"Disney's Alice In Wonderland" - Flying Monkey Productions

Left: Cheshire Cat (Chaney Briggs).

Below: Queen of Hearts (Josephine Longo), and Alice (Mayme O'Toole).

A wonderful show at the Veteran's Memorial Theatre in Davis. Most elements were wonderful - the costumes and scenery and dancing. Ryan Warren and company have earned many congratulations! I understand Mayme O'Toole is age 14, and will be a freshman at St. Francis High School in Sacramento this autumn.

The elements I didn't like about the show appeared to be inherent to the Disney show, like modern snarky references (e.g., Mary Ann, Ginger, and Gilligan; Tweedledum and Tweedledee's dysfunctional co-dependency issues, etc. - funny, but not Lewis Carroll). Recorded music, well-done, but which relied heavily on frantic cartoonish themes, was another weak element. So, an excellent production of a show already compromised by too much non-19th-Century stuff.

Left: Girls Of The Golden Afternoon - Alice (Mayme O'Toole), with Brittney Almendariz in the background. The Girls of the Golden afternoon are (in uncertain order) Rose (Corey Bourgeois), Bud (Jillie Kate Randle), Petunia (Alicia Wood), Lily (Emily Warren), Daisy (Elizabeth Ferris), and Violet (Kelly Flanary).

Left: Mad Hatter (Riley O'Toole), Dormouse (Aidan Ferreter), and March Hare (Jonathan Tierney).

Left: Alice (Mayme O'Toole) and Mathilda (Kristin Kelly, aka Kristin Cunningham).

Kristin was Costume Designer for this show, and what a good job she did!

Left: Dancing Flowers - Morning Glory (Debbie Williamson), Poppy (Brittney Almendariz), Tulip (Abigail Bisi), and Daffodil (Julianna Gardner).

The quality of the dancing was startlingly high, mostly due to the excellent technical skills of these four dancers. I understand Debbie Williamson attends Deane Dance Center in Sacramento, home of Sacramento's best! Brittney is great, of course. The other two girls were their match in every way, however! (Julianna Gardner did a flip!)

[Update: Check corrections, in comments]

Left: Alice (Mayme O'Toole) and Caterpillar (Simonne Sacco).

Left: Alice (Mayme O'Toole), Gryphon (Cass Olson), and Mock Turtle (Rebecca Rudy).

Left: Tea Party. Dodo (Joey Lemons), Waiter (not sure - I'm guessing Matt Iwasa), Dormouse (Aidan Ferreter), Mad Hatter (Riley O'Toole), Alice (Mayme O'Toole), and March Hare (Jonathan Tierney).

Left: White Rabbit (Kayla Wood).

Left: Dancing Flowers - Morning Glory (Debbie Williamson) and Poppy (Brittney Almendariz), plus March Hare (Jonathan Tierney) and Dormouse (Aidan Ferreter).

My primary interest in coming to the show was curiosity about how well Brittney is doing as a performer these days. Her stage presence was stellar - unreal, really - and with her skills, she is definitely someone worth watching as she progresses over the next few years!