It's the clichés you always hear about musicals - that they're not written, they're
rewritten; that every "effortless" hit has spent years in development - that come to
mind during
wonder.land, the National's much-maligned big winter spectacular.
Perhaps going into it with low expectations helped, but it seems that under what is,
undoubtedly, something of a mess, a pretty good show is struggling to get out and,
given time, might well have done. As the title suggests, Moira Buffini (book and
lyrics) and Damon Albarn's (music) musical takes Lewis Carroll's
Alice in
Wonderland stories and transposes them to the digital age. Following her
parents' breakup, Aly (Lois Chimimba) has moved to a new school where she
immediately becomes a target of the resident mean girls, who bully her in real
life and online.
