[MUSIC PLAYING]
BERNIE TELSEY: Hi, everybody.
My name is Bernie Telsey.
I'm one of the artistic
directors of MCC Theater.
For those of you
who don't know, MCC
is a not-for-profit theater
that's been around 33 years.
We just moved into our own new
complex, the Robert W Wilson
MCC Theater Space
on 52nd Street.
So you all must come by.
We have two new theaters.
And the opening of our
building is our new production,
which we're here today to
talk a little bit about,
which is called
"Alice by Heart,"
by this incredible
creative team.
So welcome.
I'm going to
introduce everybody.
"Alice" is written by Steven
Sater and Jessie Nelson.
And the music is
by Duncan Sheik.
Also lyrics by Steven Sater,
and our director, Jessie Nelson.
So this is our creative team,
along with our two stars.
Molly Gordon is playing Alice.
And Colton Ryan is
playing the White Rabbit.
And we also have Jason
Hart, our musical director.
How is everybody today?
AUDIENCE: Whoo.
[APPLAUSE]
BERNIE TELSEY: All right, you
going to come see "Alice"?
Yes, all right, very good.
So to start off, we're to do
a little bit of a few songs
so you can get a sense
of what "Alice" is.
And then we'll do a little Q
and A with our creative team.
But if we could
start, I was going
to have Steven just tell us
a little bit about "Alice
by Heart" so you know
what is this story
and he can set up our
first song, called "Still."
STEVEN SATER: OK, is
this working good?
BERNIE TELSEY: Yeah.
STEVEN SATER: "Alice
by Heart" is really
about the power of the
imagination to get us
through the hardest times.
What a book can mean to
you as a young person
and how you can carry it
through life with you.
So it feels kind of
increasingly urgent to us
in what feels like a
culturally challenged time.
And so, it's set during the
bombing of London, known
as the Blitz, in 1940 and 1941.
It went on for months.
There were 59 straight
nights of bombs
being dropped on the city.
And the citizens, to
protect themselves,
began huddling in
shelters at night.
They were night bombings.
Or increasingly
in tube stations,
in the subway stations.
And there's a young
girl, Alice, who's
been bombed out of her home.
And she finds
shelter for herself
in this kind of makeshift
encampment in a tube station.
And what she loves most in the
world is this boy named Alfred.
And he's found.
And he's brought down.
And they reunite in
the tube station.
And it's so dire there.
And they're under the care of
an unfeeling Red Cross nurse.
And she says-- he's
ailing so much.
He's contracted illness,
living on the streets,
drinking out of gutters.
She says, all this, we
can make it disappear.
You can run there,
you can breathe there.
Let's go back to Wonderland.
He says, I have no
time for all that.
And she starts reading the book.
The book is taken from her.
She says I know it all by heart.
She starts reciting the book.
And lo and behold, this anthemic
Duncan Sheik theme kicks in.
And they're transported
to Wonderland.
And this song, "Still,"
is their first moment
together in Wonderland.
And it shows their
central conflict.
He feels-- he's
the White Rabbit.
He's late, he's late, he
has no time, he has no time.
She's not getting it, that what
he's saying on a deeper level
is he's going to die.
She says, no, we're
in Wonderland again.
We can be in our golden
afternoon, in our garden.
Stay with me, linger with
me, play with me still.
So that's the song.
DUNCAN SHEIK: So Colton and
Molly, will you join us?
Great.
[COLTON RYAN AND MOLLY GORDON
 SINGING "STILL"]
[APPLAUSE]
BERNIE TELSEY: I love that song.
COLTON RYAN: One job.
BERNIE TELSEY: One job.
COLTON RYAN: Oh, man.
BERNIE TELSEY: That is
such a beautiful song.
In fact, all of the music, I
just think about it every day.
And I just love getting to watch
it every night, especially sung
by the two of you.
So thank you.
Duncan and Steven, can
tell me a little bit about,
and tell our crowd, a
little bit about the impetus
for writing this musical.
DUNCAN SHEIK: I'll
let Steven keep going.
STEVEN SATER: OK, well we--
I suppose "Alice's
Adventures in Wonderland"
was proposed to us as
a project to develop.
And I thought that the
form of "Alice" is--
it's no "Wizard of Oz."
