Alice to the Rescue

Since 1926, with the exception of one sabbatical year, Eva Le Gallienne has been charging small admissions to see great plays at her Civic Repertory Theatre in Manhattan's out-of-the-way 14th Street. She has not been without kudos. In 1930 she produced Pulitzer Prizewinning Alison's House. As the years rolled by, intelligent folk who might go down to 14th Street twice a year to enjoy Chekhov or Ibsen, came to regard the Civic Repertory as complacently as they would the Public Library. But water is cherished when the well begins to run dry. There was considerable excitement among the theatre's many friends last week when suddenly, by a sink-or-swim gesture, the Civic Repertory gave unexpected notice that it might sink.

Although Miss Le Gallienne had never done better business, the downtown playhouse abandoned repertory, closed its doors. Uptown to Florenz Ziegfeld's old New Amsterdam Theatre went the Repertory's Alice in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass. Explanation for this change in policy brought forth a hitherto unknown fact about the organization: even a capacity week ($9,500 gross) could not pay the Repertory's bills. For years a number of public-spirited citizens have been making up the $8,000 monthly deficit, because Producer Le Gallienne would rather close up shop than raise her $1.50 top price. Now, one by one, the Depression has picked off her backers.

In taking Alice uptown to the rescue, the Repertory Theatre hopes to recoup enough to go back to repertory. "The production of Alice," said the New York Sun, "gives opportunity for thousands to become, in a way, endowers of a theatre which deserves their aid--and to have fun doing it."

Alice is an amazingly successful production. Irene Sharaff and Remo Bufano have followed the illustrations of Sir John Tenniel to the last hatch mark in executing costumes, masks, scenery. Richard Addinsell's musical accompaniment is gay and tuneful. Straight from the printed page through the voice of Josephine Hutchinson, in pinafore and long golden hair, comes the sense of Alice's constant wonderment. "Off with their heads, off with their heads!" shrills Joseph Schildkraut as the Queen of Hearts. And the Mad Hatter (Landon Herrick) runs about cup in hand with IN THIS STYLE IO/⁶ stuck in his towering headpiece. The Walrus and the Carpenter, two large marionettes, eat little marionette oysters as pot-bellied Tweedledum & Tweedledee recite their poem. The Mouse, the White Rabbit, the March Hare, the Gryphon, the Duchess (''Speak roughly to your little boy and beat him when he sneezes")--all appear in scenes which occur and vanish incredibly. The Duchess' squealing baby actually turns into a live pig in Alice's arms. Actress Le Gallienne as the White Queen flies giddily about through the air. It is impossible to praise the performers singly. As the Dodo says: "Everybody has won, and all must have prizes!"

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