Seussical the Musical

I was at the Saturday April 22 performance of this show; I have to say with great trepidation. I don’t know this show, and really had no idea what I was in for. Suessical, the Musical is, as it sounds, based on the works of the great children’s author Dr Suess. Suess created an enduring style in his novels, using a fantastic rhyming system of language both real and invented and a visual landscape of vast imagination for children the world over. If you weren’t fortunate enough to be exposed to Suess as a child, make sure your children are. Suess was also a big fan of subtext, creating a world where children are real people, and where thinking and imagining are the stuff of heroes. (I’m surprised our illustrious PM hasn’t made attempts to get his books banned as seditious.) This is thankfully palpable in the musical. Statements like “A person’s a person, no matter how small” or “Oh, the thinks you can think” litter the dialogue, and many characters are joyful parodies of the stiff and unthinking of our world. This review is long and detailed (and knowing me- long-winded), so maybe get yourself a cup of coffee first! I have striven to be honest in my evaluations, so sensitive types should perhaps read carefully. I am splitting the review into- the venue experience, and the actual show itself. My wife and I, conscious of repeated advertising about sell-out performances bought our tickets from BOCS on Saturday afternoon. We arrived and let ourselves in (were there any ushers?) only to find our seats taken by people who’d bought their tickets at the theatre only minutes before. When sorting this out, we received no apology at all for the mix up and were informed it was BOCS’ fault. Whether it was or not was not of interest to us. We were left feeling we’d been a burden. Not great for my first audience experience of this organisation. I would not have been pleased to have spent $40+ and not had somewhere to sit. If you are ticketing through BOCS, more effort to ensure clarity/communication around sales is needed. I am sure this will be remedied post-haste. Ironically, there were plenty of seats around we could have shifted to. I bought the program to have some idea about the show I was there for. Unfortunately the program merely contained a list of musical numbers, castlist, and bio’s of all creatives. This was great (and some of the bio’s were hilarious), but where was a précis of the show, a history of the conception/writing, background, anything to assist me to understand what I was here to see? I also recommend all program writers put a person’s photo next to their bio and in brackets which character/s they are playing. It’s a small (but very easy) thing to do, that makes it much easier for an audience member to instantly study people ‘of interest’, particularly those without a major role. The seat- nothing can be said about the horror my bum went through on that seat. Even with the cushion (thanks heaps guys for that comfort though!). Finally- the marketing campaign. Why was Suessical described as “…certainly not aimed at kids”? If it was not aimed at kids, then Who(pardon the pun)?! There were a lot of children in the cast, and unfortunately I’m one of those crotchety b-----ds who isn’t inherently fond of children on stage, worried they’ll only be used for a ‘cutesy’ angle. But great if the show is 'for' kids. And as a complete aside- Why no matinees?! It’s school holidays, a show based on Dr Suess, and you’re not doing any matinees or aiming any publicity at youngsters? There were drawings by children all over Hacket Hall. Who drew these, and why were they all over the venue? There was no explanation in the theatre or program that I could find. Again, if it wasn’t a show for kids, then why was I going to an adults show thinking I was at my local kindy? It’s not that I didn’t like them, it just left me even more unbalanced about what kind of show I was there to see. OK. The review of the performance follows. It's the simple things stupid...