It's all these
phantasmagorical visitations
upon this girl of all these
classic characters we know,
like the Mad Hatter,
and the Mock Turtle.
And there's no beginning,
middle, and end.
So I thought it wouldn't
really make a musical.
And so we began a kind of
music project together,
where we were going to create
a series of songs which
could become music
videos, sort of each song
trying to capture the magic
carpet ride of each chapter.
And then one night, Jessie,
who's my beloved friend
and writing partner,
invited me to see
a concert of these young
theater geeks singing.
And they was singing
Spring awakening songs.
And I just thought,
oh, maybe we really
could do something with "Alice"
around this theme of how
to leave childhood behind.
And I talked to
Jessie about that.
And the three of us kind of
pitched our tent together.
And we actually like
used our own money.
And we found a bunch
of friends that Jessie
knew, young people, including
Molly, who's been with the show
for nine years.
BERNIE TELSEY: She doesn't age.
STEVEN SATER: And we began
workshopping it and discovering
how much we didn't know.
And continually coming up
against this great gift
and great challenge of this
book that didn't quite--
whose narrative didn't
quite add up in a way.
And so infusing it
with this love story
about this girl and
this boy and her--
I'll say-- this is the
last thing I'll say.
Her, those kind of
iconic characters
of "Wonderland" that I
mentioned a moment ago,
we kind of go through her
stages of denial and grief
for this boy she's
going to leave behind.
BERNIE TELSEY: And Jessie--
oh, do you want to
say something, Duncan?
DUNCAN SHEIK: Yeah,
I think what I
want to remind everybody of is
that it is a meta narrative.
Molly's Alice is a girl
named Alice Spencer.
She's not actually
"Alice in Wonderland."
So she's-- out of this
coterie of people around her,
she's creating the "Wonderland"
characters in order to help
tell the story and to
console her dying love.
So that's the complicated thing.
Because it does help to know
the source material really well,
because it is a meta narrative.
But I still think you
can go to the show
and enjoy it even if you
haven't read the books.
BERNIE TELSEY:
Yeah, that's it was
like for me, the first
time I saw a reading of it.
I was not one of those
who was knowledgeable
about every "Alice
in Wonderland",
but it was so easy
to connect to.
DUNCAN SHEIK: Yeah.
BERNIE TELSEY: Because it
really is a modern day story.
Jessie, I have a question
for you as the director.
What was the most
challenging sort of element
in telling this story?
JESSIE NELSON: I
think it's what Steven
articulated there,
the book, the source
material is very episodic.
So getting a narrative flow
and really finding the story
we wanted to tell
with it, and yet
still honoring the
source material.
And we would endlessly return
to the book for inspiration.
And as we delved deeper
and deeper into the book,
you realize it's the
story of this young girl
also, who's saying,
I've shrunk enough.
I'm not going to
shrink anymore to make
all you characters happy.
And she's ruled--
Wonderland is ruled
by a Red Queen, who's
a tyrant, and a dictator,
and everybody fears her.
But she's actually
kind of a fool.
So we began to realize,
oh, there's actually
a lot of really timely
themes in the book
that we're interesting to mine.
But we kept-- the process was
always going deeper and deeper
into the story.
And I would like to say
in developing it with MCC,
they constantly encouraged
us to clarify the narrative
and deepen the storytelling.
And they were right.
That was the real work
that had to be done.
BERNIE TELSEY: Right.
Molly, as Steven said,
you've been with this project
for many years on and off.
What was it like finally
getting to actually do
a production of the show?
MOLLY GORDON: It's
been so wonderful.
I feel like I've gotten to
grow up through this project.
And how incredibly
lucky is that.
The music feels like hymns
of my childhood or something.
Yet I still miss them up.
I don't know how.
I should know it by now.
And I think--
I was 14 when I
first started it,
and I still feel as
naive as I was then.
And that's beautiful,
because Alice is very naive.
But I also think being
a full grown woman,
it feels like the right time.
I feel like I have a greater
understanding of the character.
And just getting to
work with this family
has been extraordinary.
And like they're saying, it
feels like the right time
in the world to
be doing something
about the importance of
a book, or art, or any--
or the imagination.
