Seussical The Musical

Wow! Where did that come from? I have to confess straight away that I have never read or had read to me as child the works of Dr Seuss and have only seen this musical once before and done by a Junior school. So, this was a whole new level to me. And what a complicated show it is, being as I assume it to be the amalgamation of several of Dr Seuss’ stories and characters turned into a musical by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens. And what a thoroughly enjoyable energetic piece it turned out to be in the hands of Director Lauren Anstee. How lucky we were!

The first thing of note was the usual safety announcements at the start of the show had very cleverly been done in the style of Dr Seuss’ clever rhyming style use of words. That brought a smile to our faces before we even started.

The set, which started off with just bare table with a red and white hat on it was designed by Chris Clifton. On two levels, at floor level it was decorated like a child’s nursery with multi coloured painted flowers at ceiling height, above a painted stone pattern lintel and the walls themselves in lovely pale shades of blue, yellow and pink depending on the scene and lighting. To front stage right was an exit with a flat with a window sized aperture in front of it to make it a corridor with multi coloured hinged skirting board, which was an intricate part of the action in finding the clover containing Whoville. To stage left was a large ‘bird’s nest’ upon which Horton The Elephant was destined to sit upon for a good proportion of the play.

On the galley above the stage the band were situated in full view, but to stage right against the railing there was a bed head positioned to simulate Jojo’s bedroom. All extremely well done.

But what set it spectacularly was the lighting designed by Ricky Johnson and operated brilliantly by Kathryn Rose with Gail Thorburn and Jacob Garner on follow spots. As the first scene opened a whole row of led lights cascaded up both sides of the walls next to the stage and across the ceiling giving a brilliant warm bright glow. That was new, set the scene and certainly made you sit up! Brilliant!

Sound by Mark Luckin and Alexander Home, was crystal clear and all cues spot on. If anything, the volume could have come down a notch gentleman, as it was extremely loud, even for my aging ears.

Costumes by The Pin up Girls, Virginia Pope and Gill Ridley again were something else, as you would expect for this crew, incredibly colourful and changed so many times I lost count. The soldiers’ uniforms were particularly striking as were the pastel dresses for the ensemble. Not to forget the Cat and his spectacular hat, and the wonderful eared elephant costume for Horton. It must have been bedlam in the dressing rooms! The accessories were equally spectacular with such things as umbrellas that simulated octopus / jellyfish swimming around.

The band of course were as per usual on top form under the direction of the very experienced and talented Kaye Tomkins on Keys with the usual array of a mixture of familiar and new faces: Andrew Longland-Meech also on Keys, Barbara Taylor, Andy Stewart and Michelle Reading on Reed, Charlie Manning on Trumpet, Richard James on Guitar, Lee Wong on Bass and Brendan Raynor and Mark Crooks on percussion. Top job guys!

Choreography by Grace Craddock was relentless and breathtaking to watch, drilled to perfection and superbly executed. You need to be super fit to watch them let alone actually perform. There were a couple of tap dancing numbers by almost the whole cast which were particularly impressive and were drilled to perfection. Fabulous!

For clarification purposes of this review the junior members of the cast were split into two teams performing alternative shows, we saw the Green Team perform.

The two male stars of the show were undoubtedly Aaron Standage as The Cat in the Hat and Ian Hammond-Stark as Horton the Elephant. Aaron Standage was a live comic wire, continually taking up different comic poses and facial expressions with some superb quips to the audience. Ian Hammond-Stark was the put upon elephant who hears the cries for help from the Who’s and took his duty very seriously and guarded the nest with his life, capturing the audience’s sympathy beautifully. And both had outstanding voices.

In this gender-neutral production my star part though goes to young Hermione Moore as JoJo, who really was in a class way above her tender years. Acting, singing and dancing, she has the whole nine yards and without doubt the triple threat at any future audition. All the points we try to teach young actors, slow your speech, annunciate and project, she has already mastered. Definitely one to watch. In fairness, although I didn’t see her, I was assured that her counterpart in the Blue Cast, Alessia Barbarisi was equally as good. Amazing talent!

For the ladies we had a bit of fun with an ever lengthening tail of Gertrude the shy bird played by Lara Throssell-Hunt – this was a full circle moment for my wife, who saw Lara some years ago in a junior version of Singin’ in the Rain as Lina who can’t sing or act and said she hoped to see her again and was convinced Lara could sing very well – how right my wife was!!  

Then we had Mayzie, played by Charlotte Pask, the slightly larger than life self-obsessed bird who lays the egg that she then abandons to Horton in a lovely little scene where she completely hoodwinks Horton as she takes her suitcase and heads off on holiday. Liz Ewang as Sour Kangaroo mercilessly taunts Horton.

The Birds Girls, Leisa Keightley, Helen Kennedy and Cleo Carter probably worked as hard as anybody continually on and off stage and in every chorus number. Jemina Devonshire-Mander, Grace Craddock and Rachel Osborne are the Wickersham (Monkey) brothers who steal the clover.

Christy Himden Munday playing General Genghis Kahn Schmitz, had her and her armies elbows and knees marching along in a magnificently over the top memorable fashion with spectacular entrances and exits through the audience. Certainly left their mark.

Paul Wildman and Louise Devonshire-Mander made for a very upright Mayor and his wife and also being Jojo’s parents. Jim Goodbody played the Grinch and Yertle The Turtle and Ella Ekins the Whoovillan.

The hardworking ensemble that made up the Green team were: Annabel Goodbody, Ewan Wildman, Willow Fenwick, Lara Slade, Emily Bridle and Joseph Tyrrell

So well done to Lauren Anstee her cast and crew. This show was relentless with, including reprises, nineteen songs in Act 1 and sixteen in Act 2 with little time to draw breath, the pace superb, the acting sublime and the entertainment value about as good as it gets. I’d need to see it again to fully appreciate all the many intricacies of the plot which twisted and turned throughout, but How Lucky We Were as we headed off for a plate of Green Eggs and Ham and remembering a “Theatre is a theatre no matter how small.”

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.