Student thespians at a local middle school are about to get zany during their spring play.
Center Grove Middle School North’s drama club is doing “Seussical The Musical Jr.”
The show is at 7 p.m. April 15 and 5 p.m. April 16.
Elizabeth James, co-choral director at the school, tells you what you need to know.
How much are tickets?
Tickets are $4 for students, $5 for adults and $15 for families.
Why did you choose this show?
I chose this show because it’s a musical completely wrapped around Dr. Seuss stories. These stories are tales that our students have grown up reading since they were very young, so most of them have some sort of connection with them. It was a great way to incorporate fun literature that our students have so many memories and experiences attached to. The show itself is based around a great moral for our students to learn and that lesson is “a person’s a person, no matter how small.”
It is important to me, as a director, that whatever show we do, the students can take away important lessons that will have a positive influence who they are as a person on and off the stage.
How many students are involved in the show?
We have about 100 students involved in our production. We have about 50 in the cast and 50 on the stage crew.
What is the show about?
Seussical is based on the works of Dr. Seuss and weaves together his most famous tales and characters from at least 15 of his books. The show follows the adventures of Horton, an elephant who one day hears voices coming from a speck of dust. He soon discovers that within this tiny speck exists the smallest planet in the universe! On this tiny planet lives a tiny race of creatures known as Whos.
Although ridiculed by the other animals in the Jungle of Nool for believing in something he cannot see, Horton stubbornly persists in his belief that the Whos exist. Traveling everywhere from the Jungle of Nool to McEligott’s Pool, some of the characters fall in love, some have desperate adventures and some even save the world.
What was your favorite scene to direct?
My favorite scene to direct was the Trial Scene. This scene was fun because it brought all of the characters back on stage after going through this long adventure. It was a very challenging scene because it required many things to happen all at once. I also loved watching the kids commit so much intensity into the action that happens throughout this scene.
