As the theater’s bright spotlights shine on a young girl in a yellow dress standing in the middle of the stage, familiar upbeat music begins and she breaks into song, introducing the Cat in the Hat as her narrator. The colorful stage features a large storybook of Dr. Seuss’s original illustrations and patches of pink clovers on each side.
A dreamy, hopeful and dare I say Seussical performance of none other than the famous “Seussical the Musical” shown by the Children’s Theatre of Elgin. The show featured 2nd through 9th grade actors who performed through Nov. 18 to Nov. 20.
“Seussical is a well-known musical, [it is] very kid friendly [and] obviously focused on all the Dr. Seuss stories. It was a good turnout” executive producer Melissa Downey said.
The show was almost completely sold out, with tons of families holding flowers for their kids. Each viewer was given a playbook as well, with more information on the young actors of the show.
The musical follows the Cat in the Hat, played by 7th grader Myles Hunt as he helps take Jojo’s imagination to life, who is played by 5th grader Greta Bagg.
“I didn’t expect to get [the lead,] but I was super excited when I heard I got it” Hunt said.
She and her town live on a tiny speck of dust, a speck which is found by Horton the elephant, played by 8th grader Aaron Downey. He hears the Whos calling for help and cannot help but to protect the speck on a clover.
But the other animals in the musical have different intentions, because they call Horton crazy for talking to such small people. But Horton repeats how an elephant’s faith will always stand true, because they are still people even though too tiny to see.
Sour Kangaroo, played by Lukas Weber, is constantly trying to sabotage Horton and spreads gossip to the rest of the animals in the Jungle of Nool.
All while this is happening, Gertrude McFuzz, played by Sophia Martinez, a sad bird with a tail of one feather, is in love with Horton and desperate for his attention.
“This is my 10th show [and] my second lead role, my first ever was in Shrek Jr. [where] I got Fiona” Martinez said.
She envies the other birds with fuller tails, and struggles with her own internal conflict.
Eventually, Horton is surrounded by the jungle animals as they steal his clover with the speck and toss it in a large field of clovers. He is devastated, but before he could set out to find it, he is stuck with the task of watching his friend Mayzie LaBird’s, played by Bella Ciancio, egg.
The talented young actors played dazzling performances to bring the stories we read as children to life! They leave the viewers with inspirational messages to allow their imaginations to run wild.