From left: Janet Dacal as Alice, Karen Mason as the Queen of Hearts, and Kate Shindle as the Mad Hatter in Wonderland
Just who are the people who decided to put their money into Wonderland and The People in the Picture? The first is a mushy, Dr. Phil–esque musical update of Alice in Wonderland, with a score by Frank Wildhorn (Jekyll and Hyde), who never gets good reviews. The second is a downbeat musical about a Jewish acting troupe in Poland caught up in the Holocaust, told in flashback by the troupe's former star, now a grandmother dying of Alzheimer's.Picture is actually a well-constructed show, with a strong lead performance by Donna Murphy; and Wildhorn, I'm convinced, is a decent pop composer who just needs better collaborators. But neither show had a chance.