The Blog of the LCSNA
London’s Royal Ballet will remount their acclaimed production of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland during the 2014 holiday season. And in a clever cross-marketing move, the Ballet has also invited popular hip hop dance company ZooNation to present their own “hip” (and “hop,” presumably) version of the tale, The Mad Hatter’s T Party, in their smaller theatre downstairs at the same time. Twice the Carrollian fun for theatre and dance (and Alice) fans!
If you’re in the vicinity of USC’s Doheny Memorial Library, you may want to know that at 8pm (local time) on Thursday, April 17th, they are holding a multimedia event celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the annual Wonderland Award that LCSNA members George and Linda Cassady so kindly sponsor. The library is also home to the Cassady Lewis Carroll Collection, which is cause for celebration any day.
Click me for a description of the event.
Click me to visit the award’s Facebook page.
And click me to view a teaser of the upcoming multimedia event.
Here’s another item from one of our mimsiest minions:
“Twenty-first-century Symbolist” Gail Potocki’s exhibition of her Carrollian paintings, Fragmented Alice, took place at the Century Guild Gallery in Los Angeles last fall. You can read an interview about it here or buy the associated perfumes here. Some of these paintings are also in the catalog Century Guild Book One, available here.
This just in from one of our Mimsy Minions. If you like crowdfunding (like I do) and you like games (like I do) and you like Alice & all things steampunk (like I do), then you’ll love this! Still four days to go if you want to be a backer. They’ve reached their goal so the game is on! To visit the Indiegogo site for this game click me!
I’m delighted to announce that Matt Crandall and Wendy Lane Crandall have graciously (and jointly) agreed to take over the job of blogmaster for the LCSNA effective immediately so that I can focus on my growing workload.
It’s been a pleasure being blogmaster for you all, and I hope you will remember to keep sending Mat and Wendy new items regularly via: blogmaster@lewiscarroll.org. Thanks, Matt and Wendy, and thank you all. — Andrew
While many people were not fans of Disney’s recent Wonderland 3-D extravaganza film, directed by Tim Burton, it blew past all the negative reviews and earned over $1 billion dollars. So of course, as we’ve reported previously, a sequel is already in the works–this time without Burton, who has moved on other projects. Johnny Depp and Mia Wasikowska have already signed their contracts.
Variety reports that Helena Bonham-Carter is in final talks to reprise her role as the amalgam villainess, the Red Queen. Whatever you thought of the first film, it would be hard to deny that Bonham-Carter gave the film zest. So getting her back on board for the sequel is probably a very wise idea on Disney’s part.
Speculation runs rampant as to how scriptwriter Linda Woolverton will mash up Carroll’s characters and story elements this time. But at least if Bonham-Carter is around with her outsized head and even larger sense of zaniness, there will be someone fun to watch.
One of our mimsiest minions reports that a new bakery has opened in the Wicker Park neighborhood of Chicago: A Baker’s Tale. In addition to the somewhat Snarkian name of the shop, its decor also includes a large framed image of Tenniel’s Mad Tea Party, and a large sculptural tree whose blossoms are made of pages from an edition of Wonderland. We can only hope it wasn’t an 1865 edition!!
And of course, there are white rabbit cookies, among other treats. If you visit the shop, write us a comment and let us all know what you thought. Who knows, maybe they even have treacle tarts!
To visit the bakery’s web site, click me.
If you’re a fan of geometry, math, or just Lewis Carroll, you might be interested in this blog post from Scientific American. It considers the importance and relevance of Mr. Dodsgon’s highly theatrical treatise Euclid and His Modern Rivals. While it ultimately finds limitations in Dodgson’s conclusions, it applauds his sheer creativity in addressing a difficult and contentious topic.
One of our trusty mimsy minions passed along this link to a recent NY Times travel article. It’s basically one writer’s personal tour of Oxford, England. Surprisingly, there is only a fleeting mention of Alice, and that’s about the treacle well. But perhaps the writer assumes others have covered the Carrollian elements sufficiently elsewhere. Never, say we! 😉
