REVIEW BY KELLY GREEN (special to VC On Stage)
Santa Susana High School in Simi Valley was at it again with another superb production. With three separate play production classes (musical, children’s, and play-pro) there seems to be a never ending supply of great high school theater rolling out of the Santa Susana PAC.
The latest treat was a limited run of “Seussical the Musical Jr.,” which performed on February 19th and 20th. The source of “Seussical,” in case you haven’t guessed by now, is a few of the collected works of Theodore “Dr. Seuss” Geisel with Music by Steven Flaherty, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, book by Flaherty and Ahrens.
The Cat in the Hat (ably played Janelle Miller) is the instigator and tour guide for the show as the world of Horton the Elephant (Nick Meyer, interestingly cast against type) and the dust speck world of Jojo (adroitly played by Kylie LaFrenais) quite literally, collide.
Three young women Kendall Green (Gertrude McFuzz) Shayna Apelbaum (Mayzie) and Sadie Meyer (Sour Kangaroo) all deliver incredibly strong vocal performances with Apelbaum and Green providing more than a few nuanced scenes, laughs, and polished dance numbers.
As you can imagine with a performing arts school, there was seemingly a “cast of thousands” that gave great ensemble work. Everyone onstage looked to be having as much fun as the audience.
You didn’t need to be knowledgeable on all things Seussish to be thoroughly entertained by this joyous romp.
Once again, the production value was quite high with some of the costumes and “Seuss”-style props on loan from High Street Arts Center.
As always, the faculty director was Melissa Albertson with help from two student co-directors, Victoria Morrow and Deven Streeton.
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Kelly Green is an actor, teacher, and contributor to VC On Stage.
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