Terrace Plaza’s ‘Seussical’ delights
Jason Scanlon plays the Cat in the Hat in "Seussical," at Terrace Plaza Playhouse.
Jason Scanlon plays the Cat in the Hat and Emma Scanlon shares the double cast role of Jojo.
Brittney Salazar plays Gertrude Mcfuzz and Elton Dean plays Horton the Elephant in "Seussical the Musical," opening Aug. 7 at Terrace Plaza Playhouse.
Shown are actors from "Seussical The Musical" featured at Beverly's Terrace Plaza Playhouse in Ogden. Another rendition of the classic will be held July 25 at the Utah Theatre in Logan.
The one word Charlene Adams, Terrace Plaza Playhouse’s director of “Seussical,” would use to describe the show is “delightful,” she said.
“I use that word a lot but for this show it’s really delightful — surprisingly delightful,” Adams, of Layton, said.
“Seussical” is a Broadway musical mainly based on three of Dr. Seuss’ famous books “Horton Hears a Who,” “Horton Hatches the Egg” and “Miss Gertrude McFuzz.” It features a book by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, with music by Flaherty and lyrics by Ahrens.
“Ahrens and Flaherty are experts at writing music that really tells a story and gets you excited about what’s happening,” Adams said.
Jason Scanlon, of Clearfield, who plays the Cat in the Hat, said he loves the imagination of the show.
“There’s so many great messages to take away from it, it’s a conglomeration of many of Dr. Seuss’ most prominent stories and it takes them all and puts them into one conglomerate story,” he said.
While Scanlon has heard about “Seussical” but never actually seen it, after hearing about Terrace Plaza’s production and doing some research on the show, his family fell in love with it, he said.
“We said, ‘This sounds like the next play we’d like to do as a family,'” Scanlon said.
His family frequents the theater quite a bit, Scanlon said, and has done a couple of plays together in the past. And “Seussical” has become quite the family affair for the Scanlon clan.
Scanlon said his entire immediate family is in the show, with his wife playing Mayzie La Bird, his daughter playing the double cast role of JoJo and his other daughters as turtles.
Scanlon also gets to use things he loves to do as a father while representing his character.
“I think the thing I love about the Cat is he is zany and mischievous,” he said. “Which is something that I like to do with my kids. I always like to, whether it be teasing them or chasing them or making up jokes with them, making them laugh and making them appreciate life a little bit more.”
And his favorite part of the show is the message it teaches of thinking outside the box and status quo, he said.
“It encourages imagination and creativity and exploration mentally,” Scanlon said. “There’s a very definitive message of creating ‘thinks’ and letting ‘thinks’ take you to places and ideas that can be new and exciting.”
Adams enjoys another message “Seussical” teaches of the fact that no one is really ever alone, she said.
“Horton feels like he’s all alone, (and) finds something he can be in charge of and take care of. On the path to doing that he realizes there are other people that care about him,” Adams said. “He finds life outside of himself.”
“Seussical” shows at Terrace Plaza Playhouse, which is located at 99 E. 4700 South in Ogden, from Aug. 7 through Sept. 19, with 7:30 p.m. performances on Monday, Friday and Saturday. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit http://terraceplayhouse.com.
Contact reporter Sonja Carlson at 801-625-4229 or scarlson@standard.net. Follow her on Twitter @sonjacSE and like her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SonjaCarlsonSE.
PREVIEW
- WHAT: ‘Seussical’
- WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Monday, Friday and Saturday Aug. 7-Sept. 19
- WHERE: Terrace Plaza Playhouse, 99 E. 4700 South, Ogden
- TICKETS: $9-$14/reserved via terraceplayhouse.com