Alice in Wonderland the Musical

Alice in Wonderland the Musical is a one-act family musical that runs about an hour with no intermission. Brenda Bell wrote the book and lyrics, Michael Sgouros wrote the music, and the two work together as Sgouros & Bell. They are married, and they have written about a dozen original musicals for children and families.

The show adapts Lewis Carroll's 1865 novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Alice follows the White Rabbit down a rabbit hole and moves through the book's best-known stops, including a mad tea party, a game of croquet and a visit with the Queen of Hearts. The company says it stays with Carroll's original book rather than reinventing it.

Literally Alive Family Theatre produces it at The Players Theatre in Greenwich Village. This is a revival, not a world premiere: the company first staged the musical there in 2012 and has brought it back several times since. The 2026 engagement is a limited run, and the company says its runs are not extended.

The show opens in a park in Victorian London, among a cheerful Victorian Woman, a grumpy Victorian Man who has little patience for children, and a Nanny minding a baby. Alice dashes past her sister Lorina and Lewis Carroll himself, who appears on stage as a character, while a policeman chases a street musician through the crowd.

Alice then falls asleep, spots the White Rabbit and follows him into Wonderland. Her journey brings her to a series of strange hosts. She meets the Tear Mouse and the Dodo, then the Caterpillar and the Cheshire Cat. At the tea party she joins the March Hare, the Mad Hatter and the Door Mouse. This production spells the Dormouse that way, and the creature in the pool of tears is the Tear Mouse.

Later the Gryphon and the Mock Turtle invite her to dance the Lobster Quadrille. The Page, the Queen of Hearts and the King of Hearts draw her into a croquet game played with flamingos. A nonsense trial follows, with the Wonderland characters looking on.

Sgouros comes to composing from the orchestra pit. A New Yorker by birth, he is a drummer and percussionist whose Broadway credits include Miss Saigon, Sunset Boulevard and The Phantom of the Opera, and he was also on the national tour of A Chorus Line. Bell's lyrics sit on top of his music.

Live music is a company habit: every Literally Alive show has it, and the band plays in view of the audience rather than hidden below the stage. For this show, four musicians play. Sgouros is one of them, alongside Grace Sprecher, Timothy Schneider and Chris Natale.

An album of the score came out on March 1, 2024, under the label name Sgouros & Bell Off-Broadway. It has 10 tracks and runs about 28 minutes. Its song titles include "Wonder," "Down the Rabbit Hole," "If I'm Not Me," "Tick Tock," "Changing," "We Are Mad!," "Queens Rule" and "Won't You Join the Dance," with a reprise of "Wonder" at the end. That is the order of the album, not a confirmed running order of the stage show. The company also offers a free download of "We Are Mad!" from the show.

The cast is 12 adult professional performers, and most of them play two or three roles each. Lorina, for example, is played by the same actor as the Cheshire Cat.

As of October 2026, Avery Ilardi plays Alice, a company member who returns to the show. Eric Fletcher, another company member, plays the Caterpillar, the Queen of Hearts and Lewis Carroll. He played the Queen of Hearts in an earlier Alice run, so the role is not new to him.

The company's house style mixes music, theater, dance, art and puppetry. Seating at The Players Theatre is reserved, and the rows are raked on tiers.

The company began with The Ugly Duckling, staged at the Little Theatre on West 63rd Street, with an October 1999 opening. In 2007 Literally Alive moved to The Players Theatre as its first company in residence. Bell and Sgouros began writing together in 2008 on The Selfish Giant, when Sgouros stepped in as composer at the last minute.

Alice in Wonderland the Musical premiered Off-Broadway at The Players Theatre on February 12, 2012. The company lists revivals in 2015, 2019 and 2023, all at the same theater. The 2019 revival marked Literally Alive's 20th anniversary.

The 2026 run begins on September 26 and opens the company's 2026–2027 season at The Players Theatre. The season continues with A Christmas Carol the Musical, staged by the company's sister organization, and then Cinderella the Musical in early 2027.