[NEohioPAL]Berko review: SEUSSICAL! THE MUSICAL (Beck)

[Roy Berko]

‘SEUSSICAL! THE MUSICAL’ GETS AN “OKAY” PRODUCTION ‘AT
BECK

Roy Berko
(Member, American Theatre Critics Association)

--THE TIMES NEWSPAPERS--

	
Lorain County Times--Westlaker Times--Lakewood News
Times--Olmsted-Fairview Times	

Theodor Seuss Geisel was born in 1904 in Springfield,
MA.  He held a doctorate in literature from Oxford
University in England.  In 1936, on the way to a
vacation in Europe, while listening to the rhythm of
the ship's engines, he came up with And to Think That
I Saw It on Mulberry Street.  It was the first in what
was to be a long line of children’s books. 
Ironically,  the volume was rejected by the first 43
publishers to whom he showed it.

In1954, a report concerning illiteracy among school
children stated that kids were having trouble reading
because their books were boring.  Using a list of 250
words, which was considered to be the number a first
grader could absorb at one time, he designed and wrote
The Cat in the Hat.  It became an instant success.  
What followed was a series of children’s books that
have sold over 100 million volumes.

Why are the books so engaging?  Geisel created
whimsical characters, wrote in convoluted rhyme and
rhythm schemes and allowed children’s imaginations to
run wild.  Most important from the standpoint of
adults, are the morals and messages the books taught
including respect for differences, the keeping of
promises and the uniqueness of each individual.

In 2001 the author’s reputation took another step
forward with the Broadway opening of ‘SEUSSICAL! THE
MUSICAL,’ a contemporary re-imagining of Dr. Seuss,
which weaves together many of his most famous stories
and characters. The Tony Award winning team of Lynn
Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty (‘RAGTIME’ and ‘ONCE ON
THIS ISLAND’) created a score which includes pop,
gospel, blues and R & B music.

On its opening ‘SEUSSICAL! THE MUSICAL’ was greeted
with reviews that called it, “imaginative,”
whimsical,” and “abounding with invention and visual
surprises.”  Any production of the show, in order to
fulfill the Dr. Seuss philosophy, must contain those
qualities.  

The Beck Center production, under the direction of
Scott Spence, fulfills some of the requirements, but
falls short on others.  The major missing element was
the whimsy.   There has to be consistent exaggeration
and the unexpected.  In spite of some clever gimmicks,
such as the use of roller skating and scooters used in
“It’s Possible,” and the flashlights and
Groucho-eyebrows-and-nosed glasses in “Havin’ A Hunch,
too much of the show lacked excitement, lacked the
needed pizzazz. 

The performances ranged from wonderful to acceptable. 
Tracee Patterson stole the show as Gertrude McFuzz,
the bird with the short tail, who is infatuated with
Horton the Elephant.  Her renditions of “The One
Feather Tail of Miss Gertrude McFuzz” and “All for
You” were show stoppers.  Jarred Nichols had exactly
the right tone of exaggeration as Mr. Mayor (the
leader of The Whos).  Sean Szaller danced with proper
abandonment as one of the Wickershams.   The chorus,
as a whole, stayed in character and sung and danced
with the right moods and feelings. 

Patrick Carroll had the proper slow moving gate of
Horton the Elephant, but lacked the vocal ability to
develop the moods of his solos and the acting dynamics
necessary to build a compelling character.   As Boy,
young Christopher Gaertner displayed a nice singing
voice, but was too automatic in his performance.  He
needed to play himself--a real boy--instead of trying
to act like a boy.  As Sour Kangaroo, Tonya Broach
displayed nice vocal abilities, but it was impossible
to understand the words that she was singing due to
either poor articulation.

In the pivotal role of The Cat in the Hat, Marc Moritz
needed to create a character who was a delightfully
spirited boy inside the body of a man, or, in this
case, a rambunctious kitten in the body of a full
grown cat.  He needed a constant sparkle in his eye
and movements which got the audience ready for him to
verbally pounce at any moment.  The show depends on
his setting the proper mood.  He did that in several
scenes, but just wasn’t consistent, wasn’t whimsical
enough in others.  

Martin Cespedes, is quickly establishing himself as
THE major local musical theatre choreographer.  He
does not disappoint in this show.  The creative
movements, which change to fit each musical variation,
were wonderful and he prepped his performers well. 
Richard Gould’s scenic design is delightful and
functional.  Sharon Stark’s costume renderings are
wonderful.  

Musical Director Larry Goodpaster’s orchestra played
well, but at times drowned out the performers.  If we
can’t hear the words to songs, there is no sense in
the cast singing them.  

Roland Massatti’s sound design was lacking.  Many of
the performers couldn’t be heard (at least not from
the side section of the theatre where I was seated). 
When I asked the technician if the sound system was
working correctly I was told it was.  Obviously, not
so from the standpoint of my well functioning ears.

A question that parents might  ask, is whether
‘SEUSSICAL’ is a kids’ show?  Though grown-ups, teens
and tweens should find the show reminds them of why
they came to love the stories, young children may find
it difficult sitting through the production as the
story line does not follow the books they may be
familiar with.  In addition, there may not be enough
abandonment in the two-and-a-half hour production to
hold a little one’s attention.	

CAPSULE JUDGEMENT:  ‘ SEUSSICAL! THE MUSICAL’ is a
cute script.  The Beck Center  give it an acceptable,
but not the promised “loosey-gooseical lollapaloozical
magical” performance promised on the show’s program
cover.

‘SEUSSICAL! THE MUSICAL” runs through January 2, 2005
at The Beck Center for the Arts in Lakewood.  For
ticket information call 216-521-2540.


=====
Roy Berko's web page can be found at www.royberko.info.  His theatre and dance reviews appear on NeOHIOpal, an on-line source.   To subscribe to this free service via the World Wide Web, visit http://lists.fredsternfeld.com/mailman/listinfo/neohiopal.


		
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