“Oh, the things you can think when you think about Seuss,” implores the opening number. Well, here’s the things I think when I think about “Seuss(ical the Musical):” This boisterous production at Keegan Theatre is seriously fun!
This review could be a mere two paragraphs long. Every aspect of the super-silly musical simply works. The talent? Phenomenal. The set design by Josh Sticklin? Colorful and clever. The choreography by co-directors/choreographers Kurt Boehm and Ashleigh King? I wanted to get up there and dance with them! This show was great, full stop. Go see it!
But to devote only two paragraphs would be unfair to the cast and crew because they deserve plenty of attention. This show is a tight 75 minutes, thanks to the excellent direction by Boehm and King. Because my nine-year-old with ADHD is my frequent companion to “kid” shows — I hesitate to use that term because there were plenty of childless people in the audience having just as much fun as us — I greatly appreciate well-paced, engaging productions. (If you want to hear the child’s side of the story, well, he asked me to put on the cast recording in the car on the way home — a first for him.)
The set design and dressing (the latter by Cindy Landrum Jacobs, also the properties manager), as well as the costumes by Alison Samantha Johnson and Janine Sunday, are strikingly vivid. I always love a band (led by musical director Nathan Blustein) perched right where you can see them on stage.
Then, of course, there’s the stunning cast. At the risk of sounding redundant, everyone on stage shines brightly, from the vulnerable Horton the Elephant (Michael Innocenti) to the jocular Cat in the Hat (Quincy Vicks) to the lovestruck Gertrude McFuzz (Sarah Chapin) to the sultry, self-absorbed Mayzie LaBird (Caroline Graham) to the earnest JoJo (Kailyn Fetterman) to every other cast member, all of whom deserve their own shout-out. (Oh, Tori Gomez as the Sour Kangaroo! I could listen to her sing for hours.)
The front of the “Seussical” program reads, “A fantastical, magical, musical extravaganza for the whole family,” and it couldn’t be a more apt description. Whether you have kids or not (or prefer to leave them at home), Keegan’s “Seussical the Musical,” is not to be missed.
