Seussical Jr. The Musical coming to Hartsville
By Samantha Lyles, Staff Writer, slyles@newsandpress.net
Some of your favorite characters from the beloved childhood stories of Dr. Seuss will soon come to life onstage at the Hartsville Center Theater with a staging of the musical “Seussical Jr.”
“It’s all of the stories of Dr. Seuss kind of mashed up together,” says director Dustin Moree, noting that the show will touch on many Seuss favorites like The Cat in the Hat and The Grinch.
Photo Contributed by Dustin Moree
“All of the Dr. Seuss characters that you know and love will make an appearance inside this musical…but mostly it’s about Horton the elephant and how he finds the Whos in the clover.”
The show is a scaled-down version of the Broadway production, with only the best bits retained, and with song and dance numbers tailored for a younger cast. The Hartsville Community Players production will feature sixteen 10 and 11 year-old kids who auditioned at an open call publicized through Facebook.
“I just had them sing a song from the show and read some of the lines from the script. They didn’t have anything prepared, they just showed up and I worked with them a little bit. Then they went up one at a time and did a piece from the musical,” Moree says.
Moree is the music teacher at North Hartsville Elementary School, and six of his students made the cut. Other cast members are students at Carolina Elementary, and some are homeschooled children.
“For most of them, this is the first show they’ve ever done, and they are really doing a great job,” says Moree, noting that once the cast got to know each other, their stage nerves practically vanished. “When they got comfortable with the people they were working with, they came out of their shells and it was a lot easier to work with them.”
Moree says that the Seussical cast members have impressed him with their adeptness and strong work ethics, and he’s looking forward to seeing them put on a fantastic show.
“They pick up on things really quickly. You tell them to take something home and work on it, and when they come back it’s worked out and it’s good. They listen very well. It’s a great age group to work with,” says Moree. “It’s gonna be interesting to see how they do on opening night, but we’ve run through it so much by now that they can probably do their numbers in their sleep.”
Moree says he’s very excited about the Seussical production and hopes that anyone who comes out to see it and has fun will consider returning to the theater for future shows. This season, the Hartsville Community Players will stage a production of the classic Beth Henley play “Crimes of the Heart” in May, as well as an innovative staging of Alfred Hitchcock’s spy thriller “The 39 Steps,” which will feature four actors playing all the roles.
Seussical Jr. will debut at 7:30 p.m. on April 1 at the Hartsville Center Theater, located at 212 North 5th Street in Hartsville. A matinee performance is scheduled for 3 p.m. on April 2.
Tickets are $5 for children, $15 for senior citizens, and $20 for adults. They can be purchased online at www.hartsvillecommunityplayers.org, or at Crema Coffee Bar and Burry Bookstore, and the Hartsville Chamber of Commerce.