lectures

Alice’s Adventures in Musical Adaptation

Gresham College

January 26

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Walt Disney spent nearly three decades working on Alice in Wonderland, struggling to decide how to turn Lewis Carroll’s episodic stories into a single two-hour story. It took twelve songwriters to write over forty songs – more than thirty of which were discarded – to create a satisfying musical adaptation, and the film had a mixed reception. Why was music vital to bring to life Carroll’s unique fairy tale world? Why was it so difficult? And how did the film eventually become a classic?