Seussical Revival

[BroadwayEnthusiast2]

Posted: 6/17/07 at 9:12pm

Can SEUSSICAL PLEASE come back to Broadway. I love the show so much and I would love for it to come back. Anyone agree? Sorry, I just needed to get that out there...

[i.heart.link]

Posted: 6/17/07 at 9:13pm

I agree completely agree!!!!

[ThankstoPhantom]

Posted: 6/17/07 at 9:14pm

I'd like to see it back in a better production (with a few rewrites).

It has a great message, and could be successful if done right.

[BroadwayEnthusiast2]

Posted: 6/17/07 at 9:17pm

Exactly. The original production lasted only 6 months, which is very sad. If it could come back very strongly, it could do very well.

[Jon]

Posted: 6/17/07 at 10:03pm

Considering the MILLIONS of dollars lost by the original production, I don't see it being revived anytime soon.

The show,with it's large cast, is best suited for high schools and community theatres. The only version being done by professional companies is the new "For Young Audiences" version which is cut down to an hour and 15 minutes, and can be done with a cast of 12.

[BroadwayEnthusiast2]

Posted: 6/17/07 at 10:07pm

My middle school did the "for young audiences" version this fall. I think the cast was about 25-30 people.

[i.heart.link]

Posted: 6/17/07 at 10:11pm

What do you guys think needs to be rewritten?

[BroadwayEnthusiast2]

Posted: 6/17/07 at 10:12pm

I guess if the show were a bit shorter it could appeal to more families. I don't really see anything that needs to be re-written, though.

[i.heart.link]

Posted: 6/17/07 at 10:24pm

Yea, i've read a few times that people thought some of it needed to be rewritten, but i never knew why. I've never seen the show, but i love the cd!

[VonTussleGirl]

Posted: 6/17/07 at 10:45pm

The show is vastly different from the CD, though. I wasn't aware of all the differences until I got my script for a production I was supposed to do last year.

I don't see this being revived any time soon - but I'd like to see it done for an Actor's Fund concert! I would give my right arm to see Sean Hayes play the Cat just once in my lifetime.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 6/17/07 at 11:01pm

From what I've been told MTI offers three versions of the show. The first is listed as the original Broadway version, but it is actually the Cathy Rigby tour version, which is basically the Broadway libretto minus "A Day For the Cat in the Hat" and a few minor lyric and book rewrites. Then there is Suessical Jr. which I believe the authors had a hand in condensing and approving. The final offering is the TYA condensed version which the authors did not have a part in the decided cuts, but approved the script for licensing.

[wickedfan]

Posted: 6/17/07 at 11:14pm

Saw the original production. Love the score. Loved Michelle Pawk and Janine LaMana. Hated the physical design, thought it was structurally weak and hated most of the rest of the cast (except Kevin Chamberlin). It was just one of those productions where obviously no one took control and the product was just a mess. Rob Marshall was asked to come in and doctor the show, but they asked him so late in the game that all he could do was a few staging alterations and some lyric changes. He couldn't do the massive rehauling the show needed.

I remember Brantley's review being generally kind toward it sayin that there was some great material present that was being suffocated by an awful production. That was my general consensus. He also said the show would do better as revue of some sort with a general theme present throughout. I think that would've been best, too.

[BroadwayEnthusiast2]

Posted: 6/17/07 at 11:25pm

Yeah, the overall original broadwayy production didn't look to great. Great source material, but not a well-executed production.

[theactorsociety]

Posted: 6/18/07 at 12:02am

I agree with it not being done correctly. I asst directed/choreographed a production of it a while ago where it was more visually stimulating and colorful, I think it was recieved really well.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 6/18/07 at 12:24am

The 1st Nat'l Tour with Rigby offered WONDERFUL rewrites in both book and score. If THAT staged production was on Broadway, it would have lasted longer.

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 6/18/07 at 12:34am

I would MUCH RATHER see something else! You guys should have taken advantage of the "Grinch Who Stole Christmas" this past winter!

[MungoGypsy8232]

Posted: 6/18/07 at 12:36am

It's returning off-Broadway, isn't it.
at least it's something

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 6/18/07 at 2:06am

The Young People's Theatre here in Toronto staged the short version (75 min - no intermission) last December to rave reviews and it has received sveral Dora Award nominations. It was quite enjoyable and seemed to be getting at the heart of what the show wanted to be so there is potentrial there.

Maybe not a Broadway production but possibly a small off-Braodway staging would work.

[Jon]

Posted: 6/18/07 at 10:02am

BroadwayEnthusiast - are you sure your school didn't do "Seussical Junior" - which is SPECIFICALLY designed for middle schools, as opposed to "Seussical TYA", which is specifically designed for adult performers?

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 6/18/07 at 10:24am

I saw the tour and was bored. I later saw a youth production of it and was more entertained. I think it should just stay in schools and community theaters.

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 6/18/07 at 10:50am

IMHO, the original failed because it just wasnt "Dr Seuss" enough. The good doctor had a very strange point of view about life, and the libretto (and the -- ugh! -- physical production) didnt capture that. Instead, it played off the familiarity of the characters and scattershot everything else.

[jv92]

Posted: 6/18/07 at 11:26am

No! It has a tuneful and well crafted score, but otherwise, it was awful and very hard to follow. In 30 years, if Encores! is up and running still, it'd be a good choice.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 6/18/07 at 11:38am

flops dont usually get revived so soon after their demise...tastes change, but not that quickly.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/18/07 at 11:52am

"The 1st Nat'l Tour with Rigby offered WONDERFUL rewrites in both book and score. If THAT staged production was on Broadway, it would have lasted longer."

I felt the exact opposite. I thought the rewrites were mostly a chop job that left the book completely unintelligible. And the staging of the opening number was totally ruined with a rather dull concept that went nowhere and ultimately had nothing to do with the rest of the show. While the sets were a little more "Seuss", virtually everything else about the show had diminished into a patchwork mess.

I think if the show had originally been presented as a review, rather than trying to glue all the stories together into one book, it would have stood a better chance. The Broadway production was a bit confusing and its flaws were more pronounced when simultaneously staged with moments of pure joy and brilliance. The device of the Cat in the Hat as emcee never worked and made even less sense in the tour when they cut "A Day With the Cat in the Hat". The costumes were inconsistent. The sets were inconsistent. And the book was a failed recipe for Mulligan Stew. But the moments that did work, worked well such as "Oh the Think You Will Think", "Gertrude McFuzz", "Amazing Gertrude", "All For You", "Notice Me Horton", "Solla Sollew" and "Alone in the Universe". And though the choreography didn't work, "It's Possible" was much better on Broadway than the tour, which used black-lighting and neon painted fish, giving the show the look of a cheap carnival ride. Even the curtain call of "Green Eggs and Ham" on Broadway was fun.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 6/18/07 at 11:57am

I got to see a pre-preview for travel professionals well before it opened, with Andrea Martin as the Cat, and the cast in pants and tshirts...it was far more charming than the mess that got to bway.