The Jungle of Nool, complete with its Barba- loots, Flemurs, Sneels and more, has come to the Garage Door Theater.
“Seussical” will feature a massive 25 locals in a show with condenses of essence of Dr. Seuss’ many zany tales into a show in two acts.
“Horton Hears a Who” and “Horton Hatches an Egg” are two of the big stories in the show but also “The One Feather Tale of Gertrude McFuzz,” “The Amazing Mayzie” and “The Circus McGurkus” are all in the show,” Director Rodney Dobbs said. “There are of course references to Whoville, the Grinch and other books like “The Lorax” and others along the way.”
The show, which premiered on Broadway in the ‘90s, and was written in part by Eric Idle of the comedy group Monty Python, has seem most of its success on regional, high school and community theaters over the years and gives adults and children alike the opportunity to take the stage.
“About half of the cast are adults and half are 17 and younger, all the way down to three seven-year-olds,” Dobbs said. “They’re all playing the same roles every day. It’s great fun with lots of singing numbers and some beautiful little solos and duets.”
Leading the show first as a sort of audience surrogate before being thrust into the story by “The Cat in the Hat,” played by Jeff Neyman, is Jojo, played by Freja Hjelmgren.
“The Cat in the Hat” teaches me about all these characters but eventually puts me into the story to solve Horton’s problems,” Hjelmgren said. “I really like it because I get to actually watch the show while I’m in it.”
She shared a particularly transporting moment in the show for her.
“A particularly fun part of the show [for me] is the bathtub scene, because the fish surround me, and I feel like I’m actually there,” Hjelmgren said. “I didn’t grow up with Dr. Seuss. This is pretty much my first time seeing it.”
Jeff said that, for kids like Hjelmgren, who may not have been introduced to Seuss already, the show is a great stepping on point.
“It crams a lot of Dr. Seuss stories together, so it’s a great introduction to a lot of the different characters,” Jeff said. “Hopefully, these kids that aren’t familiar with it will be like, ‘Mom, Dad, what is this that I’ve been missing out on, we’ve got to go home and read these.’” “Seussical” has given Jeff an opportunity to perform alongside his daughter Hara Neyman, an experience he explained has been invaluable to him.
“Obviously you bond with your cast on another level,” Jeff said. “When my daughter first mentioned wanting to do theater, that was the first thing I told her. You’ll love it, if for nothing else than the friends you make in theater, they’re some of the best friends you’ll ever have.”
That’s gone doubly so for father and daughter.
“Getting to have that be on the next level with someone from your family, having this little mini-me watching and following my footsteps, it’s just gratifying,” Jeff said. “It’s this feeling of completeness.”
Though this show will be a return to the world of Seuss for most, one of the performers, portraying Mayzie La Bird, is setting foot in the world again in a unique way.
“I had the honor of being a Who in the movie “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” with Jim Carrey back in the day,” Michele Breslin said. “I moved out to Los Angeles and studied acting, but what really got me most of my jobs was stunt work, so that’s what I did on “The Grinch.” I was up on the stairs, did some ball walking and other things.”
Though Breslin took a long break from entertaining to raise her kids, she shared that this experience has filled a hole in her life.
“It’s so different, but I love it,” she said. “It’s so sweet and cute. It has filled a little something in me that’ve I’ve needed. When you’re a stay-at-home mom for so many years, to do something like this has filled a bucket that needed filled. I’ll want to do this again.”
“Seussical” will debut at 7:30 p.m. Friday with additional shows at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and March 28 and 29 as well as matinees at 2:30 p.m. Sunday and March 30. To purchase tickets, go to pilotpointoperahouse.org.
“It’s fun,” Dobbs said of the show. “There is hardly anything in it that’s sad or depressing. It’s all uplifting and fun, and it’s just going to be a good time. It is one of those shows where you’ll feel better when you leave than when you came in.”
