Seussical

Seussical
Music: Stephen Flaherty. Lyrics: Lynn Ahrens. Penrith Musical Comedy Company. Directors: Bek Want, Brenden Neaton. Musical Director: Craig Parris. Choreographer: Hannah Lansley. The Joan Performing Arts Centre, Penrith. April 13 – 21, 2018.

If you missed Penrith’s Seussical then you missed a spectacular treat. This big bold musical that brings together major characters from the books of Dr Seuss was not only fantastic quality entertainment but was also a lesson in crowd management. There were 91 in the cast and whenever all or most of them were on stage (which was lots of times) they were positioned in such a way so that each one could always be easily seen. I don’t know how directors Bek Want and Brenden Neaton achieved this feat and made it look easy.

There were no wrong notes from the Ccast, not in the singing, dancing, or acting. It was one of those shows where everyone (including the Ensemble) shone, including the fabulous little tots who rightfully upstaged everyone.

James Rye (Cat in the Hat), Emma-Lee Lansley (Sour Kangaroo), Ben Curran (Mayor of Whoville), Lachlan Gracie (The Grinch), Andrew Simms (Genghis Khan Schmitz), Sally Ible (Yertle the Turtle), were all excellent and enjoyable to watch.

Child actors Cole Zoernleib (Jojo) and Taylor Proud (Young Kangaroo) have the most beautiful voices and characterisations you could hear and see. Where do they get such talent?

Daniel Conway as Horton the Elephant was amazing. Horton is usually a one-note part: stand there and look sad while singing the same thing. Daniel gave his Horton shades of grey (pun intended), making Horton far more interesting and empathetic than he is per script. I have no idea how he was able to hear and stay in tune while huge elephant-ear prosthetics covered his ears.

On a biased level, my heart went out to Fiona Brennan as Gertrude McFuzz. This lady did her first two shows with me, and I was filled with such pride to see how she has grown in experience and talent to give a performance so heartfelt and perfectly pitched it deserved a Tony.

Still high on my bias-meter is Renee Bechara as the fickle and outlandish Mayzie La Bird.  Wearing a costume that looked like Carmen Miranda fought an ostrich in a Skittles factory (and won), Renee just owned that stage whenever she was on it, even just standing there, and could write the book on how to sashay. Renee has done shows with me and often sits with me on audition panels, so forgive me if I thought she was more Lit than New Year’s Eve fireworks on Sydney Harbour.

The Dancing Sneeches and Things were just WOW. Yes I’m going to name them all because they deserve it: Famke Cullan, Alysa Darroch, Lani Donoghue, Zoe Donoghue, Emily Duggan, Hannah Fitzpatrick, Chelsea Gatt, Lauren Gumbley, Lavinia McKellar, Charlotte McLean, Bailey Pogo, Ella Proud, Teleah Jane Rangihaeata, Olivia Rankmore, Marli Shahin, Paige Sales, Ashlea Spain, Chloe Spain, and Chloe Watson danced Hannah Lansley’s inventive and brilliant choreography with grace, and their contortions did things I didn’t know were possible with the human body. If they ever bring back So You Think You Can Dance then we have some major contenders here.

The Wickersham Brothers: Jake Wholohan, Braydon Blackall, Tim Drummond, Benjamin Roughley, Tyler Ebrahimzadeh, and Bailey Manning, rapped and danced up a freaky storm, and gave us the right sense of mischievous fun one expects from a tribe of monkeys. However, they also added a sense of malice and menace, so you felt that not only were these cool dudes up to no good, but it was dangerous too. They were like those bad boys that all the good girls fall for.

Their counterparts were the Bird Girls, played by Meg Whittaker, Laura Hodge, Skye Humphrey, Tara Lawson, Holly Vincent and Paige Geerin. If the monkeys were wild, these colourful jungle birds were the opposite: elegant, classy, and sassy. If you saw the show you probably had your favourite. Mine was Tara Lawson aka Polly Parton (Ms Orange).

Sound designers Loud and Clear worked their usual miracles. With the excellent orchestra hidden backstage (just as excellently led by md Craig Parris, and assistant md Rich Ferraro), the Loud and Clear team had their work cut out for them but made the show sound balanced and crystal clear.

Holly Benton’s make up design was fabulous, letting us see the animals being portrayed without obscuring the emoting from the actors’ faces.

Craig Parris and Bek Want also designed a stunning set. It was like some giant Seussified playground with a swirling colourful floor that had the right “ooh-wah” effect when the lights went out and the flouros came on. Amazing and huge as it was the set never upstaged the cast.

Staging the crowd scenes so that everyone could stand out and be noticed was a double-edged sword, in that at times I did see some of the adult Ensemble drop character or take things down a gear. With no back-row of the Chorus to hide in these things were noticeable. Thankfully the teens, tweens, and tots came to the rescue.

There was a wonderful sense of community and family in this show.

My only regret was that I could not to see the run any earlier than the last performance, and so could only provide a review for PMCC’s archival purposes, instead of helping to spread the word in-season.

Excellent, joyful, fun.

Peter Novakovich

Images: Neaton Photogrpahy

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