In late March, Sequoyah’s high school theater program staged a production of Alice by Heart, a dark and touching musical set during The Blitz—an eight-month period in which the Germans bombed Britain during WWII. Alice by Heart is a book by Steven Sater with Jessie Nelson, inspired by Lewis Carroll’s 1865 mind-bending novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. With music by Duncan Sheik and lyrics by Steven Sater, the show displays a range of registers and emotions. The musical follows a teen, Alice, who is sheltering with her best friend, Alfred, in an underground Tube station in London. Alfred has tuberculosis and is forced by Nurse Cross, a strict lady caring for patients in the Tube station, to quarantine. Despite this, Alice visits Alfred and urges him to join her journey through Wonderland, endeavoring to read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to him. Upon discovering this, Nurse Cross rips Alice’s book. Alice, determined to read to Alfred, declares she will recite it to him by heart. The play explores themes of love and loss and explores what it means to live in the present.

Sequoyah School’s Director of Performing Arts Arden Thomas selected Alice by Heart for its… well, heart! Thomas explains that the show had an off-Broadway run in 2019 and was not positively received, meaning that the rights would likely not be released until they revised the show for its Broadway run. However, high school theater directors across the country fell in love with the story and knew it would be perfect for high school; a large collection of theater teachers petitioned to get the licensing for the musical, and ultimately the play became available for two years. Thomas decided this marvelous musical would be perfect because the licensing window closed in June 2019 and it would be their only opportunity to do this show. Thomas credits Musical Director Emily Shisko and Choreographer Nola Gibson with the success of the production. She explained, “it really wasn’t until we began the rehearsal process that I really understood just how special the show was… The music [was] gorgeous, and our choreographer did an amazing job.” The show was “about all the collaborative arts of theater coming together in such a beautiful way,” Thomas added. The show felt especially beautiful because, as Thomas explained, “Throughout the rehearsal process, we found profound connections in this story about characters whose homes were bombed in the Blitz of London and who endured devastating losses similar to our own [in the Eaton Fire]. Being present with this musical has created a space for us to be present for each other in our grief. This show has become more than a performance—it’s a testament to how theater and storytelling can deepen our empathy, nurture our healing, and remind us that even in our darkest hours, we can find compassion, hope, and love in stories and in each other.”

The pit band also contributed to the moving nature of the show. Paula Hu ’25, a pianist who has played in multiple musicals, spearheaded the pit band, which also included a trumpet player, a drummer, a cellist, a wind player, a bassist, and a guitarist. With the exception of the guitarist (Sequoyah Music Teacher Ben Ede) and the wind player (elementary school music teacher and Caltech Occidental Wind Orchestra instrumentalist Otto Sit), all musicians were Sequoyah high school students. Thomas gave kudos to Hu, saying, “She completely led the entire rehearsal process; she met with them [the band] twice a week; she directed them; she played the piano; she organized everything, created the schedule… and made sure they were all working. Extraordinary work, an extraordinary achievement.”

Another highlight of the show was star Jenna Nouri ’27, who played the leading role, Alice, in this wonderful musical. Shockingly, Alice by Heart was Nouri’s first-ever musical, which you really couldn’t tell—as Lucy Pettit ’26 exclaimed, “She’s got pipes.” Nouri’s role was emotionally complex and vocally challenging, but she bravely stepped into it and played Alice with palpable vulnerability.

Nouri worked alongside her fellow actor Quinn Calof ’27 who played Alfred—the show’s male lead as well as Alice’s friend—excellently. In the show, the two of them are best friends and love interests, so they engaged in a cool technique suggested by Thomas to build character chemistry. The Meisner technique is an exercise where two actors sit across from each other and respond to each other through a repeated phrase. Initially, the phrases are simple phrases like “You’re wearing a purple hat.” As the exercise progresses, though, the tone changes. The phrase may become something like “The purple hat you’re wearing makes your eyes pop.” Nouri explains, “At the beginning, it was a little bit awkward, but as we progressed… it got a lot more comfortable and then we were able to do the other scenes without feeling weird.” Thomas made a similar observation, noting, “It takes you out of your head… you connect spontaneously… I really saw them shift a lot… in their performance.” Achieving character chemistry is no easy feat, but Nouri and Calof succeeded.

Cast members generally agreed that the most difficult scene to stage was the trial, characterized by the iconic song “Isn’t It a Trial?” The scene involves a lot of movement and choreography, making this one of the scenes the cast worked on the most. JoJo Kiedman ’25, who played the Duchess, noted that the trial “took a while to get down as a cast” because of its fast pace. Although the scene initially caused some stress, the cast got it down and the scene was aces.

Another scene that was difficult—and a cast and fan favorite—was one that is equally hilarious and solemn. “Sick to Death of Alice-ness” is the catchy, witty song featured in the show’s take on the Mad Hatter scene from Carroll’s novel. In Alice by Heart, it is darker because the Mad Hatter character is played by a soldier suffering from PTSD from the war. Amazingly, a small group of cast members worked tirelessly to choreograph the movement in this scene mostly independently, and Gibson choreographed the dance. They performed it vibrantly and powerfully, jumping over one another and standing on tables and chairs. Thomas gushed, “It was so phenomenal, and I can take no credit for that.”

This show was particularly special because 13 seniors–between the cast, the pit band, and the tech crew, who masterfully managed lighting, sound, and stage directions–were part of it. Though Sequoyah may have closed the book on Alice by Heart, the theater program continues to shine, so look out for next year’s shows!