Sometimes, when the reality of the world becomes too dark and depressing to handle, the best cure is escaping into a fantasy world. This weekend at Lasell, the Lasell College Drama Club provided us just that through their performance of “Seussical, the Musical.”
The play began with a fun, upbeat musical number where some of our favorite childhood Seuss characters sang and danced on a bright colored set in costumes that exuded the childlike joy that Dr. Seuss brings to us. The play was centered around Horton, a kind and thoughtful elephant who discovers the village of Whoville, which is contained on a speck of dust. Horton soon befriends JoJo, an imaginative young citizen of Whoville whose odd “thinks” lead him to being sent to military school. Through JoJo, Horton soon discovers there are problems in Whoville, and they need his help. While Horton attempts to help the villagers, he is sidetracked with sitting on a nest for a friend, restricting his helpfulness and pulling him in two directions. Horton’s savior comes in the form of Gertrude McFuzz, his doting neighbor. Throughout the play, Gertrude does everything she can to get Horton to return the affection she feels for him, attempting even to take pills to make her tail bigger. However, Horton finally notices her, not for her tail, but for her unwavering faith in him and the values he holds so dear to him. Ultimately, they fall in love and together help fix the problems in Whoville, and in turn, improve their own jungle.
Upon the conclusion of the play, one realizes that the play not only captured the childlike joy that Dr, Seuss always brings us, but also incorporated another important characteristic of Seuss’s famous children’s books. Just like a Dr. Seuss book, the play not only brought joy, but also taught an important lesson. After escaping into a fantasy jungle of talking birds and dancing monkeys, one emerges to realize the play provided answers that would help solve the dark problems the play helped us escape. Underneath the musical numbers and bright costumes, the play outlined the importance of friendship, acceptance, and kindness.
Thank you to the Lasell College Drama Club for providing us an entertaining escape from reality, while at the same time reminding us about what is really important in life, and most of all, reinforcing the ever-relevant ideal that, “a person is a person, no matter how small.”