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Skyview High School’s ‘Seussical’ sends musical message

Production underscores value of compassion, individualism

By Scott Hewitt, Columbian staff writer
Published: January 11, 2019, 6:05am
12 Photos
“Oh The Thinks You Can Think!” The cast of “Seussical,” fronted by Derek Tucker as the human Cat in the Hat, runs through dress rehearsal at Skyview High School. Up on the second level are the denizens of Whoville.
“Oh The Thinks You Can Think!” The cast of “Seussical,” fronted by Derek Tucker as the human Cat in the Hat, runs through dress rehearsal at Skyview High School. Up on the second level are the denizens of Whoville. Amanda Cowan/The Columbian Photo Gallery

“Seussical,” the big, complicated, dazzling and slightly deranged musical headed for Skyview High School’s stage over the next couple of weekends, is actually a celebration of the humble and solo, the quirky and quiet.

As the great philosopher and superhero Horton the Elephant reminds us during the show: “A person’s a person, no matter how small.”

Theodore Geisel thought those were words to live by, and a crucial moral lesson for a nation that had just become the globe’s dominant player, when he wrote and illustrated the children’s classic “Horton Hears a Who” in the early 1950s, under his pen name, Dr. Seuss.

Horton’s charitable attitude represents an evolution in thinking for Geisel, who propagandized against both Japan and Japanese Americans during World War II; afterwards, he revised his racial views and was reportedly inspired by the American occupation of Japan to create a fantasy about cultivating compassion for creatures so different from us, they don’t even seem real.

If You Go

 What: “Seussical,” based on the works of Dr. Seuss, by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens. Directed by Phillip Denton and Kerry Jeffery.

 When: 7 p.m. Jan. 11-12, 17-19.

 Where: Skyview High School, 1300 N.W. 139th St., Vancouver.

 Tickets: $12; $8 for students and seniors; $4 for children.

 To learn more: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3867842

That’s a pretty serious backstory for a silly picture book starring a worried elephant, a handful of nasty monkeys and birds, and the inhabitants of a microscopic spec that’s actually a whole town — and featuring Dr. Seuss’ signature wordplay and surreal cartoon landscapes. “Horton Hears a Who” provides the superstructure for “Seussical,” but it’s just one of 18 Seuss stories that keep this whimsical patchwork of a musical whirling.

“There’s this wonderful sense of fun because all the books have been mismashed together,” said Phillip Denton, the choir director at Skyview and the overall director of this show. Watch for appearances by The Cat in the Hat, Gertude McFuzz, Yertle the Turtle, various Whos and many other fantastic Seussian creatures from different books.

None of them will be quite what you expect, Denton added. Dr. Seuss’ world is full of animals, but this production wanted to aim for a little more sophistication than that. “We didn’t want to go that ‘elementary school,’ with high school students who are shaped like grown adults,” Denton said. “No kids dressed up like fuzzy monkeys.”

Instead, the animal characters have been translated into creatively costumed human personalities. A flock of “bird girls” are Jazz Age flappers in shiny dresses; a gang of mischievous monkey brothers are 1950s “greasers,” sporting slick hair and black leather; and Horton himself is no elephant, but “a blue-collar worker and a good natured, good-hearted kind of guy,” Denton said. The kind of average Joe whose determined effort can change the world.

Imagination and more

Re-imagining animal characters — with costumes by designer Sharon Riley — is one way this production has applied an original, creative touch and “added a little more depth to the show,” Denton said. Another original touch is the multilevel set. “The script calls for a blank stage with nothing on it,” Denton said — and the audience’s own imagination enlisted to fill in the big blank.

The heck with that, Denton and art director Ted Fleming decided. “We went in the opposite direction. We built these massive sets for the Jungle of Nool and Whoville. We’ve got staircases and a platform in the air” embodying Dr. Seuss’ funny, rubbery landscapes. “My philosophy is, the audience is coming here to escape a bit. They’re coming here to see a big show, let’s give them a big show,” Denton said.

Big sure is what it is. The entire performing arts community at Skyview is involved: choir, theater, orchestra, band and dance students and teachers. That makes for something like 70 performers onstage and dozens more behind the scenes, Denton said.

“We wanted to get everyone on the same page and produce something together,” he said. “What’s fun is the amazing amount of creativity coming from everyone. Some of these students are onstage for the first time, some are painting and designing, everybody’s creative juices are flowing. They’ve contributed so many great ideas I never would have come up with.”

Which is precisely in keeping with the creative spirit of the show. As Jojo the Who’s parents lament: “He was never any trouble til this thinking thing began.”

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