Seussical the Musical

If I had to sum up my three year old's response to last night's performance it would have to be sensational! A two hour performance commencing at what was usually bed time held out the possibility that I might be nursing a sleeping body throughout the second act if not heading for home with the same at interval. But, apart from an occasional, momentary wilt during some of the quieter numbers, Felix was enthusiastically engaged throughout the performance. He greeted each number with energetic applause and, as the evening progressed, led a chorus of whooping for the items he particularly enjoyed. His favourite was Jane kangaroo and the Wickersham brothers, naughty monkeys, were a close second. There was plenty for adults to enjoy in this performance. The central Horton-Gertrude love story was engaging in its simplicity. For those looking for a little more challenge it was fun playing spot-the-seuss references. At the end of the evening Fox in Socks and One Fish, Two Fish were the only Seuss classics I was familar with that I'd not managed to tick a box for. The failure on my part to tick all the boxes for Seuss references might have been due to not hearing them. Plenty of comments have been made over the years about the challenges facing productions in Playlovers' venue Hackett Hall. Last night's performance, like others I've seen in the venue, suffered somewhat because of the dismal acoustics. Even the more seasoned performers were, to greater and lesser degrees, inaudible. The musical accompaniment, while very accomplished and not overly loud, conspired with the acoustics against the performers. I can't offer any advice that hasn't already, I'm sure, been offered: channelling some of the copious energy into careful attention to clarity. Perhaps with some other productions this might not have been a major concern, but much of the fun of Seuss and Seussical is the language and we needed to hear it more readily. Oddly enough the diction on some of the well coached younger members of the company, assisted by mikes, was occasionally clearer than that of the more experienced members of the cast. Well done! Neither could any summary of this production pass without making mention of the youth of the cast. The many school age (and one younger?!) members of the company were clearly relishing the performance and had obviously gained much from the opportunity to work with some of Perth's finest musical theatre performers. I'm not in the least familiar with the script or any other productions of Seussical and have no idea to what degree the staging may have borrowed from the same, but I've the utmost admiration for the seamless and inspired fashion in which director Kimberley Shaw and her creative partners realised the possibilities in each scene. Seuss set high creative and imaginative standards for himself that were reflected in the clever way in which so many of his favourite characters, inventions and stories were woven into the script and score. Any attempt to bring this world to the stage, particularly with the resources available to a community theatre company, was in danger of being an exercise in awkward compromise. And there were compromises brought on by vagaries of the venue and its hot water system. But Kim's team capitalised on the opportunities with inventive and effective staging that realised and complemented the richly imaginative material. While an immensely enjoyable production, looking back on the script I couldn't help escaping the feeling that it never quite delivered what it may have done. I read with interest the following review of the original 2000 production: http://theater2.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?res=9B03E6DC103DF932A35751C1A9669C8B63 I suspect Playlovers' was a later, leaner version of the script that had taken on board many of the criticisms levelled at the show in this review. But I felt there was still something unrealised in the Cat in the Hat <-> Horton the Elephant area. On the one hand, we have one of the purest expressions of anarchy in twentieth century children's literature, the Cat in the Hat; sheer, unbridled energy and voom. On the other, the staid and steady, dependable, reliable Horton: "I meant what I said, and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful, one hundred percent!" Inevitably opposing forces, but they never face off against each other, the activity of each doesn't seem to impact significantly on the other and the role of each in an imaginative universe remains largely unexplored. If the reaction of last night's audience was anything to go by, I was probably alone with these imponderables. But I couldn't help wondering what Theodor Seuss Geisel might have made of it. Cheers Grant