“Oh, the thinks you can think if you’re willing to try”
The above are the second and third lines of the first song in “Seussical The Musical” and basically sum up the philosophy of children’s’ author/illustrator Dr. Seuss ( real name Theodor Seuss Geisel) – imagination is a wonderful thing and should be used, especially by the young. Seuss’s characters still live on today and are as popular as when he first created them. One of his characters, The Grinch (he who tried to steal Christmas), is so well known that last Christmas he rivaled Santa in popularity. Ironic then that in Lynn Aherns and Stephen Flaherty’s musical adaptation of his stories, The Grinch rates only a couple of cameo appearances – kudos to Cooper Owen in this production for capturing the Jim Carrey style voice so well.
“Seussical The Musical” concentrates on three major Dr. Seuss books – “The Cat In The Hat”, “Horton Hears A Who” and “Horton Hatches An Egg” – but cleverly involves all of his characters and places in the plot and Ahrens clever lyrics.
This production by the Hills Youth Theatre is bright, colourful, fairly energetic and fast paced. The opening performance saw some slight technical hitches (mics popping and spots sometimes coming on a touch late) but these are things easily fixed – and I’m sure they will be. The first night also showed some nerves in a couple of the junior cast members, but that could also have been their “concentrating” faces – Smile, if you enjoy it, we enjoy it.
Lucy Russell Byrne’s direction is competent and she obviously works well with the cast. There are some slight blocking problems every now and then. In particular, in the Act Two courtroom scene, Horton being quite far upstage is almost unseen by anyone sitting stage left (audience’s right). This reviewer was sitting in the centre of the auditorium and had trouble seeing him. Also the egg hatching got a little lost to the same people. All these scenes need is a slight bit of tweaking of the ensemble members down stage left. Choreography by Byrne, Jaimi Wilson, Kestrel Carney and Sadie Byrne is simple but nicely tuned to all the levels of dance experience of the cast. Costumes by far too many to mention are bright and colourful, with some inspired visions. For example, Horton the Elephant is all grey and just T-shirt, coveralls and a knitted hat. Some costumes, however, though extremely stylish are a little baffling – in particular, the Sour Kangaroo and the Young Kangaroo: they seem to have stepped straight out of the Arabian Nights. Set design and props are all extremely Seuss like in their appearance.
The entire cast of many, many, many bring huge amounts of pleasure to all in the audience. All embrace the imaginative Seuss feel . Arabella Wells (Mr Mayor) and Sophie Calder (Mrs Mayor) lead the people of Whoville well (I would call them Whovians but that might confuse Dr Who fans). Reminding one of a steampunker, Tyler Hender is very convincing as eagle Vlad Vladikoff. As the Bird Girls, Charlie Szentirmay, Tilly Schammer, Lola Bickford, Maddie Sanders, QuiHansen and Francesca Quinn back up Mayzie LaBird well. Audrey Coligan playing the aforementioned Mayzie has an excellent stage persona about her. She captures Mayzie’s flightiness (pun intended) perfectly – this young lady is a triple threat and her interaction with young people on stage during interval is lovely.
Jackson Barnes, Josiah Braendler and Janae Lee portray the monkeyshine antics of the Wickersham Brothers hilariously. Jackson and Josiah, in particular, have the physicality of monkeys down perfectly. By not wearing a mic, Beren Carney as General Genghis Khan Schmitz shows off his powerful vocal skills. His natural power actually makes him clearer and more understandable than quite a few with head mics. Another pocessor of a strong voice is young Henrik Dewick as Sour Kangaroo. This role is normally played by a female and in fact the song “Biggest Blame Fool” is written for a female soul/jazz voice. Henrik seems to have channeled Aretha Franklin and the like perfectly, not just vocally but with sassy body and hand movements: a classy performance indeed!
Ivy Cogligan portrays Gertrude McFuzz sweetly but needs more volume when she sings or her mic turned up more. As Horton the Elephant, Sam Whitehead (reminding one of a very, very young Woody Allen) captures the character perfectly. He is so lovable and likable and is a performer who can act with his face as well as verbally. Hannah Kent as Jojo is just absolutely delightful, lighting up the stage whenever she is on (and that’s quite a lot); whilst Avah Bowen is a ball of energy as The Cat In The Hat. She is purrfect in the role showing off her dance moves and acting confidence by the furball load – and has great interaction skills with the audience.
“Oh the places you’ll go” when you see this imaginative production.