BERNIE TELSEY: And this is
maybe for you, or for Duncan,
and Steven, are there
any songs that you
have had to cut over the life
of "Alice" that you miss,
or wish was in, or we're all
going to be searching for?
JESSIE NELSON: We could have
a great night at 54 Below.
BERNIE TELSEY: At MCC.
DUNCAN SHEIK: How
long do you have
for this Google talk, Bernie?
BERNIE TELSEY: OK, how about,
what would-- well, "Still"
was one of the newer songs.
STEVEN SATER: It was, it was.
BERNIE TELSEY: That was
through the production.
Tell us a little bit about that.
STEVEN SATER: We were
in Poughkeepsie--
BERNIE TELSEY: That's
the song we just heard.
STEVEN SATER: --with New York
Stage and Film this summer,
workshopping the show.
And after eight years
talking about this and that,
and Jessie and I had
talked in the past
about possibly having a song
for the White Rabbit about time.
And then for one reason
or another, it was like,
no, we don't have time
for a song about time,
and he already sings two songs,
you know, blah, blah, blah.
And then one day, I
came into reherseal--
JESSIE NELSON: I'm
going to interrupt you.
STEVEN SATER: OK.
JESSIE NELSON: He
is the White Rabbit.
So I would say, let's
write a song about time.
And Steven would
say, I don't have
time for a song about time.
I'm running out of time.
But things slowed
down in Poughkeepsie.
Take it away, Steven.
STEVEN SATER: So I came in
one morning, bleary eyed,
as we all were.
And Jessie said, I
want to talk to you.
I had a dream last night.
She said OK.
She said in my dream You
came to me and said--
in our dream, there
was this beautiful song
between Alice and Alfred, and
it was our song about time
at the beginning of the--
and they had this moment.
And it was July 3rd.
And I remember we
worked through the day,
we sort of talked about it.
She planted this idea.
And then everyone
left Poughkeepsie
as fast as they could.
And I was--
I stayed on campus.
And I remember, this
was the 4th of July.
I wrote this lyric.
And I called Jessie
and read it to her.
And she said, you
know, this could
be the song of their childhood.
So we-- there were parts of it.
So I simplifies in parts.
And then I gave it to
Duncan that next day,
because he came back July 5th.
And like later that night,
Duncan said, can you come in--
I have something for that.
And we sat together, which is
rare for us to be at the piano
together.
And he played it for me.
And the next day we taught it.
BERNIE TELSEY: That's rare.
DUNCAN SHEIK: But to
answer your question,
there are a lot of cut
songs, really frankly,
none of which I miss very much.
But there was, for
example, a song
for the turtle scene that
was like constantly staying
in the show, staying in the
show, staying in the show.
And I was like, ugh, can
we cut this bloody song,
it's like really pissing me off.
And then finally, we
wrote a couple versions
of this new song, which is
really a song about grief.
And to me, it's one of the
best moments in the show.
So I think it's like a
testament to just keep
on keeping on, and
developing, and developing
until you got it exactly right.
BERNIE TELSEY: Right.
And Colton, this is for
you, as the new person
of the group of these five--
COLTON RYAN: You outed me.
BERNIE TELSEY: What was it
like coming to "Alice by Heart"
at MCC, and what it's like to
work on a brand new musical?
Because I don't think people
understand what that's like.
COLTON RYAN: For sure, well,
I would say it definitely--
and I've reiterated this
to you all many times,
but it felt like a weird sort
of cosmic gift in some way.
Because I tried, I tried
to be a part of the show
a couple times.
And for probably reasons
unbeknownst to me,
or I'm trying to
clarify now, I wasn't
in that kind of state
of honesty with myself
to work on a piece about this.
Well, I think that the thing
that, and my character,
and what he carries with
him obviously is a deeper
understanding of grief.
Because he's experiencing
it with his best friend.
And having already
lost people and then
losing his own self
at such a young age,
it's a big maturing
agent, as it is for her.
And that meant more
to me than I probably
would care to share publicly.
But when I finally got to it, I
felt like it was this sort of--
well, it was also done,
which I was very happy with.
It was beautiful.
And I was like,
thank you for this.
And so I got to just
kind of jump in and ride
the coattails of this obviously
deep, deep, profound work
that they'd been
doing for so long.
And yeah, I mean, we
did do some new things.
