WONDERLANDS: ALICE AT THE PALACE, 1982

In 1982, NBC broadcast Alice at the Palace, a stage musical rather loosely adapted from Alice in Wonderland. Meryl Streep starred, and in this clip you can see Meryl and her fellow thespians Broadway-ing the snot out of Lewis Carroll, with very showy showtunes and performances pitched not just at the cheap seats, but at anybody who is still in line at the concession stand.

Your opinion of this clip will probably have a lot to do with whether you grew up around theater kids. I went to the LA County High School for the Arts, and I was surrounded by aspiring actors, singers and dancers who were always just a bit too eager to share their talents with the world. It was sort of like being trapped in an episode of Fame that lasted for years. Sometimes the students really did break out in production numbers in the halls. You'd be coming out of history class and there would three girls in leotards outside doing I Hope I Get It and you'd have to try to get past them without getting kicked in the shins. The theater kids were loud and annoying in a very sweet and endearing way. Their relentless pep and desperate need for attention often made them simply exhausting to be around, especially at 9 in the damn morning, but they were never dull. Being dull would have been death to them.

So watching Streep and company bounce around and holler out these songs, I'm impressed by all that outsize talent on display... But I also feel a nasty old shin injury acting up and I feel the strong urge to hurry in the other direction.





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