Choreographer Christopher Wheeldon blurs ballet and variety show in Alice

Courtney Kueppers, WBEZ

June 3, 2025

Anyone who has been to the Joffrey Ballet’s “Nutcracker” in the last decade has seen choreographer Christopher Wheeldon’s work in full artistic force.

Now, the prolific English dancemaker, who is known for his storytelling ballets, is back in Chicago with his take on the much-beloved, infinitely reimagined tale that follows Alice down the rabbit hole into Wonderland.

Wheeldon’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” premiered in 2011 in London, but the Joffrey’s staging this spring is the first stateside performance by an American company. As of last week, the choreographer — who is based in New York but has been in town working with Joffrey dancers — was still tinkering with the movements.

In many ways, Wheeldon says, the show is the springtime equivalent of “The Nutcracker": a story, told through the eyes of a child, that is filled with whimsy and wonder. This staging is also very much family-friendly: Wheeldon says he sees it as a show that’s welcoming to everyone, not just die-hard ballet lovers. That aligns with his mission to make the artform more accessible. Wheeldon, a Tony Award-winner, will choreograph the forthcoming Broadway adaptation of the 1990s teen romcom “10 Things I Hate About You.”

Before a recent rehearsal, Wheeldon sat down with WBEZ arts reporter Courtney Kueppers to talk about his longtime fascination with “Alice in Wonderland” and why he keeps coming back to the Joffrey. This interview was lightly edited for length and clarity.

“Alice in Wonderland” is a story that most everyone is familiar with, and it has been infinitely adapted and reimagined. What about this story was attractive to you initially?

It offered me the sort of freedom of a more episodic story structure. I was quite intimidated at first at the idea of having to develop a storyline, a character arc, through an evening. What was appealing to me as a choreographer, coming from a place where I was making ballets that were kind of separated out into movements — “Alice” offered me the opportunity to do that, but also to have the freedom to jump around stylistically.

The Mad Hatter is a tapper in “Alice.” I wanted to bring different dance and music elements into this piece to create almost a variety show, in a sense. I mean, “Alice” is a big show, and people, sometimes in a slightly derogatory way, have said, “Well, it’s more like a show than a ballet.” But that was always the point.

This is a ballet that is intended to bring crossover audiences, between people who love musicals that don’t necessarily go to the ballet because they might feel either intimidated by it or that they’re not going to understand it. This is really a crossover piece that embraces theatricality — and of course, at its heart, is still a ballet.

This show first premiered in London in 2011, but this is the first stateside run by an American company. What has changed since the show first premiered?

We actually made some changes yesterday in rehearsal. It’s been constantly on the shift since it was created. I think we’ve done seven or eight different productions of “Alice” worldwide, and every time, I make adjustments.

It’s so full; there are so many scenes, there are so many characters. There’s so much potential for tightening the story and developing relationships.

Alice is a little bit older in this production; she’s more like 14 or 15 years old. She’s sort of on that cusp between little girl and young woman, and we decided to invent a little throughline to hold all of these little episodic situations together.

I felt like the story, for theatrical purposes and for an audience, needed a bit of a throughline that doesn’t actually exist in the original Lewis Carroll.

It sounds like you really think of the show as a living piece of work that you are forever tinkering with.

It really is.

Chicago audiences are, of course, very familiar with your work. You also designed Joffrey’s “Nutcracker.” How would you describe your relationship with the Joffrey and what keeps bringing you back here?

When Ashley Wheater [Joffrey’s artistic director] took over the company [in 2007], he said to me, “Chris, I would love to have you come and work with the company.” So, over the course of the last 20-odd years, I’ve been coming back and forth to Chicago, bringing work, working with the dancers here. And, of course, that sort of culminated 10 years ago in the company asking me to make “The Nutcracker.”

I love this company. I’m so impressed. And really, when you think about it, Chicago had the Joffrey Ballet before Ashley, but it was a minor company. It was no longer the Joffrey that it had been when it was in New York, under [Gerald] Arpino and Robert Joffrey. And it just seemed absurd that Chicago being the great city that it is, the sophisticated theater city, art city, music city that it is — it seemed absurd that there wasn’t a major ballet company here. So, it’s been fun to have been included and to have been made a part of the building of the Joffrey Ballet over the years.

Now, Joffrey Ballet stands alongside the great American ballet companies, and finally — and rightfully so — Chicago has a major ballet company.

Joffrey famously has a “no stars” system. Does that change anything for you as a choreographer working with this company? Is there a different approach to casting or anything as a result?

I think, because of the more democratic nature of the company, it feels like everybody is willing to kind of roll up their sleeves and muck in. For example, one of the dancers in “Alice” is playing a corps de ballet flower in one cast, the Queen of Hearts in another and Alice in another. So, it’s difficult for them, in a way, because there are always going to be a small number of dancers that end up kind of doing a little bit more when it comes to the principal work.

But I do think that by not having ranks, as frustrating as that can be sometimes for the dancers, it does create a community feel within the company, and they work damn hard. And I have to say, it’s nice to be in a room full of people who are all focused on the goal of bringing the very, very best show to the stage.