But it's definitely not--
I mean, I've worked
on some projects
where it's, like you said,
it's you come in the next day,
and it's, we're
presenting today,
but we have an entire new song.
So let's get in the
trenches and just do it.
And I think-- if you guys
will come see this thing,
this thing is very visual.
So we had--
I'm sure what you guys, the
work you did was on the page,
and it was deeply
profound, like I said.
But then it was about
making this thing fly
and making it wondrous.
And that was a process.
It was a very fun process.
It was a tedious process.
And it was, as I think
you saw in the video,
and I hope you guys
come to see, it's
definitely pushed me in ways--
BERNIE TELSEY: Very physical.
COLTON RYAN: Yeah, and pushed
me in ways that I never
thought I would go to.
So it's been a gift, yeah.
DUNCAN SHEIK: I think
between Jessie's sort
of amazing use of
just the materials
that you might have
found in the underground
and making them really
wondrous and magical,
that takes a ton of work.
And then Rick and
Jeff, the Kupermans,
the choreographers,
you know, it's very--
like almost every moment of
the show, when I watch it,
is choreographed in some way.
It's more movement than dance.
But it was so much
work for all of them.
And so I was just
like, oh, I'm really
impressed with their ethic.
BERNIE TELSEY: I think
every actor has come up
to me on the side and
said, so why was there
never any dance auditions?
Or why didn't no one tell us
this was about choreography.
You know, it just
sort of happened.
And it's quite stunning to watch
what Jessie and the Kupermans
have done.
I have a question
about collaboration,
just because I think
people don't really
know how people work
on these new musicals.
But it's funny when
you say, you're
not near the piano that often.
Or as a producer of
the show, I was always
amazed at how the
silences and the subtext
in the way the three
of you worked together,
whether it was you two on this
thing, or you two on that.
And it just seems that
kind of collaboration
just came so naturally.
And I know it's not.
I know that's one of the
hardest things in the theater,
of getting everyone
to work together.
Because it's OK to
disagree and all that.
But it felt like
there's a little bit
of a magic halo over
the three of you
of how you work together.
And maybe you can talk
a little bit about that.
JESSIE NELSON: I
think collaboration
is all about trust.
And that takes time to develop.
And we had a number
of years together.
But I think over
those years, we began
to all feel that on
most levels, we were
moving in the same direction.
But I don't think it's easy to
trust someone with your work.
I think that's a--
we're all very protective.
And so opening up to
that is a slow process.
And I just think we had time.
Would you articulate
it that way?
DUNCAN SHEIK: Yeah,
for me, it is hard.
Because like growing up
as a singer, songwriter,
just being able to
make my own records,
I didn't have to
answer to anybody.
And then when you're working
with a team like this,
you really do have to allow
different peoples aesthetics
to sort of come into play.
And sometimes that can
be sort of incredibly,
like this is not
what I'm into at all.
But then it can be
incredibly galvanizing.
You know, so, I do
think that we didn't
have the benefit of a decade.
And so we finally found
a way to put it together.
But that is tough work.
BERNIE TELSEY: Right, I have
a question for the actors.
I've heard a lot of the
actors in the dressing rooms
and backstage talk about,
because there are so
many wonderful different
characters in "Alice by Heart,"
based on the story of
"Alice in Wonderland,"
if there was another role you
could play, what would it be?
COLTON RYAN: The queen.
BERNIE TELSEY: Why?
COLTON RYAN: Why?
Have you seen her number?
Yeah, I mean-- who
would you play?
MOLLY GORDON: Yeah, I
think the queen too.
Or any of the--
I think what I love about
this show, now that it exists,
is that so many high schools
will be able to do it.
I think every single role in the
show is so juicy, and amazing,
and wacky.
BERNIE TELSEY: They really are.
MOLLY GORDON: And bizarre
in the best way possible.
And it's a piece that you can
do with a lot of people, or not
that many people, because
you can play multiple roles.
So I would love to
be any of the parts.
That's what I love
about the piece,
is that they're
all really special.
BERNIE TELSEY: How about
you, Jessie, Steven, Duncan?
STEVEN SATER: Well I'm pre-cast.
BERNIE TELSEY: Oh,
yeah, yeah, that's true.
We all know that.
