Seussical the Musical

Seussical the Musical is a joyful show, based on the characters and books of Dr Seuss. It premiered on Broadway in 2000 but, surprisingly, took until 2012 to get to the West End. Despite an initially negative critical reception, it has been a very popular show with audiences ever since, not just for its weird and wacky stories and its cheerful and memorable songs, but for its themes that celebrate friendship, loyalty and community.

The quality of this production by Hayling Youngstars (the youth section of Hayling Musical Society) was evident as soon as the curtains went back – what a set! Every image was exactly as you’d expect, straight from the pages of the books. Lots of attention to detail in the props too – all so well made, even those that were only on stage fleetingly. Take a big bow the army of set and props makers, but especially the mighty talented ‘Squigglers’ Verity Gravestock and Lisa Willis. Big shout out too to Lin Smith and the costume makers – every outfit (and there must have been hundreds of them) was fantastic, totally fitting the image of the show. Ian Pratt’s splendid lighting design showed all this hard work to best advantage.

Directors Joe Coates and Emily Harkness must have had a very clear vision of how to present this show, and they have inspired their truly talented (and huge) cast to bring it to life in spectacular form. It was vibrant, joyful, full of colour and positively pulsating with the energy of this young cast. The one or two sad moments were treated gently, with due respect. The whole show was taken at a good pace, with the cast moving the props and trucks with practiced ease. At the end of the interval, you could feel the excitement in the audience, waiting for act two to begin. We all wanted more!

This was such a great team effort, it would be unfair to mention individuals. Every single person on stage knew what they were doing; you all acted, sang and moved perfectly and looked like you were having a great time doing it! The choreography by Emily Harkness was very inventive, and I particularly liked the undersea number with the fluorescent fish and “Havin’ a Hunch” with the fluorescent hands. Both were so effective and well executed.

Emily, also the Musical Director, had obviously brought everyone up to a very good standard with their singing too – all the soloists sang with great confidence, getting across the meaning of their songs as well as all the right notes, in the right order! Sound, so often the downfall of this venue, was pin-sharp, thanks to Tom Davison of Trained Ears, who achieved exactly the right balance between singers and the music tracks – we heard every word.

I hope you can tell that I utterly adored this show! I’d only seen it once before, but you showed me how colourful and vibrant it can be and you portrayed all the characters so well. To undertake a full-scale show (this was no Junior version) and turn it into such a masterpiece of entertainment, is an incredible achievement! Huge WELL DONE to everyone, on stage and behind the scenes, you deserved every second of the rapturous applause that the audience gave you at the end.

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