The Riverside Children's Theatre brings the Lewis Carroll classic, Alice in Wonderland, to life on the John W. North High School Theatre stage opening on Nov. 1 with more than 90 aspiring young actors singing and dancing and having the time of their lives.

Special effects are sometimes as important to a stage performance as the caliber of the actors performing the scenes, and with the Cheshire Cat, both were on point for this show. Bringing the Cheshire cat to life is a daunting task for any production, but bringing three actors out with parts of the Cheshire Cat that can be put into all the crazy positions he gets himself into during the story was really ingenious, and made for delightful moments in the story.

With a cast this size, and having a whole cadre of phenomenal performances, it's hard to single out any one actor or group of actors, however, Arlo Sachs and Luke Dunlap, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, deserve some special recognition, as both bring some pretty hilarious physical comedy. Physical comedy requires good choreography to look funny, without being messy, and these two really did a fantastic job falling over each other as they make their introduction to Alice and the audience. All three Alices, Jessica Luchsinger (big Alice), Sofie Naegle (normal sized Alice), and Penelope Slaughter(small Alice) were so much fun to see navigate the transitions through story, and since they were at the forefront of the story, Slaughter and Naegle really showed off their acting chops carrying the show.

Finally, I had to shout out Isabel Yellam as The Mad Hatter. Hatter is a crazy and frenzied character, and she brings all that energy to the character along with just enough sass to really bring home the essence of the character. This shout also includes all the cast members in the Hatter scenes, cause they are a lot, and it could easily devolve into a cacophony of noise and children running in circles, but they really stay in sync, and the music comes through and the scene looks intentional, and they are clearly having a blast.

Alice's journey through Wonderland, through the pages of Lewis Carroll, is a story about a young girl defining her space in a scary adult world, and finding her strength to get through the more difficult parts of growing up, and that emotional underpinning of the tale shines clearly through the fun and whimsy brought to the stage.

The magic these children bring to the stage would not be possible without all the adults behind the scenes who help these kids develop and hone that magic. Director, Michael Shane Eastman, and producer, Emerald Gonzalez are just a couple of these amazing humans bringing this joy to the stage. Gonzalez, in her opening address to the parents attending the preview night, spoke about the growth and change the kids go through during these shows, and said "At the beginning these kids couldn't approach a table of four and say their name, and now they are up here on stage, under the spotlight, screaming their name, and singing their songs."

Riverside Children's Theatre has been serving the Inland Empire community as a non-profit, supported completely by parent volunteers, bringing theatre education to children since 1957. For more information about how you can support their efforts, or introduce your young one to the theatre, visit the RCT website.

If you don't already have tickets, then you need to get over to RCT's Online Box Office and secure your seats, cause they won't last. Shows running November 1, 2, and 3 and then again on November 8,9, and 10.

See all of our photos on our Flickr Page.