COLTON RYAN: He's
the under study.
BERNIE TELSEY: Yeah.
DUNCAN SHEIK: You know,
Noah Galvin, who's
sort of like a big TV star,
he's been with the project
also for a really long time.
And he plays the Duchess.
And I'm just like dying
every time he comes onstage
as the Duchess.
So I couldn't pull it off.
But if I could, I
would love to do that.
JESSIE NELSON: You
know, I'm going
to jump back to your earlier
question about collaboration.
Because this is a
really interesting--
they've had a longtime
collaboration prior to me
joining their world.
And watching the two
of them collaborate,
I think there's something that
happens when they come together
that's bigger than
the both of them.
They're like a
vessel for something
deeper than either
of them understand.
And so sometimes it can be
a cranky, hard, moody day.
And yet, the piece that
will come out of them
will be so tender,
and heartfelt,
and kind of break
everybody's hearts.
And that's an interesting
thing about collaboration.
Like how your molecules combine
with somebody else's and what
comes out of it.
I remember the day "Afternoon"
was written, in a high school
music room, that we
had kind of snuck
into, and were
getting for nothing.
And we were trying to find
the show and it kind of just
came through Steven, and
then came through Duncan
at the piano.
And it's kind of bigger than
who you are as human beings.
It's a bigger thing
that you open to.
And I remember watching
that song kind of move
through the both of them.
So it's-- I don't mean
to be too spiritual.
But it's a very mystical
thing, collaboration.
DUNCAN SHEIK: Jessie,
you're getting so mystical.
BERNIE TELSEY: OK, but now--
JESSIE NELSON: [INAUDIBLE]
DUNCAN SHEIK: Yes.
BERNIE TELSEY: But now what role
do you want to play, Jessie?
JESSIE NELSON: Well in our
creative thing, I'm Alice.
I'm like slow down, enjoy the
page, let's explore this scene.
Take a minute, let's
write more lines.
We're moving too fast.
But in real life, I'm very shy.
So I think I would
be in the ensemble,
like lifting people up.
BERNIE TELSEY: I know a
few of us on the staff
have been saying the same thing.
We all want to do the
dance number coming out
of it, before the turtle song.
We all just want to come right
out of the gate and do that.
That was a bad
version of it, but I--
a few of us are
practicing, right?
For the closing night.
JESSIE NELSON: I
look forward to this.
BERNIE TELSEY: Yeah, it's going
to be our gift to the cast.
Can you talk a little bit
about the choreography, Jessie,
and what it was like
working with the Kupermans
and creating.
COLTON RYAN: Yeah,
it was interesting.
To be honest,
initially, I was sort of
given the mandate of
finding choreographers that
had some Broadway experience.
And I just kept
meeting with people
and feeling like they
weren't quite getting
what was in my head, or that
it might be more normal than I
had imagined.
And I really felt
committed to this notion
of Wonderland built on gas
masks, and cots, and blankets.
And I met the
Kupermans-- or actually I
had a Skype with them.
And there was everything
going against them.
They had no Broadway experience.
They didn't even have
that much experience.
There were two of them.
That's an additional
thing-- everything
was going against them.
And within five minutes
of my Skype with them,
I realized, oh,
these are the ones.
So then it was how to
manipulate everybody
so that we could end up
having the Kupermans.
But again, I think
Steven, and Duncan,
and I were very
allied in this feeling
that we wanted something
very original, and something
that hadn't been done
before, and hadn't
been seen on Broadway before.
And they have
remarkable imaginations.
And they're so
tenacious in their work.
And so--
DUNCAN SHEIK: And
huge appreciation
to MCC for allowing
us to take that risk.
BERNIE TELSEY: Oh,
it's been a joy.
It's been a joy.
So we're going--
COLTON RYAN: Can I say
something about them too?
BERNIE TELSEY: Yeah, please.
COLTON RYAN: They're like,
they're very singular,
because there are two of them.
But they're like these
two guys who are like 28,
and like big, and like bro-ie.
And they're like, dude, what if
like we piled a bunch of bodies
up and then we like jumped off.
And he's like, yes, and what if.
And like they just keep going.
BERNIE TELSEY: And you
have to see their faces.
