Alice in Wonderland (1983 film)

A 1982 Broadway stage performance of Alice in Wonderland was telecast on PBS's Great Performances in 1983.[1] Directed by Kirk Browning, it was produced by PBS affiliate WNET in New York. Black-and-white papier-mâché costumes aimed to re-create the book's original artwork by John Tenniel.[2]

Alice in Wonderland
GenreDrama
Musical
Based onAlice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass
by Lewis Carroll
Directed byKirk Browning
StarringKate Burton
Richard Burton
Geoffrey Holder
Eve Arden
Nathan Lane
Music byRichard Addinsell
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
Production
Executive producerJac Venza
ProducersAnn Blumenthal
Susie Fassbinder (associate producer) (as Susie Fasbinder)
CinematographyNick Besink
Running time90 min.
Production companiesWNET Channel 13 New York
Great Performances
KQED
PBS
DistributorPBS
Release
Original networkPBS
Picture formatColor
Audio formatMono
Original releaseOctober 3, 1983

The production was not recorded on film, but on videotape. It starred Kate Burton as Alice, and her father, Richard Burton, as the White Knight. Other notable roles included Nathan Lane as the Mouse, Geoffrey Holder as the Cheshire Cat, Andre De Shields as Tweedledum, and Eve Arden as the Queen of Hearts.

The production was a revival of actress-director Eva Le Gallienne and Florida Friebus's famous 1932 stage adaptation of Lewis Carroll's novel. It had been presented on Broadway in 1982 with Ms. Burton in the lead, but with an otherwise different cast featuring the Mirror Repertory Company.[3] The videotaping was not made in a theatre with a live audience, but in a television studio, much as the 1960 version of Peter Pan had been years before.

The Le Gallienne-Friebus adaptation had previously served as the unofficial basis for the all-star 1933 Paramount Pictures film version of the novel, which featured Charlotte Henry as Alice. The stage production was successfully revived on Broadway in 1947 with Bambi Linn in the title role, and an abridged 6-record 78-RPM album featuring the revival's cast was made by RCA Victor.[4]

The 1983 TV adaptation of the stage production was not the first. It had previously been telecast in 1955 by NBC, as part of the Hallmark Hall of Fame.[5]

Cast

References
  1. ""Great Performances" Alice in Wonderland (TV episode 1983)". The Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 25 September 2010.
  2. "Alice in Wonderland: Broadway Theatre Archive". The DVD Journal. Archived from the original on 28 September 2010. Retrieved 25 September 2010.
  3. "Mirror Rep Presents HGRS, Pendleton's Bard With a Bonus Conflation - Playbill". Playbill.
  4. "Kiddie Records Weekly 2006". www.kiddierecords.com.
  5. "Alice in Wonderland". 23 October 1955 – via www.imdb.com.
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