BWW Reviews: Cathy Rigby Leads 3-DT's Fun-Filled SEUSSICAL Musical

Never could I have ever imagined that a stage musical seemingly designed for and targeted to young children would emerge as one of this season's most gloriously delightful, thoroughly entertaining surprises!

A charming, fun-filled musical comedy performed with cheery, infectious gusto, 3-D Theatricals' top-notch regional production of SEUSSICAL™ - THE MUSICAL---now playing at the Plummer Auditorium in Fullerton through February 22---is a laugh-out-loud, smile-a-minute spectacular for all ages!

As the title blatantly implies, the show---which features music by Stephen Flaherty and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens---is a clever, musicalized mash-up of roughly 18 books from the library of Theodor Geisel, whom the world knows, of course, as Dr. Seuss.

That many intersecting stories, naturally, give way to the possibility for dizzying chaos. So perhaps in an effort to alleviate that, Ahrens and Flaherty (who also collaborated on the book of the musical) focus mainly on three Seuss books, then sprinkle recognizable bits and pieces from others. Further narrative help (and snarky color commentary) is provided by The Cat In The Hat---a metamorphic wonder of spunk and sass played by the still ever-so gravity-defying Cathy Rigby---who not only serves as the show's upbeat narrator but also its plot instigator, situational troublemaker, high-flying trickster, and Very Important Lesson dispenser. She is pretty much The Cat In Many Hats---and, wow, she is terrific in all of them.

And for this eye-popping, high-energy local production, director and choreographer David Engel---who himself appeared in the cast of the original 2000 Broadway production---is presenting SEUSSICAL for 3-D Theatricals in a version that hews much closer to the original Broadway incarnation, something that hasn't really been done since the Broadway production closed in May of 2001 (subsequent tours and regional and school productions have since presented truncated, overly reworked versions in an effort to "fix" the show's apparent flaws).

In this Orange County-grown SEUSSICAL, Engel not only revisits cut songs, reprises, and dialogue, and some of Kathleen Marshall's original staging, he is also reunited with former co-star Rigby, who flies (literally and figuratively) into this Southern California production to reprise the role she played both on Broadway and in the national tour.

Yet despite the risk of reigniting what may be the apparent problematic factors of its short-lived Broadway run, his strong sense of personal care and nostalgic affection for the original is certainly what came through in Engel's enjoyable, incredibly jubilant revival, leaving little room for lulls or awkwardness (aside from the usual Opening Night microphone gaffes). And you can definitely tell from the beaming smiles of its huge cast that they are all having so much silly fun up there performing this show for its audience. They aim to please, and that they do.

As such, SEUSSICAL opens to ebullient fanfare as The Cat in the Hat and a stage full of whimsically-dressed characters and creatures dazzle our eyes and ears as they introduce the audience to the imaginative, wondrous possibilities that lay ahead "when you think about Seuss" (Worth noting also---this ensemble sing some amazing harmonies).

Soon, we meet a kind, sweet elephant named Horton (Matthew Downs) who claims to hear a tiny voice in the distance. He later realizes that the voice(s) are coming from a random speck of dust---a speck that happens to contain the planetary home of the perpetually positive Who's (and, yes, their now-reformed adversary the Grinch).

Fearing that this tiny microcosm---already in crisis thanks to an imminent war---faces inevitable destruction from both the elements and certain creatures who may not be aware of its existence, Horton decides to guard and care for it, much to the mockery of his fellow neighbors in the jungle of Nool, particularly Sour Kangaroo (Amber J. Snead). Gertrude McFuzz (the wonderful Melanie Mockobey), however, is the lone voice of opposition. She thinks Horton's kindness in selflessly protecting the speck is noble and praiseworthy. Of course, she's a bit biased since, well... she's madly in love with him (though he doesn't notice her much).

Meanwhile, inside the speck down in Whoville, young Jojo (the exceptionally talented Grant Westcott) causes a ruckus at his school for apparently "thinking" too much and is sent home to face punishment from his parents, the Whoville Mayor (James Campbell) and his wife (Tracy Rowe Mutz). To make matters worse, Jojo inadvertently causes heavy flooding while daydreaming in the bath upstairs.

Exhausted and frustrated with their "troublesome" son, the Mayor and his wife---on the wicked suggestion of The Cat In The Hat---decides that Jojo needs to be disciplined, and so they ship him off to military school, to be commanded under the hilariously tyrannical General Genghis Khan Schmitz (Gregory North), a bumbling drill machine hell-bent on raging war against citizens who "eat their bread butter-side-down" (and judging by his preferred marching chant, he's not a huge fan of green eggs and ham either).

A week passes and Horton---still watching over the speck---becomes restless, as he yearns for adventure and to see his dreams come to fruition. He asks for an audience with the people down in Whoville, and to his surprise young Jojo responds. The two become fast friends and bond over their mutual feelings of loneliness in their respective environments.

