Seussical The Musical - Review

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Fri 02 Oct 2020 - Sat 10 Oct 2020

Seussical – The Musical by the Tony Award winners, lyricist Lynn Ahrens and composer Stephen Flaherty, is still one of the most performed shows in America. The musical's name is a hybrid of 'Seuss' and 'musical'. The storyline is based on the Dr. Seuss collection of children's stories. On its 2000 Broadway debut, the show was slated by the critics and closed in 2001 with a heavy financial loss. However, this revival which has the added humour of Eric Idle, has been warmly accepted by the young audiences the world over; it is now described as 'a fantastical, magical, musical comedy extravaganza!'

The latest presentation has come from Perth based Laughing Horse Productions at the Don Russell Theatre in Thornile from the 2nd til 10th of October, its first show following the recent COVID shutdown of live performances. The show is sold out, but the venue does have a waitlist going for tickets.



Putting a musical together is a challenge in for any theatre company - throw in some COVID restrictions (meaning only 20 cast members on stage at any one time), and many directors would have pulled their hair out. Director Adam Salathiel, with the help of his Assitant Director Rach Gilmour, choreographer Tess Howieson and Vocal Director Ben Albert, have all come together to present a funny, colourful adaptation of the world of Seuss.

For anyone wanting to know the storyline for Suessical, it mostly follows the Seuss classic, Horton Hears a Who, with the inclusion of some other colourful characters.



The performance starts with an odd striped hat sitting in front of the closed theatre curtains - enter Jojo, who has gotten into trouble at school for having too many 'thinks'. His 'thinks' start again and Cat in the Hat appears and together the two characters create the Seussical world of the Jungle of Nool, McElligot's Pool and the Circus McGurkus.

With the number restriction for the cast onstage, there is a constant movement of cast heading on and off the stage in various directions as the show advances through the storyline, but it doesn't detract from the show at all. In fact, you are constantly following what's going on - your eyes moving around all the time as your attention moves along.



The entire cast was impressive, everyone was committed to their character(s), dances and singing, and they all looked they were thoroughly enjoying themselves from start to finish. The brightly coloured costumes were complemented by the effective lighting on the white cyc at the back of the stage. The simplistic staging was very effective.

Well done to Laughing Horse and to all the cast and crew involved. If you were lucky enough to secure tickets, you are in for a great time.

All production photos were taken by Zoe Jay.

#cannington
#child_friendly
#community_theatre
#fun_for_children
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#langford
#lynwood
#maddington
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#things_to_see
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#october
!date 02/10/2020 -- 10/10/2020
%wnperth