For many, summer is a time for books. This summer, as seen in recent Harry Potter events, has become a time for popular stories to take on new, lively forms.
Furthermore, with children wanting to be entertained in their free time, and parents hoping for entertainment that has some educational value, the search to please all has begun.
This weekend and next, Whidbey Island Center for the Arts and Whidbey Children’s Theatre offer that good-for-everyone entertainment, as summer program theater students will perform “Seussical: The Musical,” a tribute to Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as children’s author Dr. Seuss.
Students ages 8 to 18 have worked with instructors since early July to hone their acting skills, including stage voice and movement, and to identify the theme of their story, in a program called the Youth Conservatory.
Martha Murphy, artistic director of Whidbey Children’s Theater, says she chose the musical more than a year ago and did so because of the variety and challenge of the show’s characters. She and her co-director, Suzanne Kelman, have worked to cast the show so that each young actor has his or her “moment on stage.”
The story involves many well-known characters, including The Cat in the Hat, Horton the Elephant and the Whos of Whoville, in a plot that has these young actors explaining the importance of kindness, acceptance, imagination and more, says Whidbey Island Center for the Arts marketing director Jason Dittmer.
“Seussical: The Musical” is based on a book by songwriters Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, who also worked with Eric Idle of Monty Python fame, Dittmer said.
In preparing for the performances, Whidbey Island Center for the Arts production director Deana Duncan said, the cast and its directors read every story mentioned in the musical, looked at Seuss’ drawings for inspiration, and shared memories of their favorite Seuss stories and characters.
“Our goal, as an acting company, is to ignite young audience members to read a Dr. Seuss book this summer and to remind the older ones why we have loved these books in the first place,” she said.
The group of 26 kids didn’t just prepare by learning the songs and dances that tell the story, but also by delving into the history of Dr. Seuss, his themes and what it means to be a storyteller, she said.
Songs woven through the story include “Oh, the Thinks You Can Think,” “Alone in the Universe” and “How Lucky You Are.”
The show, which is suitable for all ages, runs just over an hour, and will give audience members plenty of chances to smile at its comical approach, to sing along with familiar tunes, and just to be entertained in general, Duncan said. Most importantly, she added, it is designed to remind everyone of just why Dr. Seuss’ stories have become so important to our culture over the years.
WICA photo
Kate Waters as Mayzie LaBird (front) with Seussical gals (from left) Alyssa Woodbury, Emma Lungren, Dinah Hassrick, Sommer Harris, Nicki Fjelsted and Gracie Truex.
WICA photo
Sommer Harris (left) as Gertrude McFuzz and Kate Waters as Mayzie LaBird in “Seussical: The Musical.”
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