A . . . MY NAME IS ALICE
Eta Dorpha Society
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Though they’ve compiled the work of several artists, Silver and Boyd have managed to come up with almost consistently hackneyed ballads. In “The Portrait,” by Amanda McBroom, a woman reflects on the differences between herself and her mother, concluding with the dull phrase “I wonder if I’m living partly her dreams, partly mine.” Though Calvin Alexander and James Shorter’s “Pay Them No Mind” has a stirring refrain, its “you and me against the world” scenario remains a cliche because the song never explains who these lovers are and why the world is against them. Much better is “Friends,” by Georgia Holof and David Mettee, chronicling a lifelong friendship through telephone conversations.
If the maudlin songs outweigh the truly touching ones, at least the hilarious bits outnumber the tasteless ones. In the playful “Trash,” by Marta Kauffman, David Crane, and Michael Skloff, a romance-reading receptionist wonders in song, “Why can’t my life be trash?” In the skit “Hot Lunch,” by Anne Meara, the tables are turned on a construction worker when the victim of his lecherous comments offers to show him her “gazumbas” if he’ll show her his “wacobongo.” These numbers are silly but fun, offering well-executed caricature and pointed humor. A skit about a women’s basketball team, however, descends into childish stereotypes of women athletes as brutish.
Alice’s spiral down the rabbit hole is precipitated by a Playboy bunny and the potent drink she serves the underage girl. During her “trip,” Alice (Jennifer Fraser) bounces between little-girl fear and drug-induced euphoria, dancing in a frenzy one moment and slinking sensually the next. She joins three women for a food orgy in the “Garden of Eatin’,” discusses the nature of truth with Queen Mab (Hee), learns about Mother Earth at the feet of Queen Anna Maya (Surowitz), explores her body image with the help of two leather-clad slackers (Christina Cary and Avril Germaine VonFalkenberg), and marvels at the flashy Queen Diana (Strong), who tells her that vice is “bad habits that feel good.” The point of her journey? To go from girl to woman, “to embrace change, the current of life.” So Alice gets her period and leaves her mentors with a group hug.
