Jan. 11, 2012 - Issue #847: The great indoors

Seussical

That scruffy cat in his candy cane striped hat has been a notoriously familiar figure in pop culture for the past 50 years: the canonical works of Theodor Geisel, better known as Dr Seuss, have been updated and revisited every generation since their inception. From the original children's books, these stories and their host of anthropomorphized animal characters and instantly recognizable rhymes have been transformed into television shows, full-length films and even a Broadway musical.

Written by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, Seussical the Musical originally debuted in 2000. Five years later it was adapted into a shorter, more kid-friendly version; this shortened adaption is opening at the Citadel this Saturday.

"It's based on a number of stories written by Dr Seuss," explains Allen MacInnis, director of the production. "It weaves a number of the stories together to kind of create a through-line, focusing on Horton the Elephant and the two main stories about Horton."

Rest assured that the perennial favourite Seuss character will also make an appearance in the show. "It's structured with the Cat in the Hat as the sort of host and narrator of the script, but he's not a full-time narrator," MacInnis states. "It's a great use because the Cat in the Hat is a really iconic and familiar character to a lot of kids, but his books don't have especially complex stories."

MacInnis directed this show a few years ago, in 2007; however, he notes that this new production has done some things differently, notably with the costuming and set design.

"Some of it is actually a bit like the fabulous costumes women wear on Mad Men, that sort of fabulous '60s look," he says. "It's also got a kind of pop culture, pop art feel to the set design. It's really evocative of the animal characters—but not actually with fun fur costumes," he says with a chuckle.

Parents need not worry about bracing themselves for a 75-minute version of Green Eggs and Ham; MacInnis assures that this version will appeal to audiences of all ages.

"It's more sophisticated, which I think really works; kids seem to respond to it," he continues. "It's really important when you're doing theatre for young audiences not to talk down to them, to actually give them a job to do in the theatre, which is just use their imaginations."

Sat, Jan 14 – Sun, Jan 29 (7:30 pm, weekend matinees at 1:30 pm)
Directed by Allen MacInnis
Citadel Theatre, $49.35 vueweekly.com comments: powered by Disqus