Review: THE GRINCH Stage Musical Slithers Back into OC's Segerstrom Center

By its very nature, live theater can present lots of variables that make it somewhat an unpredictable, but ultimately exciting experience. Most of the time, there are the (hopefully) expected cases of everything going according to plan, thereby ensuring a show that replicates a repeatable, enjoyable experience.

Then there are those surprise instances when unexpected snafus occur, from minor technical glitches to the occasional cell phone ring from careless audience members that interrupts the flow of a show.

But during the Opening Night performance of the brand new national tour production of Dr. Seuss' HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS - THE MUSICAL at OC's Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa—which continues performances through December 24, 2023—a continuous, unfortunate technical mistake occurred that, personally for me, tainted the production, and should have been preventable or at least remedied quickly, considering how often this recurring type of problem mars shows that play at this theater.

But, alas, in my decades of seeing shows here at the Center, it is alarming that the sound mix of shows at this premiere OC venue has, honestly, always been a little spotty over the years, especially during performances of touring Broadway musicals where the sound mix seems to be muffled down to such low volumes (purposely?) that any spoken or sung words are rendered indecipherable.

I can't begin to speculate why this continues to be a repeated case at the Segerstrom Center, but, shockingly, I don't remember it getting this severe until now.

Technical difficulties are, of course, part and parcel of any show regardless of the venue, quality, or budget involved, but here—at least during the first OC showing of THE GRINCH, which just finished a 2-week run at the Pantages Theatre—the frustrating problem was constant and did not resolve itself at any moment during its entire intermission-less run (I secretly hoped someone in the audience pulled a "Karen" and complained about it during intermission, but, well… there was no intermission).

Even from the initial "announcement" at the top of the program that asked audience members cheekily to silence their mobile devices and warned patrons to refrain from talking too much during the performance, the volume of the joke-y voice over (supposedly from the Grinch himself) was at a noticeably low level that barely registered.

Maybe the audio problem is just during this opening announcement, I thought to myself.

Unfortunately, that was not to be.

Right from the first word of dialogue, the sounds from the production—mostly comprised of the dialogue and lyrics by Timothy Mason, and the score by Mel Marvin with additional material by Albert Hague and Dr. Seuss—were very hard to hear, rendering the story, the (I assume) funny and quirky lines, and the songs extremely unclear.

Sometimes, these kinds of audio problems in any show are caused by an imbalance issue, where the amplification of the show's orchestra is just louder than the microphones of the ensemble of actors on stage. Here, however, the actors are barely audible and the orchestra—under the baton of musical director Christopher Babbage—sounded muffled and extremely tinny, as if the band's sound mix was filtered through two empty soup cans connected by a string.

All told, I think I was able to clearly piece together about roughly 20% of the spoken/sung words in the entire show, relying mostly on visual context clues and, of course, my memory of seeing this stage show before, the original 1966 classic TV cartoon, and both the 2000 live action and 2018 computer animated feature films.

To be honest, my friend and I actually got pretty annoyed and angry about three or so minutes in, frustrated at how little of the show was understandable.

Apparently I wasn't alone in feeling this way, because all around me, I saw dumbfounded audience members (well, the adults anyway), trying to figure out amongst each other what this character or that character just said or sang. Several times during the evening, many of the grown-ups around me kept repeating "what did he/she say?" throughout the night. There were sporadic bursts of chuckles here and there throughout, perhaps mostly as a desperate reaction for over-the-top (screamed) lines or for the cute/awesome over-the-top visual gags that reminded many of the visuals they saw in other versions of this familiar Dr. Seuss tale.

The sound can be described in these variable ways: as if the mics just aren't turned up, or, perhaps, as if a thousand layers of blankets are draped over the speakers throughout the venue; or maybe the sound is filtered/passed through some kind of thick, sound-deadening colander that allows only loud P- and T-consonants to peter out.

Luckily, because this isn't the first time I've seen this 2006 Jack O'Brien Broadway musical adaptation of Seuss' holiday tale, gleaning the bullet points of the show's plot is easy to surmise, even without the specific details.

Just like the book it's based on, the GRINCH musical adaptation—directed by Matt August and featuring choreography by John DeLuca—expands on the titular mean one's jealousy-motivated quest to steal Christmas away from the perpetually happy citizens of Whoville down below his mountaintop hideout. The hairy green guy is here played by Joshua Woodie, who is appropriately cantankerous and sarcastic (at least from what I can see and only occasionally hear). His trusty, loyal canine companion Max is played by the adorkable Brian Cedric Jones (the cute puppy from the book/cartoon apparently speaks and sings in this musical version).

The entire story is recounted as an almost cautionary flashback via the present-day narration of Old Max, here played by W. Scott Stewart. I really, really wish I could hear what he was saying/singing much better because it sounded like he has a lovely baritone voice.

As many will recall, the Grinch pretty much succeeds his evil quest, but meets a worthy adversary in tiny little Cindy-Lou Who, a role played alternately by Aerina DeBoer and Mélodie Rose Romano (DeBoer was on for the role on Opening Night). The littlest of the Whos in Whoville manages to see right through the Grinch, helping to identify that underneath all that nastiness is someone with an actual heart.

Of course, the coolest thing about seeing THE GRINCH on stage—especially with tiny tots in tow, with eyes all aglow—is to give young folks the opportunity to see live musical theater, and all the stage magic that comes with it. This non-equity tour, fortunately, uses the same awesome sets and costumes used in prior Broadway/National Tours that are dripping with the look and feel of Dr. Seuss' books. The author's hard-to-miss signature style is all over this production, from John Lee Beatty's 2D illustrated set designs to Robert Morgan's whimsical 3D costumes.

I suppose the silver lining of having bad audio is that the gorgeous visuals really stand out, and, man, do they ever in this production.

Incomprehensible (but "preventable") dialogue and lyrics aside, the show is still a charmer—one that young audiences will be more forgiving to compared to their annoyed parents who probably just wanted to enjoy a bit of nostalgia.

I say this is "preventable" because these audio mishaps happen a lot at the Center, I suppose depending on where you're seated. But even with seats smack dab in the middle of the front orchestra section, the experience proved unlikeable despite being a stone's throw away from the front of the stage.

You can even make the argument that this is a specific problem at Segerstrom, considering that I have seen the exact same touring shows mounted in other venues like the Pantages and at the Ahmanson where the audio is crystal clear—or, at the very least, decipherable.

My hope for this new touring production of THE GRINCH is that someone raised a stink, stank, stunk after opening night and that the audio has been vastly improved for the show's remaining performances in Costa Mesa. Otherwise, there will be a lot of grown-ups turning into Grinches in the audience, too.

* Follow this reviewer on Twitter / Instagram / Threads: @cre8iveMLQ *

Photos by Jeremy Daniel, courtesy of Segerstrom Center for the Arts.

Performances of Dr. Seuss' HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS continues at Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, CA through December 24 2023. Tickets can be purchased online at www.SCFTA.org, by phone at 714-556-2787 or in person at the SCFTA box office (open daily at 10 am). Segerstrom Center for the Arts is located at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa. For tickets or more information, visit SCFTA.org.

To post a comment, you must register and login.