COLTON RYAN: Yeah, we're like--
MOLLY GORDON: No, but
also there are so many
shows on Broadway that
can pay for people to fly.
And we don't have that money.
So all my friends
have to make me fly.
And that's a lot and
tiring for them to do.
But I think it's more
beautiful because it's
all these bodies picking
each other up and supporting
each other, rather than--
JESSIE NELSON: It's'
very hand made.
MOLLY GORDON: Yeah,
it's very hand made.
COLTON RYAN: They
never lacked an idea.
It was always like-- because if
there was an issue, like, oh,
you know, the very tentacle
thing of like someone
can't make that, they can't lift
that with just their shoulders,
they're like no problem.
And then what if--
and like they always
had 14 other ideas ready.
Or they just were, they
were so open to just
to not have an idea and
then come up with one.
I mean, it was very inspiring
for me as not as a dancer.
MOLLY GORDON:
Non-dancer or mover.
COLTON RYAN: Who is now--
MOLLY GORDON: Who
has never moved.
COLTON RYAN: --a dancer.
Now only exclusively
works in the dance world.
It was very inspiring to see.
BERNIE TELSEY: Steven, did
you want to say something?
STEVEN SATER: No, I
was just going to say,
but that's our theme.
So that's why it
was so moving to me.
It's-- they were creating the
wonder of Wonderland really.
BERNIE TELSEY: Yes.
STEVEN SATER: The costumes
and Jessie's idea--
creating it out of
helmets and war materials,
but also this movement
that takes you
into your imagination
with the music.
And that's, as
opposed to, as Molly--
we didn't have
that kind of budget
to have huge flying set pieces
and people flying, you know.
And that was the
beauty of the journey.
And I think it's the
reward of the production.
DUNCAN SHEIK: Yeah,
that's ultimately
the benefit is that we
didn't have that stuff.
So we had to make
use of what we had.
STEVEN SATER: The lines, yeah.
BERNIE TELSEY: So we're going to
do one more song from the show.
And before I have Jessie set
up this scene, after the song,
we'll take some questions from
the audience, if you have.
So you could-- you guys
know how to line up
during that applause.
And then we'll take
some questions.
Jessie, you want to
set up this next song.
JESSIE NELSON: Sure.
This is a song called
"Another Room in your Head."
And in the screenplay
world, we'd
say this song happens at the
second act turning point, which
is Alice's has been in
denial about the fact
that her dear friend is dying.
And she finally, in this
scene, after she watches
him cough blood on the
roses of Wonderland,
and they all turn
red, she really
accepts that he's going to die.
And he says to her,
you have to find a way
to continue on without me.
And he says, will you be able to
find another room in your head?
He poses that
question in the song.
And this is sort of the White
Rabbit's most compassionate
moment with her, of trying
to have her accept this.
And also realize she's going
to continue without him
and she has to find
a way to do that.
[COLTON RYAN AND MOLLY GORDON
SINGING "ANOTHER ROOM IN YOUR
HEAD"]
[APPLAUSE]
SPEAKER: [INAUDIBLE]
COLTON RYAN: We did it again.
BERNIE TELSEY: So if
anybody has any questions
for anybody on the creative
team, we welcome them.
AUDIENCE: Hi.
BERNIE TELSEY: Hi.
AUDIENCE: Guys, I saw the show.
It's fantastic, really
visually amazing.
So congratulations, I mean,
what you've accomplished
is really stellar.
DUNCAN SHEIK: Thank you.
AUDIENCE: Two questions,
one, Jessie and Molly,
did I catch the name similarity?
MOLLY GORDON: We don't
have a name similarity,
but that's my mom.
AUDIENCE: Oh, yes, how is
it working with your mom?
MOLLY GORDON: It's wonderful.
AUDIENCE: And second
question, so I don't have to--
MOLLY GORDON: No, please.
AUDIENCE: --ruin the flow here.
Is there going to
be a cast recording?
DUNCAN SHEIK: We are
attempting to do it
actually like in 10 days.
But, yeah, there's
still a couple things
we need to figure out.
But definitely one.
AUDIENCE: Good luck.
It'll be compelling.
DUNCAN SHEIK: Yeah, thanks.
AUDIENCE: Wait you didn't
answer my question.
MOLLY GORDON: Oh,
working with my mom.
