Seussical is exactly what it sounds like — a musical based on the ideology and stories of Dr. Seuss. Horton the Elephant is the only animal in the Jungle of Nool that can hear the Whos, who are living on a precarious speck of dust. The story is narrated by the Cat in the Hat, who plays Jiminy Cricket to Jojo, an imaginative boy from Whoville.
Still interested? If that last paragraph was difficult to swallow, you might not be able to sit through Scera‘s latest colorful, chaotic, possibly seizure-inducing musical.
If you’re willing to let the madness sweep over you, and to forgive a few sloppy scenes, Seussical can be a lot of fun. It’s certainly entertaining — A.J. Nielsen as the Cat in the Hat, in particular, adds a delightful, unharnessed hilarity to the show.
The production would be a great way to introduce children to live theater. They will recognize characters from the best of the Dr. Seuss books, and the music is full of cheeky maxims that they might be young and pure enough to believe.
However, if you’re childless and cold of heart, Seussical can still be a fun night. Many of the songs can be interpreted as thinly veiled satires of very grown-up issues.
Take the song “Amazing Mayzie” from the first act. In this song, the bird Mayzie (played by BYU alum Makenna James) tells how she made her tail bigger and better by using pharmaceuticals. “Get the pills and you can have frills,” her backup singers croon. What else starts with a “T” and is commonly altered medically?
If you throw your imagination into the show’s topsy-turvy pool, it will most definitely make for an entertaining night.
What: Seussical by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens
When: Sept. 19 through Oct. 13 at 7:30 p.m.
Where: SCERA Center for the Arts, 745 S. State St., Orem
Tickets: $12 for adults, $10 for children, students, and seniors
