DIRECTORS' NOTE
There are a lot of productions of this show out there. In fact, you've probably seen one, two, maybe more. We noticed a common thread between all of these productions; they're flashy, there are lots of big productions numbers, the sets are usually pretty similar, etc.
However, in reality, Dr. Seuss is known for his open and honest social commentary, having weaved countless cutting metaphors and allegories into his seemingly innocent children's stories. As fun and beautiful as these stories are, children and adults learned, and still learn, important life lessons that they carry with them long after reading the stories. Unfortunately, many productions of Seussical are so flashy that much of the social commentary written into the show is completely drained out. So we set out on a mission to bring forth all the metaphors that have been drowned out for so many years by bright colors and big orchestras.
We spent months sifting through the script, deciding where social commentary is already prominent, where it can be made more prominent, and where we could find opportunities to add our own relevant social commentary. The characters, settings, and situations are not the same that you have seen in other productions of Seussical. All of this is done while barely changing a single word of the script. Our goal is for you to find new meaning in these classic tales. Some of what you will see tonight may shock you, some of it may make you upset, some of it may excite you, but hopefully, you'll be able to look at these stories in a completely new light.
We'd like to thank our incredible cast for being with us every step of the way on this. Our idea is something absolutely insane and would be impossible if we did not have the most talented and dedicated group of people imaginable working with us to make it happen. While we did mess with the story a whole lot, it is still the same beautiful music by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, and our cast does an incredible job of delivering these catchy tunes while giving them new meaning.
Everything else set aside, we hope you enjoy the show and we hope you remember this the next time you see a production of Seussical: behind all the flash, there is a beautiful, important message that makes Seussical so popular. That's what we hope to give to you tonight.
- Andrew and Steven
