Birmingham Children's Theatre to bring 'Alice in Wonderland' to Riverchase Galleria
The Hoover City Council this week agreed to pay for the Birmingham Children’s Theatre to expand its Magic City Theatre Festival to Hoover with four performances at the Riverchase Galleria in June.
The theater company plans to present four performances of “Alice in Wonderland.” Tentative dates would have one show on Friday, June 14, two shows on Saturday, June 15, and a final show on Sunday, June 16, said Paulette Pearson, chairwoman of the Hoover Arts Council, which lobbied to bring the shows to the Galleria.
Hoover city leaders have been looking for something positive to bring more people to the Galleria and looking for ways to do something artistic at the mall, Pearson said. This opportunity to partner with Birmingham Children’s Theatre fits the bill, she said.
“I do think it would be great for the city, and I do think it would be great for the Galleria,” Pearson said.
Ashley Woods, the managing director for Birmingham Children’s Theatre, said the theater started the Magic City Theatre Festival last year as a way to expose more people to the magic of theater.
Last year, the festival involved 17 performances of “The Three Musketeers” at Brookwood Village over three weeks in July. About 1,000 people attended those performances, Woods said.
This year, the festival is beginning with several performances of “Alice in Wonderland” at Sloss Furnaces in Birmingham on the first weekend in June. Executive Artistic Director Brandon Bruce is writing a new adaptation of the story that is “less of a drug trip” than the original story, Woods said.
But Birmingham Children’s Theatre was interested in expanding the festival to more than one location so it is more of a festival, she said. Theater officials believe the Riverchase Galleria is the right spot, she said.
However, one difference this year is that all shows are being presented at no cost to the audience, Woods said. Last year, to make the festival financially feasible, Birmingham Children’s Theatre charged for admission to the shows, she said. This year, they obtained sponsors to finance the shows at Sloss Furnaces.
The Hoover City Council on Monday night agreed to put up $45,000 to bring the same show to the Galleria two weekends later.
Councilman Curt Posey, a member of the Hoover Arts Council, said it’s a good way to bring something positive and something artistic to the mall.
Council President Gene Smith said putting on an event like this at the Galleria for a year or two might help Hoover officials gauge whether people are receptive to having performing arts events at the Galleria. City officials have contemplated the idea of building a permanent performing arts center at the mall.
Woods said that, last year, when the Magic City Theatre Festival was at Brookwood Village, many people who came to the mall during those weeks were curious as to whether the theater presence was going to be permanent there.
Galleria General Manager Mike White said ever since he became general manager at the mall in 2016, he has been looking for ways to bring more community events there. He not only wants events that will drive traffic to the mall, but also provide a sense of community, he said.
When he was approached with this idea, “it just seemed like a good fit,” he said. “We’re going to do it.”
It will be a first-class production with professional lighting and sound in the food court near the carousel, White said.
Matina Johnson, the artistic director for the Hoover Public Library who runs the Hoover Library Theatre and is an advisor to the Hoover Arts Council, said she had concerns when she first heard it would cost $45,000 to produce four shows. That’s about what it costs to put on all 18 shows of the Hoover Library Theatre season, which brings Grammy Award-winning acts to Hoover, she said. That kind of money could pay for additional big-name acts, she said.
But Johnson said she wants to show support for the effort at the Galleria because it could be a first step toward more arts amenities in the city.