After various workshops and productions of the musical in Tampa, Florida and Houston, Texas, the show premiered on Broadway on April 17, 2011, closing a month later, on May 15, 2011.
Frank Wildhorn and Jack Murphy previously collaborated on The Civil War, Waiting For The Moon, The Count of Monte Cristo, and the unproduced musical Havana, and have written songs for Linda Eder.
It featured Lauren Kennedy as Alice, Julie Brooks as Chloe, Nikki Snelson as the Mad Hatter, and Julia Murney as the Queen.
[5] The cast included Janet Dacal as Alice, Karen Mason as the Queen of Hearts, Nikki Snelson as the Mad Hatter, Eugene Fleming as the Caterpillar, Jose Llana as El Gato, Edward Staudenmayer as the White Rabbit, Darren Ritchie as Jack/White Knight, and Julie Brooks as Chloe.
[3] Wonderland began previews on November 24, 2009 and opened on December 5 at Ferguson Hall in The David A. Straz Jr. Center for the Performing Arts in Tampa, Florida, where it ran through January 3, 2010.
A New Musical[14] and the book was drastically re-written, the roles of the Caterpillar, Chloe and the Mad Hatter were recast (with E. Clayton Cornelius, Carly Rose Sonenclar and Kate Shindle), a character (Morris, the Hatter's side-kick, the March Hare) was added, and a character was deleted (Jabberwock).
[16] The cast included Janet Dacal as Alice, Darren Ritchie as White Knight and Jack/Lewis Carroll, Jose Llana as El Gato, Karen Mason as the Queen of Hearts, Kate Shindle as the Mad Hatter, Carly Rose Sonenclar as Chloe, and Edward Staudenmayer as the White Rabbit.
The Nederlanders engaged Scott Ellis to restage the musical and Rupert Holmes to help shape the book.
[23] Maitland pulled out before rehearsals due to disagreements with the producer and the production company Wonderland the Musical Ltd regarding her contract.
The musical opened in May 2022 at Tuacahn Center for the Arts featuring a new book by Gabriel Barre and Jennifer Paulson-Lee.
Her young daughter, Chloe, laments about the move and her family's demise, as Alice notes that her life isn't going in the direction she had hoped.
El Gato believes himself to be invisible, but he has lost the power; Alice learns from the Caterpillar that the characters in Wonderland "don't have the heart to tell him".
The Rabbit, El Gato, Caterpillar and Jack the White Knight all agree to help Alice find the service elevator that brought her there.
The Mad Hatter, who uses the name "Maddie", and the March Hare ascend the rabbit hole to Chloe's bedroom.
They convince Chloe to come with them to help with Alice and Jack's marriage treatment to bring the family closer together ("A Nice Little Walk").
Together, Alice, Jack, Rabbit, El Gato and the Caterpillar agree to break through the Looking-Glass to save Chloe ("Through the Looking Glass").
The Hatter eggs her on that she is the only one who can say "Off with their heads" with such flair, and convinces the Queen to allow the beheadings to take place in the land of the Looking-Glass.
Jack tells the Rabbit to find dismiss his fears, that they will get the watch back, but they must attack the very men they are trying to save.
They defeat the prison guards, who are Jack's Boy-Band Knights that were transformed after the Hatter brought them under her control, and return them to their normal mindset when they get the watch back.
Alice is happy that she may leave with Chloe, but the two lament Jack's death as they go home ("Heroes") Alice awakens from her dream when her husband, Jack, arrives with Chloe's forgotten doll and claiming it is his White Knight syndrome that drove him there and his desire to protect his family since they're under a new roof.
He called it "a visual feast, with dazzling costumes, marvelously funky dance and a flashy, high-tech production design," thought it "is loaded with talent onstage," and said the score "boasts one insanely catchy pop song after another."
What Wildhorn and his colleagues...or somebody else can do to bring at least a measure of dramatic logic to the musical will ultimately decide its fate."
He felt a scene in which Alice meets author Lewis Carroll "appears to be an attempt to give the show emotional depth", but "it is totally out of place, like dropping a scene from one of Wildhorn's Gothic pop operas into Legally Blonde," and the character of the Mad Hatter was a "casualty of the misconceived book" because "the story is so preposterous."
He noted "El Gato and the jazzy Caterpillar ... have great solos to introduce Alice to Wonderland, but then have little to do the rest of the show.
"[26] Walt Belcher of the Tampa Tribune called it "a fun ride" but observed, "At this stage in the play's ongoing development, the parts seem greater than the whole as there are characters and songs along the way that excite and delight but there may be one or two more ballads than necessary."
With a strong voice, great dance moves and flair for comedy, Dacal is a perfect fit for the role.
"[27] Variety wrote that the musical "offers pleasures from an engaging cast, top Broadway designers and a catchy score that returns Wildhorn to his pop music roots" but felt "the story is confusing almost from the start, especially in the messier second act, when it drifts around and then rushes to an unemotional conclusion....[T]here's not yet a delightful or tear-filled resolution".
[28] The review of the Houston run in The Houston Chronicle stated: "The show boasts the appeal of Boyd's splashy staging, a talented cast led by vivacious star-in-the-making Janet Dacal and some striking design elements, including spectacular use of projections...Wildhorn delivers his trademark, conventional pop sound, boosted by some lively rhythms and catchy hooks here and there....Dacal is a find as Alice.
Neil Patel's sets are ingenious if somewhat slapdash in stylistic consistency....As a work in progress, Wonderland no doubt will continue improving.
[30] However, The New York Times reviewer Charles Isherwood wrote that the musical is "peppily inspirational" and the "book displays flashes of fresh humor ... with a convoluted story line."