MARYVILLE, Mo. — Maryville High School’s production of “Seussical the Musical” will bring laughs and warm hearts in its retelling of several Dr. Seuss tales.
Written by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, the show debuted on Broadway in 2000, closing a year later, but has become a frequent production for schools.
Maryville High School co-director Jacqui Conn said the show is not more than two hours, but is sure to entertain with more songs than not.
“I would say most people are familiar with (the stories),” she said.
The play centers around Seuss books “Horton Hears a Who,” “Gertrude Mc Fuzz” and “Horton Hatches an Egg,” with special entrances from characters in other Seuss stories.
“The writers of the show did a good job of kind of taking lessons from a little bit of all of the books and kind of wrapping them all up together and making one narrative out of all of the pieces,” she said.
Conn said that when people see the show they’re only seeing the tip of the iceberg with regard to how much it takes to put together the production.
Rehearsals started Tuesday, Sept. 6 and the group has been running and singing since then.
“One thing that’s nice is that this year the technical theater class has been able to do a lot of the painting, we were a lot farther along with that,” she said. “So that’s been nice to have a lot of that early on so the cast is used to working with those pieces.”
She said there hasn’t been anything too difficult during the production, just the regular working around students’ busy fall schedules.
“The shows that we pick, we pick because they have a good message and they showcase the students that we have to tell that message the best,” Conn said. “And so we like the story that this tells about a person is a person no matter how small, Horton honoring his promise and trying to take care of people. … There’s lots of just good characters who have good stories and lessons to offer.”
Maryville High School senior Trent Townsend and sophomore Kate Wright are performing as The Cat in the Hat in a split role.
“We kind of had a really big role,” Townsend said.
He explained that splitting the role actually allowed both of them a little more time off stage.
“It was hard at first but after a while it just kind of flowed and worked pretty well,” Wright said. “It definitely helps to give you more time to take a minute and get yourself together, so it’s definitely helped.”
She told The Forum that she has added her own flair to the interpretation of the role, while not straying too far from the original character.
“I just love the energy of the character,” she said. “It’s a very energetic character so it’s very fun to play.”
Townsend said what’s fun about the cat is that he’s important to the story, but the cat just pops in on occasion.
“It’s kind of just random really,” he said. “The cat is just all over the place.”
Simon Parsons sings as Horton the Elephant during rehearsals Monday night at the Lee and Nina Schneider Center for the Performing Arts.
SKYE POURNAZARI/THE FORUM
As a senior, this role is his final one on stage in a musical, though he does intend to try out for the school’s spring play.
Reminiscing about his time on stage, he told The Forum at Monday night’s rehearsal that playing Cogsworth in the school’s production of “Beauty and the Beast,” has probably been his favorite role.
“It was just fun,” he said. “Honestly, it was like easy to get into character and it was really fun to play off of Henry (Swink as Lumiere) in that part.”
Another senior, Kort Watkins is performing in next week’s musical production. His role is Genghis Khan Schmitz, an army general set to straighten up Jojo, played by Isaiah Schieber.
“It’s fun, I get to be kind of bossy, so that’s fun,” he said.
In two roles for this production, Watkins also plays a Who in the Who village.
“I didn’t do it (theater) my freshman year and I kind of wish I did,” he said. “It’s a pretty fun musical to do. At least we’re going out doing something fun.”
He said theater is fun, but “it’s not for the light-hearted, for sure. You have to be able to get up there in front of a lot of people.”
His first role was as Gaston in “Beauty and the Beast.”
“It doesn’t really hit you until the first show day and every seat is full and you look out and you’re like ‘Oh my gosh,’” Watkins said. “So, I don’t know, it’s not for the lighthearted. You gotta be really willing to put in all work and get everything memorized and be ready to learn.”
As for why someone should come see his final musical production, he said the show is fun and goofy.
“It’ll make you laugh, so if you’re looking to have a fun time watching some high school kids have fun on stage, you should come and watch,” Watkins said.
Showtimes are: 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 17; 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 18; and 2 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 20 in the Lee and Nina Schneider Center for the Performing Arts.
Tickets are available online at bit.ly/MHSSeussical and cost $8 for general admission and $5 for student admission.
