Help Fund Alive in Wonderland: A New Musical
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Here's the story:
Alive in Wonderland: A New Musical is a quirky reworking of the time-honoured Alice story. It follows Alice's adventures in Wonderland, meeting the colourful, crazy characters and learning about their perspectives on the world.
However, almost as soon as she's arrived, she's gone again, causing the basic structures of Wonderland slowly begin to fall apart.
Just as the Caterpillar predicted, a powerful illness known as Jabberwocky now spreads across Wonderland and is starting to affect some of the citizens. Despite the fear of the virus and the natural order of their world being disrupted, The Queen of Hearts, Knave of Hearts and White Rabbit assure everyone that things are under control. But are the higher powers always to be trusted?
This New Tragicomedy Musical with book, lyrics and music by Ewan Fellows (Evening Standard Future Theatre Fund Winner) is a witty, charming and dark comedy based on Lewis Carroll's classic tale of trying to find order in a world with no logic and ridiculous rules.
So.
That’s my synopsis.
It's an interesting take on this story, I know: Choosing to combine Alice in Wonderland with the Covid-19 Pandemic seems like something someone could only dream of.
Well, I did.
The idea for this musical all came about in a dream in March 2020, at the start of the National Lockdown in the UK. Being isolated at home, I spent two months writing this show singlehandedly in my bedroom. I moved back and forth from my copy of Alice in Wonderland, to my piano, to my desk, to the laptop, to a notebook and then back to bed again. I barely stopped. I wrote the script, music, lyrics and orchestrated it all, driven by the motivation of someone seeing my show.
I've tried multiple times to get this show produced but the biggest problem was always “How?”. I'm a university student with nothing to my name.
So, I tried Kickstarter!
It failed.
But I learnt that it's not an easy thing to just expect money to come to you overnight.
Then I won £10k.
A competition through TikTok secured my place in winning a grant from the Evening Standard Future Theatre Fund Award! Many well-known industry professionals were on the panel and saw the passion and potential I had to get this show produced. I could now stage my show! I got the cast, costumes, props, set pieces, theatre, marketing, printing, all of it was going brilliantly!
Then, 2 weeks before Opening Night, we had to cancel the production due to unforeseen circumstances. It was a hard decision to make, but it had to be done.
Unfortunately, the budget is now gone. I’m out of pocket. It was all spent on everything for the production that never happened. The theatre took the money as a cancelation fee and audience members were refunded. There was no money coming back, as there was no show.
So.
Here I am now, writing this, hoping that maybe you can help. I want this show to be seen and, hopefully, with your help, it can be!
Your funds will go towards finding a new venue, finishing off any additional set or costume pieces, marketing, promotions, and anything else to help produce Alive in Wonderland to a high standard.
Alive in Wonderland started as a dream… let’s make it reality!
Lots of Love,
Ewan Fellows
Writer of Alive in Wonderland
Organizer
Ewan Fellows
Organizer
England