I feel incredibly
lucky, because--
so, I've known all of these
people since I was a kid.
So it feels kind of
like this huge family.
And then my mom and I
are incredibly close.
I'm an only child.
And getting to work with her
has been the greatest gift.
And she sets such
a professional tone
with me and with the whole cast.
But also, it's
wonderful, because I
think she can shoot
me an eye movement,
and I know a little
bit maybe more quickly
what she's feeling.
But I think we look up to
people, like Cassavetes,
that work with their family.
And this is our first real
time working together.
And it's been incredible.
So I hope that I will get
that opportunity again.
BERNIE TELSEY: I would just
say being a witness of it,
it's that thing that
you were talking
about, what makes a wonderful
collaboration, the trust.
And this, you know,
it's just the silences.
And there's such a trust
that you're willing--
because so much about
working on theater
is having to trust
the person that you're
taking a direction from.
I mean, because you're
working on your own process.
And once there's that trust,
you just are able to listen.
And I was lucky enough to work
with another father-son team,
Peter Hedges and Lucas Hedges,
on the movie, "Ben is Back."
But it was the
same kind of thing
that you both had, that
it allows you to go
that much further, I think.
AUDIENCE: I also saw the
show and it was fantastic.
I was wondering, if you've been
working on the show for nine
years, you talked about
bringing the choreographers on,
at what stage does that happen.
And like the set design as well.
I mean, I imagine that
can't have been going on
for nine years, right?
So what's the timeline of
all that coming together?
DUNCAN SHEIK: It was
late in the process.
I'm trying to remember when
the choreographers came on.
JESSIE NELSON: These
came after [INAUDIBLE]..
BERNIE TELSEY: Yeah,
the choreography
came on before the
production at MCC
in a little bit of a
choreographic lab beforehand.
DUNCAN SHEIK: Yeah, and then
things like the orchestrations,
which you know, Simon Hale did
these really beautiful things
for just three instruments,
a brass, a reed and a cello.
That happened quite at the end.
Jason Hart did the
vocal arrangements.
And he's been working on
it for maybe five years.
But a lot of these things
did come together quite late
in the process.
STEVEN SATER: I think,
Duncan and I always
joke that we do
workshops for a living.
And part of it is--
MOLLY GORDON: They
pay really well.
STEVEN SATER: That's
what I'm saying.
It's the state of theater
with new musicals,
you're really on your own.
I mean, we began this
literally on our own.
But then you kind of go
from shelter to shelter.
Aspen has you out
for two weeks and you
get as much as you can
done, and you try and get
some vocal arrangements done.
You try and find
casts, like we found
Noah Galvin to go to Aspen.
But it's really all in
your head is the reality.
It was really Jessie
and I rewriting
stage directions of what we
imagined for those years.
And then there's a process
of choosing designers,
of trying to find the right,
designers, which was months,
you know.
That was a long--
and then you're just
in it with them.
You start designing.
And you know--
I mean, I wasn't part of the
process working with them
like that.
But it's very late in the game.
And suddenly, the
production-- and your casting.
We had this rare fortune too.
Let's just say that our producer
is also the leading casting
director there is.
And so we had--
we had a lot of rehearsal,
a lot of auditions.
And I think what Bernie and
Jessie managed to do together
was bring us a cast of stars.
So you feel like
everyone in Wonderland
gets their star turn moment.
You really do.
BERNIE TELSEY: Thank you.
AUDIENCE: Actually that was a
great lead in to my question.
So my question is for Bernie.
Being the legendary
casting director
that you are, but a
producer on this show,
what was it like putting
the producer hat on?
And how are the differences
from a normal product
that you work on in
the casting capacity?
BERNIE TELSEY:
Yeah, I mean I love
doing what we get to do at MCC.
And there's a few of
us on the producing
staff and the artistic staff.
But it was just
wonderful to get to be
part of that collaboration.
A lot of times with
casting, you're
done once the
auditions are done.
And then you go and you see
the show at dress rehearsal
or opening night.
And for "Alice," to be part
of that process with the cast,
and with Jessie,
and the authors,
it's so different and
wonderful, because you
get to have your sort of
hand in the cake, you know,
as you're making
it with everybody.
