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Seussical the Musical
Yeovil Youth Theatre
The Octagon
Yeovil
Saturday 19th November
Sometimes, when watching a musical show one has to suspend disbelief a bit: to accept that half a London bus is going on a summer holiday or that a bunch of starlit express trains are racing around a little boy’s head. And then sometimes there’s another level: you just have to open up your brain and let the wackiness in. Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty’s Seussical the Musical is one of those: A singing elephant hears voices from a microscopic planet lodged on a speck of dust lodged in a clover flower, is tricked into sitting on an egg, is rescued by his next-door-neighbour, a singing bird whilst a young man is pushed into the microscopic world by a cat he dreamed. Simple (!) This show is wild, wacky and quite wonderful: A super showpiece of nonsense and fun with just the right balance of happiness, sadness, morality and storytelling combined with a great range of musical numbers and some terrific opportunities for dance: An imaginative and inventive choice of show by Director Paul Nicholas Dyke to allow the highly talented Yeovil Youth Theatre to excel.
The building blocks underpinning any show must be the creative team; Director (and Choreographer!) Paul and Musical Director Matthew Holmes. For a complex and unusual show like Seussical to succeed and not befuddle an audience, clarity of direction is an absolute necessity: the story must be clearly defined, plot points clearly ‘pointed’, stage pictures clear, pace carefully judged and performances must be strong and balanced. Director Paul provided a masterful hand ‘on the tiller’, producing a stunning show with a real precision of direction. Musically too this was a strong production: Matt Holmes has shown himself to be a ‘go-to’ MD for high quality, particularly with younger performers and this was no exception. With his Choreographer hat on Paul did not appear to have ‘cut any slack’ for the young cast: it was great to see uncompromising and often complex dance challenging the dancers – with great some great results.
The design of the set worked very well indeed: Director Paul, working with Joe Rockett from Bright to produce a striking, multi-layered set which, when combined with some excellent movable ‘add-ons’ – a bedroom, an enormous bath and a truly fabulous elevated nest (big enough for an elephant to sit in!) delivered the perfect setting for this fast-paced, large-cast production: flexible, fun and very workable. Costume was also something of a triumph: in this mad, mad world of Whos and Things and Wickershams it might be thought that ‘anything goes’ but costume was carefully considered: bright colours coordinating in attractive groups, spectacular birds a lovely elephant and a stunning cat: None of the animals or birds requiring clear, figurative definition but suggestion – very attractively realised. Paul (again) and Lynn Lee Brown should be very proud of what they and their costume team have produced. Likewise the hair and make-up teams lead by Sheila Driver and Lauren Jade. Productions which hire or buy-in costumes and sets might be surprised at what can be achieved ‘in-house’: Terrific.
Performances: it is all very well looking great in costume and standing on a fantastic set but can you perform? Yes you can! From the audience’s first introduction to Sterling Wilder-Gay’s astonishing Cat In The Hat we knew we were in for something special: Natural, stage-owning presence, great timing and stunning movement combined with a great audience-connection and the ability to truly ‘sell’ a song- excellent. Then to the satin-voiced Tom Forrest as the unfortunate Horton – a lovely, sensitive performance filled with gentle pathos – excellent. Jessamy Bowditch, fresh from her huge success in Annie showed us her flexibility by delivering a superb performance in the very different role of Gertrude McFuzz: comic timing, perfectly judged physicality and a voice to die for- excellent. I could go on and on: Liam Beard as Jojo, Lois Froude as Mayzie La Bird, Natalie Sproston as Sour Kangaroo, James Derrick as The Mayor and Daisy Baxter as The Mayor’s Wife all performed with real ability – some fantastic singing and movement: strong character parts with individual identities clearly defined- great stuff. In fact: Izzie, Jasmine, Sarah, Will, Libby, Lauren, Harry, Eronwy, Jo, Samuel, Ben, Jack, Bradley, Sam, Nat, Henry, Ryan, Skye, Rachel, Devan, Jade, Izzy, Eleanor and Holly-Ann should all be very proud of their performances indeed.
I had a great time at the Octagon last night: Seeing young performers not only delivering a great show but also really enjoying doing it, is brilliant. Was it perfect? Nearly: young performers are a ‘work-in-progress’ and there were a few voices still finding their place and a few moments when the discipline of timing in both song and dance was a little ‘off’ but these were minor and very forgivable in a great production. The future looks very bright.
Thanks for inviting me.
Ian