PREVIEW 'Seussical [The Musical]' offers thrills, creativity for audience

The show contains a lot of simple messages, the theater director said.
By L. CROW
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
YOUNGSTOWN -- When Frank Castronovo, director of theater at Youngstown State University, first saw "Seussical [The Musical]" on Broadway, he was smitten.
It was one of the first shows he put on the table for this year's YSU Performing Arts Series. Castronovo shares his thoughts on the play, which opens Thursday at Ford Theater in YSU's Bliss Hall.
"When I saw it on Broadway, it was a few weeks before their final performance, and the cast was really up to task," he said. "The music is great -- very eclectic, from rhythm and blues, pop rock, ballads, ragtime ... at one point, the Cat does a scat. Children and adults love it."
But it isn't only the awesome music that makes the show so appealing for Castronovo.
"The show is filled with great, simple messages that are easy to forget," he said. "Like 'pick up after yourself,' 'feel good about yourself,' 'respect all living things.' It stresses diversity, and it's a happy play. Some of it will send chills up your spine, like the ballad 'Salla Sallew,' a nonsense word about a utopia. Eric Idle was one of the three people who conceived the original book, so it contains a bit of 'Monty Python' wackiness. And the show requires a suspension of belief -- you have to walk into their world, like walking into Oz."
Nathan Beagle plays the Cat, and he says his own cat, Sassy, was an inspiration to him. Because the role is so physical, Beagle said he watched her stances and poses to help him get the right movements.
The Bird Girls assist the Cat in narrating.
Explanation
"They are like the Supremes meet Vegas show girls, meet jungle bird," said W. Rick Shilling, who has designed the costumes. The three girls will be dressed in similarly clashing costumes, with different colors emphasized. They each wear a sparkly leotard in hues of blues, purples and gold, with pink and blue tights, in a fabric whose pattern looks amazingly like scaly bird legs. Over that is a sort of leopard print chiffon, in either green, brown or burgundy, topped by a hat with big feathers. "They are garish, a riot of color," Shilling added.
Gertrude McFuzz is another character that teaches a lesson. "She is a cute little bird with a poor self-concept because she only has one feather," said Shilling. "She keeps trying to get Horton's attention, but he doesn't notice her. So she eats the fruit of the pillberry bush. Rather than just a few berries, she gobbles the whole bush, and gets too many feathers. And Horton still doesn't notice her. She wears striped tights and a rainbow tie-dyed miniskirt. In the Broadway version, she was too washed out and simple, so we brightened her up."
Another interesting character is Sour Kangaroo. "The mother and baby are always together," said Shilling. "Sometimes it is the mother who is the human character, with the baby in the pouch, but we have made the baby the human. She wears the mother as a backpack made out of foam, which is ultra-light. Christina Cala is playing the role. She is a very good dancer and can animate both kangaroos."
Shilling is also very grateful for the generous donation to the theater from Ray and Delores Dray of East Liverpool.
X"Seussical (The Musical)" opens Thursday at 8 p.m. and runs Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m., through March 5. Call (330) 941-3105 for ticket information.