'Catchy tunes exuberantly carry the narrative' - Camden New Journal
'Classic Alice...romantic songs...crisp...effective' -The Stage

'An engaging adaptation. The songs.... transform the space into a magical fantasy land and the performances are a delight."
- Dan Cairns, The Sunday Times, 24.12.2000

This is the cast recording of Stephen Daltry’s musical adaptation of ‘Alice Through the Looking-Glass’ which premiered to a sell-out audience at the British Library on July 23rd 2000 as part of 'Chapter & Verse: 1000 Years of English Literature'. This was followed by a highly successful transfer to the New End Theatre, Hampstead, for a four week run from December 2000 to January 2001, where it was rated in the top two London Christmas Shows (below only Cirque du Soleil) in the Sunday Times critics and audience ratings.

"A thoroughly professional musical play featuring both adult and child actors - a type of children's theatre seen too rarely."
Ann Sinnott, Camden New Journal, 21.12.2000.

STORY and BIOGRAPHY
Follow Alice on her journey as she leaves the comfort of her living room to move through the looking-glass, discovering a strange world in which she meets characters like Tweedledum and Tweedledee, hears the frightening Jabberwocky, is sung to by Humpty-Dumpty, and comes face to face with the formidable Red Queen - and much more besides!

BIOGRAPHY

STEPHEN DALTRY: Composer, Musical Director, Lyricist, Pianist, Film-maker and Actor. www.stephendaltry.com
email: stephen.daltry@ntlworld.com

Stephen Daltry received his B.A. (Hons - Class I) in Music with Radio Film & TV Studies (special option: Film-making and Composing; special study: Debussy) from Christ Church College, Canterbury, Kent, in 1983. He obtained a Diploma in acting from the Actors' Institute, London in 1987 and gained Equity membership in 1988. In 1990, after working as an actor and musician in theatre and film, and as Musical Director for Newsrevue (Canal Café, London), he won a scholarship in composing to the National Film & Television School, UK, graduating with his Diploma in 1994. His graduation film as a composer, Two Seconds to Midnight, was directed by Tony Fisher (also dir. The Trouble with Men & Women, S Films UK 2003, to which Stephen also contributed music). Whilst at the NFTS, Stephen wrote and directed his own 13-minute short, Debussy (Best of British: British Short Film Festival Haymarket, London 1994).

Stephen's first commission as a film composer was for the BBC documentary Identity Unknown, by cinematographer/director Simon Everson. Since then, he has composed music for a wide variety of documentaries and dramas, both in the UK and EU, including: Too Scared For School (2004, Granada Bristol: producer/ director Ann Hawker - ITV 'Real Life' series); The Real Catherine Cookson (2002 Yorkshire TV: director Ann Hawker - CH4); Two Loves (2000: Ryninks Films: wr./dir. Jacqueline van Vugt - BBC/ZDF); Children of The Iron Lung (2000, Granada: dir. Ann Hawker - CH4); Diana: The Paris Crash (1999, Fulcrum Productions: dir. Paul Oramland - ITV); Battle for the Planet (1999, Ryninks Films, Amsterdam: Executive Producer, David Shulman - 4-part miniseries, Discovery Channel).The Hunt (BBC Cultural Prix Italia 1999); The Hunt (1997, Ryninks Films: director Niek Koppen - BBC TV 'Under the Sun' series; Cultural Prix Italia, 1999).

Stephen has written on 'Film Music & Narrative' for Vertigo magazine (Spring 2003); he lectures and demonstrates on music (film music in particular) to arts clubs and film schools, including the Cairo Film School and the Halfway Production House, London.

Appearances as an actor include Police Chief Tiger Brown in the Threepenny Opera (by Brecht/Weill, dir. Geoff Sykes: Manchester Youth Theatre, 1979), Diabetes in God (by Woody Allen, dir. Phil Young, 1986); small parts in Death (by Woody Allen, Donmar Warehouse 1986); Lord Poppelwell in The Fool wr/dir. Christine Edzard (Sands Films, 1990). He was an actor-guide at the Museum of the Moving Image, London in 1988 - an experience which inspired Forever Splendide (co-writerr, book, Lesley Albiston) a stage musical about a fleapit cinema set in 1946 - the tale of a starstruck usherette - which Stephen wrote and composed. It premiered at the Kings Head, London in 1990 (dir. Helen le Brocq), and showed at the Hen & Chickens, London, in 1993 (dir. Lesley Albiston). The Salisbury Dramatic Association played it at the Arts Centre in 1996, and Stephen revised the piece for the Royal Academy of Music's workshop and a reading at the Bridewell, London in 2004. He is hoping to produce this revised version at Sawston, Cambridgeshire in 2008.

In 2000, Stephen's musical version of Lewis Carroll's Alice through the Looking Glass (co-dir. & lyricist Maureen Thomas) was rated in the top two London Christmas Shows (below only Cirque du Soleil) in the Sunday Times critics and audience ratings. Press: Sunday Times: "Engaging …magical …a delight!" The Stage: "Classic Alice … lavish..crisp..comedy". In August 2006, Stephen took his original one-man comedy (classical) music show, Ludwig's Van, to the Edinburgh Festival. Reviews: "Virtuoso performer and composer" … "a boisterous comedy talent" (The Stage). "Irreverent and enjoyable ... humour half way between Mr Bean and cartoonist Gerard Hoffnung. Recommended, especially for anyone with even a passing knowledge of classical music" (Steve Lawson, 08/08/06).

On this CD:
Music to Lewis Carroll's text was composed by Stephen Daltry, who also wrote some additional lyrics, such as 'Wonderful Air' & 'Tickets Please!'

THE CAST
Maria Gavriliouk : Alice
Edmund Dehn : The White Knight, Jabberwock Narrator
Sarah Vernon : The Red Queen.
Ana-Luisa de Cavilla : The White Queen
Emma Tate : The Fawn
Tom Murphy : Train Guard, Flower
James Horne : Co-Narrator, The White King, Red Knight
Stephen Daltry : Co-Narrator, Tweedledee
Steve Newman : Tweedledum
Dominic Borelli : Humpty Dumpty
Bella Hodgson : Flower/Oyster/Messenger
Maire Brady : Flower/Oyster/Messenger

Musicians:
Howard Simpson : Trumpet
Liz Chi Yen Liew : Violin
Annette Loose : Flute & Sax
Stephen Daltry : Piano

Engineer, Nick Taylor, Porcupine Studios, London SE9.
Music composed, arranged and directed by Stephen Daltry