THE MISSING PAGES OF LEWIS CARROLL: 71% – BITTERSWEET

Corryn Cummins and Leo Marks in “The Missing Pages of Lewis Carroll”. Photo: Ed Krieger.

SWEET
Playwright Lily Blau receives a strong mounting of her world premiere The Missing Pages of Lewis Carroll at the Theatre @ Boston Court. Director Abigail Deser glides her able cast through what Blau has imagined would be in the missing pages of author Lewis Carroll’s actual diaries.
Gil Kaan – BroadwayWorld

BITTERSWEET
Cummins’ transit from willful, coquettish adolescence to recriminatory womanhood is a marvel of observation and nuance, and director Abigail Deser’s staging gets high marks for sheer polish (helped by Garry Lennon’s surreal-edged costuming, Keith Skretch’s psychedelic video projections and John Ballinger’s vivid sound). It is Blau’s text that finally shortchanges, as the psychological melodrama fails to deliver either fresh insight or the requisite dramatic surprise.
Bill Raden – LA Weekly

SWEET
Playwright Lily Blau speculates on one of the most controversial real-life relationships in literary history—that of the then 31-year-old Charles Dotson, better known as Lewis Carroll, and Alice Liddell, the 11-year-old inspiration for Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland—in her provocative new play The Missing Pages Of Lewis Carroll, now getting a superbly acted and directed (and gorgeous-to-look-at) World Premiere at Pasadena’s The Theater @ Boston Court.
Steven Stanley – StageSceneLA

SWEET
For the most part these problems are invisible in this typically gorgeous Boston Court production; as do most shows at this 99-seat house, this one looks like a million bucks. One wonders why other plays produced so close to Hollywood typically lack acting this good (casting by Raul Clayton Staggs). Stephen Gifford’s set, Jenny Smith’s props, and Garry Lennon’s costumes, as lighted by Jaymi Lee Smith, similarly raise the question of comparative adequacy: the theater professional I brought to the show was especially staggered by the revelation of space. Deser’s assemblage of elements, though it abets the unnecessary scenes inside Dodgson’s head with an overwrought abuse of Keith Skretch’s video and John Ballinger’s sound design, otherwise entirely elevates what is excellent in the writing.
Jason Rohrer – Stage and Cinema

SWEET
In the end, one is left to answer one’s own questions. Nobody knows what really happened in that three day gap, and this script allows one to be more or less generous to Dodgson and to Carroll, depending on how one reads the performances and the performers. It makes for an interesting evening, and significant discussion post-performance. But then, most of what the Boston Court does is worthy of discussion, though since this play has more its feet on the ground than some, this conversation may be a bit more about the real.
Frances Baum Nicholson – The Stage Struck Review

SWEET
These broader ideas would not be present if not for the fluid, immersive believability of the actors and a seamless production design. Leo Marks portrays a most endearing, humbly playful Dodgson. The chemistry between Marks and Corryn Cummins as doe eyed, sassy, knock-kneed Alice is lustrous and palpable.
Jessica Louise Salans – Stage Raw

BITTER
The main problem is Blau’s play, which seems to really want to accuse Dodgson of molesting Alice but also wants to say maybe he only thought about it, which isn’t a whole lot better. Regardless of whether or not this viewpoint is accurate, Blau has every right to write about it, but she’s done so in a very colorless, repetitive way. Other artists have covered this same territory with significantly more success, such as Dennis Potter’s Dreamchild, and in a way that included Carroll’s vivid literary creations. The fact that a play can use the White Rabbit as a recurring character and somehow make it boring speaks strongly of the chances missed with this show.
Terry Morgan – Talkin’ Broadway

SWEET
Whether what unfolds onstage in “The Missing Pages of Lewis Carroll” are spot on or just an imagined fabrication, this play is the real deal when it comes to stimulating theatrical entertainment. The Theatre @ Boston Court is known for its innovative and stimulating productions and this show is an example of their best work. Don’t miss it!
Candyce Columbus – LA Examiner

BITTERSWEET
The play dances away from its hints that something untoward ever happened, concluding with a wan scene in which the adult Alice confronts Dodgson with arch but vague remarks such as “I remember a great many things.” The mystery of those missing pages remains unsolved, so depicting Wonderland as a pedophile’s trap ultimately feels a bit sensationalistic and reductive.
Margaret Gray – LA Times

BITTERSWEET
Director Abigail Deser chooses adults. I hope no one else ever does. Coryn Cummins acts well, but she’s a woman, not an 11-year-old girl about to enter puberty. She’s as tall as Dodgson, and no pinafore can hide her maturity. At the key moment, this strips Alice’s first crush of its innocence, turning her timid bid for love into sexual seduction — and putting us right where the carefully crafted script doesn’t want us to be.
Mark Hein – Theatre Ghost

SWEET
All in all, The Missing Pages of Lewis Carroll is an enjoyable play but it doesn’t offer any new theories nor resolutions to the more mysterious aspects of Dodgson’s life and career.
Pauline Adamek – ArtsBeatLA

BITTERSWEET
Despite all the strength of the production, the play and its writing ultimately fell flat in what it aimed to convey. In not taking care to maintain historical accuracy of other parts of Dodgson and the Liddell’s life, it makes the liberties it takes with Dodgson’s relationship with Alice seem even more irresponsible and unfounded.
Maureen Lee Lenker – Neon Tommy

THE MISSING PAGES OF LEWIS CARROLL
Theatre @ Boston Court
70 N. Mentor Ave., Pasadena
Through March 1, 2015
Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 2pm
Tickets: $34; (626) 683-6883
Running time: 1 hour, 40 minutes