NORTH YORK: Seussical a vastly entertaining tour
Front Row Centre
When Seussical The Musical opened on Broadway in December 2000, it proved to be an expensive failure. Judging from the production by Toronto Catholic District School Board Staff Arts at Cardinal Carter auditorium, the show - while saddled with a problematic second act - is a vastly entertaining tour through the world of Dr. Seuss.
It helps that the cast put the performance across with enough high voltage energy to keep the momentum going, even when the book begins to falter. Leading the way is Jeff Stevenson's charismatic turn as The Cat in the Hat. His musical comedy savvy provides the link between the audience and the onstage fantasy world of Whoville. He sings and dances with style, and delights the audience every time he appears.
The opening song, Oh The Thinks You Can Think, is a perfect showcase for Stevenson and the entire cast. Any show could coast 40 minutes on a strong opener such as this. Seussical doesn't have to coast. The first act sets up the premise and cleverly weaves together characters from a number of Seuss books.
The story tells of a dreamer, Jojo, encouraged by The Cat in the Hat to explore his fantasies even as his parents, the mayor of Whoville and his wife, send him to military school hoping he will learn some discipline. Jojo is played by Jason Cannon in a performance that straddles both childhood innocence and middle-aged wisdom.
It is Jojo's pleas that first attract the attention of Horton the Elephant, a delightfully oversized performance by Steve Nadon. Horton's quest to save Whoville drives the narrative, but what made for a fine short story is stretched out of shape when expanded into a two-act musical.
This problematic second half seems to have stymied co-directors Mirella Rossi and Jan Murphy. How do you keep a show moving when incidents are crowding out the main plot? It's a question they are unable to solve, and as a consequence the cast begin to falter and the production starts to deflate.
Once again, The Cat in the Hat comes to the rescue, taking over the stage and steering everything back on track - just in the nick of time, too. The entire ensemble deserves praise for their commitment to the roles, notably Andrea Cannon as Gertrude McFuzz and Sabrina Caruso as Mayzie LaBird.
The colourful costumes and inventive set add to the overall magic, and help minimize the problems with the book.
Best of all, the score by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens is full of words and music that are clever and fun and perfectly capture the style of Seuss.
Seussical may not have been a hit on Broadway, but it's a hit with audiences here.
Toronto Catholic District School Board Staff Arts present Seussical June 5, 6 and 7 at 7:30 p.m. at Cardinal Carter Academy for the Arts, 36 Greenfield Ave., in North York. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students. For tickets, call 416-22-8282, ext 2787 or visit online at www.tcdsb.org/staffarts.
