Review – Seussical

Seussical: The Musical is a fun-loving romp that children and parents alike will enjoy. Old Carey Performing Arts Club have delivered a funny, endearing and visually exciting rendition of the adaption of Dr Seuss’ work to the stage.

This show takes the characters, the stories and the catchphrases from all of Seuss’ most popular children’s stories and merges them into one world. The result: an explosion of colour and movement on stage, and a celebration of the uplifting morals of Seuss’ books told through song and dance. Seussical mainly follows the narratives of Horton Hears a Who and Horton Hatches the Egg, though it makes sure to feature popular characters like The Cat in the Hat and The Grinch as well as odes to stories like Green Eggs and Ham and Solla Sollew.

While the average age of the audience would have been about 10 years old, I slowly warmed to this children’s show and found myself laughing and tapping along with the music.

The Old Carey Performing Arts Club are a talented bunch of musicians and performers and Seussical is really testament to their work as a company. Their delivery was high energy, fast-paced and quick witted. Their abilities as performers and storytellers couldn’t be faulted and their work as an ensemble was impressively strong. They were also able to reach out and communicate with an audience of all ages with sensitivity, which is testament to director Joshua Ellwood. Kelsey Andrew’s choreography was also dynamic and perfectly suited for the style, and Daniel Donovan’s musical direction of the orchestra was flawless and definitely served as the backbone of this production.

Mark Yeates as The Cat in the Hat was hilarious and loveable and was certainly the clown of the show. His ability to make an audience of children and adults laugh in the same heartbeat was so impressive and as the MC of the show, he kept the audience hooked and wanting more.

Another highlight of the show was the Sour Kangaroo played by Nicholas Renfree-Marks. The choice to perform this character in drag was a hilarious one, and Renfree-Marks’ portrayal of a gospel singing, Aretha Franklin-esque cynical mother kangaroo with a baby in its pouch was hilariously outstanding. Gliding across the stage with sass and belting those astronomical notes with all the ease in the world made Renfree-Marks a total showstopper.

Also worth a mention was the endearing performance of Horton the Elephant by Sam McPartlan, the cartoonish sweet natured Gertrude McFuzz by Eleanor Horsburgh, and the self-obessed Mayzie LaBird by Elise Cavallo.

Seussical is a children’s show that appeals to the kid in all of us, no matter what age. If you have children or grandchildren aged around 5 – 14, make a family outing out of it and be sure to see this show. For anyone else, even if you’re not a fan of musical theatre, I’m sure you will enjoy this show.