The Wharf Youth Theatre Perform ‘Seussical: The Musical’

Seussical: The Musical, written by Stephen Flaherty with music by Lynn Ahrens, is a play based on the famous children’s stories of Dr Seuss, and particularly focuses on stories such as ‘Horton Hears a Who!’ and ‘The Cat in the Hat’. First performed on Broadway in 2000, it has since had two US tours, moved to the West End in 2012, and had a smaller version written for younger actors; Seussical: The Musical Jr.

As an ex-WYT member myself, I understand the ins and outs of producing a theatrical piece with a group of young people. Not only do you require a group of dedicated, hardworking and ultimately talented young people, but also a collection of fantastically talented back-stage support; set and design, costumes, technical effects and of course the directors, Allison Moore and Liz Schorah. Aside from the work it takes to direct a group of people alone, it is increasingly hard to work with young people, especially those as young as nine, when working for a public performance.

It is really good to see young people taking such a role in a stage production, and for a theatre to facilitate such projects. Things like this are very important for young people, especially when developing team working skills, and their ability to be confident when standing up in front of a group of colleagues or even strangers; in fact it is often one of the most important life skills gained.

Admittedly, I was extremely surprised with the amount of talent present on stage; a strong cast who had clearly worked very hard to form sustainable characters, and many of them held a strong stage presence and projected their voice well, despite the overwhelming level of the background music (which was later fixed for the second act).

The staging was colourful and vibrant, and was scattered with paintings of comic creatures, such as a distorted bird which seemed to be crash landing into a rather peculiarly shaped tree, and wonderful artwork to place the production in locations. These were cleverly used later to provide scenery suggesting different locations, using spot lights to direct the audience’s eye. The lighting added to the vibrancy of the stage, using bright reds, greens and blues and silhouettes of leaves which were projected alongside the lights, as well as a disco ball in night time scenes which really added to the overall atmosphere.

Dance numbers were fairly well choreographed, and often smooth. Despite the few mistakes that were made, the cast were energetic and ‘with it’ throughout, hitting their cues well. They showed a great amount of care and attention, and carried characters through scenes both fast and energetic, and slow and emotional. In fact, my two favourite scenes in this play (along to the songs of ‘Alone in the Universe’ and ‘Solla Sollew’) were actually the slower scenes, and the cast were able to hold emotional levels of tone and pitch with regards to their singing, as well as put the audience into a subtle sense of relaxation through the choreography and acting.

Special mentions must be made to a number of people who shone throughout the musical:

First of all, Beth Jackson, who played the Cat in the Hat held a confident place on stage steering the narrative along. Furthermore, Lottie Diddams and Josie McBrine (playing Mayzie La Bird and Gertrude McFuzz) played their characters fabulously, providing wonderful singing supported with thoughtful characterisation. Ellie McMillan gave a confident performance as the Sour Kangaroo, and last but by no means least, Summer Bennett (who played Jojo) was fantastic. Seeing as she is only nine, and one of the youngest members of the company, she held an amazing stage presence and had a brilliant little voice- a very talented little girl who will go far if following drama.

Overall, this was a successful Wharf Youth Theatre production of Seussical: The Musical, and Liz and Allison have done very well with this cast of young people. The Wharf Youth Theatre is often a very good group, so keep your eye on them.

Seussical: The Musical was performed at the Devizes Wharf Theatre by the Wharf Youth Theatre (WYT).

Ben Wilkinson