From the Cat in the Hat to Horton the Elephant, a whole variety of Seuss characters will be taking to the stage in a fantastically musical and colourful show. The show is going to have a story that everyone can get into, young or old and one that has already been tried and tested across the globe to much acclaim according to director and Galway native Seán Power.
“It’s a show from Eric Idle from the Monty Python series and he worked with Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Aherns and it won a number of Tony awards because of it,” he says adding that you will be taken into the “fantastical or some would say songtastical world from Dr Seuss.”
The show will see all your favourite Seuss characters intermingle as the Cat in the Hat takes you on a journey into the world in a story which sees Horton the Elephant and others try to save the small world of ‘Who’ from naysayers and dangers.
As the name suggests, music is at the forefront of this show and Seussical the Musical will not disappoint in that department with Seán saying the audience can expect lots of “fantastic music”.
“We have an orchestra of nine people under the music direction of Shane Farrell and these are all professional musicians from in and around Galway. All these songs are a mixture of jazz, pop, Latin, rumba, a good variety. It’ll have the audience tapping their toes along.”
What goes great along with music? A bit of dancing of course and with all these great songs being played, the audience can also expect a lot of great dancing and some very skillful choreography.
“Because the musical styles are quite varied the choreography has to match the style. Lots of tuneful stuff and very easy on the ear. It’s an audience pleasing type of show and the choreography will reflect on that,” said Mr Power.
As anyone who has read the books or indeed even have seen the movies will know, the world of Dr Seuss is a very colourful one with some of the brightest characters and enchanting settings around.
“We’re working with a very good set designer who is making a beautiful colourful set that reflects the storybooks from Dr Seuss and I think that the biggest part and the biggest challenge is trying to get the content right that reflects the story in the books that he wrote,” said Seán adding that they also have some fantastic actors such as Patrick Byrne, who played Captain Hook in last year’s Peter Pan in the Town Hall Theatre, now playing General Khan Schmitz.
Seán has been in the theatre industry now for 30 years and has won many awards for his work. Reflecting on Galway’s bid to become European Capital of Culture 2020, he sees the Town Hall Theatre and the works staged there as a big part of the upcoming bid, along with events like the Galway International Arts Festival, which he describes as “fantastic” this year.