And seeing it change daily,
you know, from things
that they were doing with
the story, or the staging,
or the acting.
AUDIENCE: Thank you.
BERNIE TELSEY: Anybody else?
AUDIENCE: Hi there.
I'm seeing the show
in a week and a half.
So I'm even more so
excited than I was.
Is there anything
you wish people
knew coming into the show
that they might not already?
BERNIE TELSEY: That's
a good question.
JESSIE NELSON: I would say
it might be interesting
for you to read the book,
just because it's always
interesting to examine the
source material of what's
something sprung from.
It's not necessary, as we said.
But it is interesting to
see how much of these themes
exist in the book.
DUNCAN SHEIK: And I would
say, just know that, you know,
I'm trying to put this
as politely as I can.
But I think Steven comes from a
tradition of Albee, and Pinter,
and Stoppard.
And so there's a
lot of wordplay.
And it's not always--
it's something you really
have to sort of lean into
to get what's going
on to some extent.
And I think that's a good thing.
Because it's important,
profound stuff.
But don't expect an evening's
light entertainment.
MOLLY GORDON: Yeah,
I would say also
to really listen to the lyrics,
because they're so beautiful.
And I think so many musicals
have such incredible lyrics.
But I think this
one specifically,
the word play is so genius.
And if you-- you have to
lean in a little bit more
to pick up on all of them.
But if you can, lean,
I would lean in.
DUNCAN SHEIK: If you can,
it's rewarding, yeah.
AUDIENCE: Hi, thank
you so much for coming.
I think this story of
"Alice in Wonderland"
is really fantastical
and absurd.
And it might relate like to
reality in different ways.
How did you choose
the setting, to be
in London and during
this particular time?
And what other settings could
this story possibly relate to?
JESSIE NELSON: It could have
related to a lot of settings.
For me personally, my dad
was a pilot in World War II.
He was stationed in
London during the blitz
when he was 19.
And he spent a lot of
time in the tube stations
while London was bombed.
So I grew up on those
stories of huddled
together, and the girl that he
got a crush on, named Bubbles,
while London was being bombed.
And these amazing
stories of being
a young man with no real
awareness of the situation,
of the soberness of
the situation that he
was dealing with.
And Steven had a real
connection to that time,
more in a literary way.
You might speak to that.
But we came to--
that was kind of
effortless, coming together
on the notion of being
in a tube station.
It seemed like the
perfect metaphor,
because Alice falls
down the hole.
And so to begin our
story underground,
where she's already fallen
down a really dark hole,
seemed like an
interesting point.
STEVEN SATER: And it
seemed, there was--
just furthering
everything Jessie said.
There was-- I don't know
if you remember this,
we worked on the show
in London at one point.
And there was a terrible--
not when we were there,
but prior to our going,
there was a terrible--
there was a terrorist
attack in a tube station.
It's happened repeatedly
around the world.
But bombs went off.
And there's this
sense of the fragility
of the world, and
our world today,
and the urgency, the
kind of urgent situation
we can be living in.
I think also as the
piece developed,
because our cultural
landscape changed
a lot over the last nine
years, I think we can say,
we saw more and more people
living in encampments.
We saw more and more
displaced individuals.
So those themes, we began to
mine and look for within the--
how the material could serve the
story we were trying to tell.
Now I think "Alice
in Wonderland,"
part of what's so amazing
about "Alice's Adventures
in Wonderland" and all the
"Alice in Wonderland" movies
is, it can be reinvented
in so many ways.
DUNCAN SHEIK: Yeah, I
mean for about 20 minutes,
I really thought it should be
set in some dystopian future,
like where the world has
completely fallen apart.
But I was quickly disabused
of that notion by these guys.
But I do think it's
a story that could
be told in many
different contexts, yeah.
AUDIENCE: Thank you.
BERNIE TELSEY: I think we have
time for one last question,
if anybody has.
Oh, come on.
AUDIENCE: One more song.
BERNIE TELSEY: Yeah,
I wish we could.
We don't have our piano player.
We have a lot more songs.
DUNCAN SHEIK: Yeah,
just come see the show.
BERNIE TELSEY: Remember,
we run until April 7th
up at 52nd Street
on the MCC Theater.
So come see "Alice by Heart."
And thank you to this incredible
creative team, thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
