Alice in Wonderland never had to deal with the angst of a blind date, Alice Cooper never worried about smudging his makeup and the self-proclaimed housemaid from ‘The Brady Bunch’ never had second thoughts about a one-night stand.

Yet for one Alice – or rather five Alices – these events are all simple burdens that come with the territory of being a modern American woman.

The five characters provided simple caveats of wisdom about female trials and tribulations through ‘A … My Name is … Still … And Will Always Be Alice,’ a musical presented at the Black Box Theater at Syracuse Stage this week. The program consists of 25 songs, each visiting the lives of ubiquitous women who turn a little mad as a result of misshapen life situations.

As part of the feminist theme, the show was cast and directed solely by women. The person mainly responsible for the show’s feminist genre, director and musical theater professor Marie Kemp, said she selected the play because it supports greater awareness for women’s issues.

‘I am always looking for something different,’ Kemp said. ‘I was worried the feminist movement was dying.’

The play itself, which was created by Rosita Sarnoff, Anne Wilder and Douglas F. Goodman in the ’80s, also inspired steps taken by production members to raise money for the Vera House in Syracuse. A craft sale took place during intermission in order to raise money for the Vera House, which works in conjunction with the Rape Crisis Center.

‘It’s been so cool,’ Kemp said. ‘As soon as women in the department heard about it, they started getting involved and making stuff.’

Audience members expecting a typical musical performance were soon surprised as the show exposed them to an eye-opening representation of female problems. On the surface, the program was a farcical string of vignettes that depicted off-kilter women in the tropes of modern society. Yet each skit was imbedded with dilemmas ranging from sexual frustration and homelessness to dead-end relationships and family death.

The stage setting consisted of a large screen monitor that projected images during the scenes, an assortment of chairs and several black statues of female heads. Throughout the program, performers added prop items to the statues in order to give them character. Other than a montage of television clips that played before the show and during intermission, the show’s tunes were delivered by a single piano.

‘We wanted to keep the set a non-set so that audience members could focus more on the colors of characters as they enter each scene,’ Kemp said.

During the performance, one distressing yet light-hearted act was revisited by a lovelorn poet who revealed a series of her misadventures throughout the show. The piece, performed by junior musical theatre major Rachel Moulton, was called ‘Women Only Poem # 3.’ The first line of every poem, ‘I am woman,’ was delivered with loud dramatization and gusto. Each time, Moulton compared herself to different jaded creatures – a crippled bird, a neglected plant and a dying swan.

Doug Jack, a third year architecture student and audience member, said Moulton displayed particular talent during not only the poetry act but other scenes as well.

‘She was very animated,’ Jack said. ‘A combination of that, her singing and acting in general made for a very strong performance.’

Another person who watched the show and was impressed by the acts, third year architecture student Nikki Demers, said the program was powerful because of the five performing divas.

‘I like them all … I was surprised they had such strong voices,’ Demers said. ‘They were very professional.’

One of the performers, senior musical performance major Jaimie Salkovitch, said the strengths of the group have sprung from its tight-knit personality. She added that the limited size of the cast list made it possible to focus more between scenes that varied in mood and context.

‘Being with a small group of girls, we all bonded,’ Salkovitch said. ‘The show meant 10 times more because we are great friends.’

This closeness is enhanced by the fact that several of the girls have similar physical appearances. Audience member Andrea Lazipone, a senior magazine journalism major, said three of the girls looked so alike that it was hard to tell them apart. Yet despite these similarities, the group did not fail to produce a dramatic effect.

‘The acting was very, very good,’ Lazipone said. ‘I didn’t have a hard time believing them at all, and their voices blended very well.’

IF YOU GO:

WHAT: ‘A … My Name is … Still … And Will Always Be Alice’

WHERE: The Black Box Theater

WHEN: Tonight, Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m., Sunday, 2 p.m.

COST: Free

INFO: Call 443-2102 for tickets. Must be reserved 24 hours in advance

Published on March 2, 2005 at 12:00 pm