In another corner of the jungle, Gertrude is frazzled that Horton still doesn't notice her. She surmises that this is due to her apparently pathetic-looking, one-feathered tail, a conclusion corroborated by another bird, the bawdy, more full-feathered Mayzie La Bird (Victoria Matlock). Mayzie advises Gertrude into seeking help from Doctor Dake (The Cat In The Hat, in one of her multitude of disguises) who for her part gives Gertrude a prescription for pills that will, um, enlarge her tiny tail.

Elsewhere, a trio of rambunctious monkey brothers (Gary Brintz, Brandon Burks, Daniel Dawson) taunt Horton and steal the speck. He chases after them as well as the black-bottomed eagle that later ends up with it (the monkeys handed the speck to the bird), only to be further discouraged when the speck of dust is dropped into a large patch of other specks that span a hundred miles. Oh crap... which one has the Who's?

Horton searches and searches, coming up empty. Feeling defeated, he reluctantly journeys home and runs into Mayzie who, curiously, is sitting on an egg. The nice dude that he is, Horton is persuaded to "volunteer" to sit on the egg while Mayzie goes away for a short vacation break, promising to return momentarily (uh, yeah right). Many, many months (and different seasons) pass and Horton patiently waits, still sitting on the egg as he promised, but with no Mayzie in sight.

Since no good deed goes unpunished, Horton is eventually captured by jungle poachers who plan to auction him off to the circus. Gertrude tries in vain to save him, but, unfortunately, is weighed down by her newly-plump tail, rendering her flightless. The ensuing mess, naturally, is a sheer delight to The Cat In The Hat.

Will Horton escape his new trap? Will the speck of dust that contains the home world of the Who's be found? What the heck is in that damn egg? And will Jojo forever suppress every "think" he thinks?

A fun, silly show with a surprising amount of wit, imagination, and heart, SEUSSICAL - THE MUSICAL is wonderfully childish yet notably smart at the same time. While distinctly capturing the spirit and intent of the Seuss universe, the show also presents an example of a musical comedy that has, funny enough, matured over time (most of the time, it's the other way around---a musical comedy that seems hilarious and fresh at first, becomes stale and outdated after time passes later).

While, sure, one can still get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of stories and characters criss-crossing and whiz-boom-banging across the stage fairly quickly, there's a kind of loose organization at play that makes the whole show work. Much of that is aided by the very welcome nature of its silliness---I mean, c'mon, we've got a narrator that inserts herself into the action, sometimes affecting outcomes, while simultaneously breaking the fourth wall and directly interacting with the audience!

This production in particular---aside from its incredible sets and costumes---excels best when also acknowledging even its own insider aspects. I, for one, appreciate a lot of the newly inserted inside jokes that specifically address the show at hand and the world/time we live in at this very moment (Rigby cheekily references everything from her high-flying work in PETER PAN, her much lauded La Mirada-based theater company, to the recent Super Bowl win by the Patriots). The show also gives lots of knowing nods to various things in Broadway and pop culture.

It's that kind of winking, meta-awareness that makes SEUSSICAL far more enchanting than it should be---and that's totally more than okay. Engel's 3-DT production presents a great marriage between the legacy of Seuss stories and the intriguing vastness of today's media-saturated culture.

It's also a seamless way for unfortunate technical gaffes to become part of the fun---ah, the perils of live theater! During the show's Opening Night performance, when a planned spectacular, gravity-defying stunt fails to happen during the opening of the second act, the audience doesn't seem fazed at all.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Rigby apologizes directly to the audience as the show continues all around her. "And it was a great, neat stunt, too!"

That's okay, Ms. Rigby. No apologies necessary. You already dazzled us with a ton of high-flying tricks in the first act!

And as wonderful and perfectly-cast Rigby is in this admirably acrobatic role, she should also be commended for giving way for many of her costars to also shine in the spotlight in their respective roles. Though the task is probably a bit easy since this production features one remarkable scene-stealer following another.

My personal cast favorites, besides Rigby, of course, include (but are not limited to) all the feathered gals (Mockobey, Matlock, and the "Mean Chicks" played by Brittany Rose Hammond, Donna Louden, and Adrianna Rose Lyons); young Mr. Westcott, who holds his own both vocally and acting-wise amongst the grown-ups; the comically gruff North, whose commanding general is a side-splitting hoot; and, finally, Downs as the cuddly Horton, who plays the timid elephant not as a loser-ish victim but as an endearing hero-in-waiting you want to root for. Not gonna lie... when Downs and Westcott share a lovely duet ("Alone in the Universe") my eyes, I don't know, got all watery and stuff...

Besides, once again, the muffled-sounding orchestra that sound as if they're playing in a different building, and the achingly low volume on various cast members' microphones, the only real minor gripe I have with this production is Horton's costume. While other characters have similarly minimal accoutrements that ask the audience to fill-in the blanks, so to speak (the furry vests suggest monkeys, feathers suggest birds, etc.), Horton's minimal, off the Old Navy sale rack costume still remains decidedly too human.

Sure, Horton sporting a trunk may be vocally-prohibitive to its actor, but the character really needed something else---I don't know... ears, a swishy tale, or a more, rubbery rotund bottom half, etc.---to sell him as a non-human and not some dude picking up lumber at Home Depot after the show. Downs, luckily, is an effective actor that sold us on his pachyderm pedigree.

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