Thursday, March 24, 2011

Adult Sippy Cups

This evening I had every intent of escaping reality for two hours and experiencing the sheer splendor that is Seussical the Musical.  The plot is fairly simple, centering on the story of Horton and his friends on a clover, with some characters from many other stories mixed in.  There is, of course, the Cat in the Hat to round out the cast who switches from narrator to filling in character bits in each story.  Although most of the other characters on stage are recognizable to those of us who grew up memorizing the books before we could even read, the Cat is arguably the most iconic image from the series.  Thus, his role is pivotal in any production related to these stories.

I arrived at the Byham Theatre with my friend David Beller and knew we were in for a treat based on the patrons entering with us.  It was a pleasant mix of parents with their young children and grandparents in toe.  There was also a surprising contingent of high-school aged students.  Anybody who has ever seen a production for youth knows nothing compares to the energy and passion an audience full of children can give.  Working in this environment was a major component in my decision to study Educational Theatre for my B.A.  I stopped at the bar in the lobby and grabbed a glass of $7 white wine and joked with David about the $3 adult sippy cups you could buy in order to take your drink into the theatre.  NOT buying one proved to be a fatal error.

When buying the tickets I fully realized this was a local production including some AEA actors and a large contingent of the community.  Knowing this, my expectations were (I hate to admit it) lowered.  I fully believe that many of us who work professionally forget our roots in "local" theatre and how much it can influence the lives of those involved even if they don't plan on pursuing a career in the performing arts.  The scenery was simple, but smart with a variety of levels that served the show well with so many large chorus numbers.  Lighting...hmmm, well...Seussical is generally what we call a 'flash and trash' show that has lots of colorful and moving light cues that clearly aren't environmental, but move in rhythm with the music and mood of the show.  There was a valiant attempt at this, and I'm giving the LD the benefit of the doubt and predicting he didn't get enough cueing time to adequately finish the show, because there were a lot of questionable cues.  It didn't help that Horton REFUSED to ever stand in his light, even if the only light on stage was a single toplight special.  Concluding my judgment on design, the sound was horrible, I mean the worst.  You couldn't understand anything any girl sang, ever.  There was a lack of guys in the ensemble so they didn't have any hope.  We were in the balcony, so maybe they didn't care about us, but we paid just as much for half price tickets as everybody else did.

Besides the frequent questionable cues and inability to understand anything coming out of any singers' mouth, there was one driving force that seemed determined to ruin this production, and that was the Cat himself.  This man was bad, and I use the word man because everybody else on stage was under the age of 25 and he was clearly at least in his mid 40s.  His overt sexual flirtations with several characters during the show drew more attention to the age gap, making David and I (as well as the patrons behind us) uncomfortable.  At one point the patrons behind us, who I will henceforth call 'The Fans', yelled out "I didn't think we were watching To Catch A Predator".  The Cat continued to bring down the show with horrible and inappropriate ad libs that would make even the most experienced dancer at Cheerleaders blush.  The highlight was his flirting with a grandmother in front of her granddaughter during a scene that included both physical and verbal contact.

The moment that ruined the show for me, however, was an extended ad lib about Charlie Sheen that ended in a seductive "Winning!".  As much as I think the whole Charlie Sheen thing is way overplayed, I must give Charlie credit for marketing such a brilliant line that will be ingrained in our pop culture at least until the next time a star has a breakdown.  However, my friends, I find this sort of material horribly inappropriate for such a show.  Argue away that family shows are just as much for the parents as they are for the kids, but when your main character spends a majority of the play seducing the Who's and then breaks out "Winning!", I lose all respect.

All the technical and artistic choice elements aside, I found this production blatantly offensive and tragic, which is a bold accusation for Seussical.  I was willing to excuse anything...but the Cat's ad libs really made me wish I had gotten an adult sippy cup from the lobby.  The only people in the balcony who enjoyed themselves after intermission were The Fans behind us, who one could have easily mistook for crazed Steeler's fans at a playoff game.  I suspect there wasn't Diet Coke in their sippy cups.

4 comments:

  1. Ugh. I'm taking Avi tonight. Now I'm concerned. I had lower expectations, too, but what you're describing is something altogether different. Blech.

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  2. Aaaand I just read who is playing The Cat in the Hat. Explains a lot, unfortunately.

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  3. But other than that how did you like the play?

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  4. Other than the parts I didn't like, the parts that I did like were great.

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