dancing accompanied by a stage presence and facial expressions that telegraph to the audience exactly what we need to know about her character in the moment. She is surrounded by a talented cast of dancers Jarod Boltjes, Rush Benson, Renee Guittar, Chelsea Rose, Patrick Jeffrey, Heather Brockman, and in a voice over roll Ryan Colbert.
The twist of this production is that the setting is a mental Health inpatient facility. The familiar characters from the well known tale all representing different psychological issues. The characteristics that we identify with those characters fit well into these diagnosis and the company also finds ways in which to make their dance styles accent them as well. The White Rabbit for example suffers from anxiety manifesting itself in his frantic tap dancing. The doctor who is trying to treat them all by remaining calm and in control performs ballet. The dancing and musical choices are fun and energetic and the reveals of each characters backstories are well done. What struck me most surprisingly was the contrast between these moments of energetic dance with moments of real pathos as the root causes were revealed for each character particular difficulties. The reveals for the White Rabbit and the Red Queen sticking out as especially well realized. If you enjoy dance and are missing your regular theater fix, you will not be disappointed by Collide Theatricals WonderLand.
The Stages of MN 
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