A Seussical Delight

A+Seussical+Delight

James Fetzer, Staff Writer

The stage is set. The lights are on. It’s time for the show to begin. Tonight is the final performance of this years’ autumn production: “Seussical”. Adapted from a popular Broadway production that first hit the stage in 2000, and based on several popular Dr. Seuss works, now, seventeen years after it’s initial production, Mr. Pastiak one of our school counselors, has brought it to the OLCHS stage.
The story, a compilation of several Seuss classics, focuses especially on the plots of “Horton Hears a Who” and “Horton Hatches an Egg”. In it, Horton faces struggles to convince the animals in the jungle of Nool of the Who’s existence. Down on the planet of Who, things get even worse. Jojo experiences his own frustrations with the Who’s rejection of his creativity and imagination. There is also a war that is rising up in the world of Who.
After a brief introduction, the show opens with two of it’s stars Jojo (Ella Moore) and the Cat in the Hat (Abbey Dayton). After a song sung by the full ensemble, we are introduced to our other lead, Horton (Jonathan McLawhorn). Other highlights from the cast include one tail feathered Gertrude (Molly Murphy) and Schmitz (Aisling Berry). Song highlights include “How Lucky You Are”, and Alone In The Universe”. All of the songs were just excellent, and even when the actors weren’t the strongest singers, their delivery made up for it 100%.
Giving credit where it is due, the overall design is fantastic, a certain improvement over past shows. Simple yet whimsical, and they capture the essence of Dr. Seuss. The revolving door in the middle of the messy and misaligned bookshelves served as an excellent and nonintrusive entryway for cast and crew members. The costumes and makeup are also excellent with bright but not at all distracting colors and delightfully whimsical hairstyles among many cast members.
Overall Seussical is a delightful romp that captures Seuss perfectly. Among the cast, performances I especially enjoyed were Gertrude (Murphy) and the Sour Kangaroo (Honeycutt). The ensemble also deserves a shoutout for tying the show together and filling it out, without them it would be a bland show for sure. As the show closes, I remember that several members of the cast will be graduating soon and this will be saying farewell to high-school drama, so a shout-out to all the seniors in the cast and crew for their contributions to the drama productions, may they go on to bigger and better things! Overall, this show was fantastic and I look forward to future OLCHS drama productions!