Seussical the Musical

Introduction

Since this blog is supposed to reflect the whimsical as well as the literary side of me, I have decided to write first on Seussical the Musical.  It is the most recent show I have attended, and is also my new favorite musical.  As I have only had the opportunity to see the show itself once, and have been forced to rely on YouTube videos for a refresher, I apologize in advance for any mistakes I might make on the various plot points, as well as any inadequacies in my analysis of the various characters.  That being said, let us jump into Seussical!

The Show

I was very fortunate to see the play for the first time, performed by a group of friends from my old highschool drama class.  It was incredible to see how each of the members had grown as performers in the three years since I last performed with them.  My advantage in watching this play performed by a group of people that I already knew and respected was evidenced in the fact that I already had an emotional bond with the actors, an emotional bond that could easily be played upon in the performance.  This is the primary advantage of highschool and community theater; the audience already knows the performers and has a rapport with them, a relationship which enables the actors to be much more themselves in the characters than forcing them to play a character outside themselves.  Thus, I was impressed also by the particulars of the casting, as each actor brought their own personality to the character in a way that was both moving and passionate.  In preparing to write on the play, I took the opportunity to watch videos of other performances of the play, and have noticed that because I do not have the previous relationship with the performers, that I am much less moved by the performances, and it requires a much higher level of acting and talent to elicit an equal emotional response.  That being said, while these renditions of the play do not necessarily connect as well on the emotional level, I am much more likely to be impressed by the level of skill in the acting, dancing, and singing of the performers, and able to appreciate the play on a more intellectual level.  This dichotomy between the emotional and the intellectual appreciation of a performance is one of the most difficult aspects of live theater as it is very difficult to find the emotional intimacy of a local production combined with the technical quality of a larger one.

Story and Themes

The story of Seussical combines several of Dr. Seuss' well loved stories into one larger narrative.  The story mainly follows Horton the Elephant in his endeavors to protect the tiny dust speck on which live the "Whos," and to protect and care for an egg that was abandoned by its irresponsible mother.  Jojo, the Who is the other main character, a boy whose outlandish "thinks" tend to get him in trouble.   Each of these characters undergoes their own individual journey of self discovery, aided by a rich supporting cast of Seussian characters.

While different versions of the play can have a very different emphasis in regard to the characters, there are several major themes and a few minor ones that stand out.  The opening song, "Oh the Thinks You Can Think," is a number which both introduces the audience to the characters of the play and to the primary theme, which is to allow yourself to imagine, to think outside the box.  This theme plays out in the parallel narratives of Jojo and Horton the Elephant, as both seem prone to outrageous "thinks," which both get them in trouble and later help them triumph over the doubts of the characters around them.  This theme is also embodied in the character of the Cat in the Hat, and will be further discussed in the character analysis section.

A second major theme which is very evident in the dual protagonists is that of size.  The emphasis on making the story "from the smallest of small... to the largest of all" constantly in evidence; references to size litter the play, from hyperbolic references to the height of mountains to the "small but grand" marching band in Whoville.  This constant reference to size serves a dual purpose, it causes the audience to reflect on the insignificance of themselves in the light of the rest of the universe, while at the same time drawing attention to the diminutive details of the world around the audience and hinting that there might be something very important hidden there.  First, the emphasis on size reminds the audience member of their relative insignificance within the cosmos.  Watching the poor little Who's struggle to survive on their speck of dust, unable to even comprehend how huge the rest of the world is around them is eye-opening.  The refrain of the difficulties of the Whos, "drifting through space and cannot steer," will cause the alert listener a moment of pause as they consider the fact that we are really no different from the Whos, completely dependent on the movements of natural bodies and principles and laws of motion of which we have only the vaguest comprehension.  Suddenly, the audience member is nothing more than a tiny speck in the universe, alone and powerless beside a vastness which he can never hope to understand.  This dramatic emphasis on the miniscule nature of the individual within the scope of the universe then becomes a building block for the second result of this theme of size; the importance of the small.  The idea that the smallest voice can make the biggest difference is a theme which carries over from the original Dr. Seuss book, Horton Hears A Who, into the play.  Jojo is the youngest and smallest character in the play, however, it is his small voice and small word that saves the entire planet of Who.  Horton the Elephant also comes into his own as a character only when his focus shifts to the tiny speck of dust on which live the invisible Whos.  It is only by focusing on the little details of life, the pleasure of imagining or the responsibility of caring for another person that the characters in Seussical can find happiness and peace.

Characters

The previous discussion of Gertrude McFuzz seems a good jumping off point for a closer examination of the characters of the play, the archetypes they represent, and their role in the outline of the play itself.

Horton the Elephant

Horton is nothing less than a hero.  Completely confident in his position from the beginning of the play and unfailingly kind and honest, Horton is an ideal.  While he seems to suffer some doubts or fears in the face of his opponents (the Sour Kangaroo or the Wickersham Brothers), he is able to push passed these to defend the small and innocent Whos on the clover.  He is extraordinarily likable and relatable, and can easily draw the audience into the story as they sympathize with his plight and see him as an idealized representation of themselves (Everyone has that internal image of themselves where they do everything right and never make a mistake).  Horton's weakness is also his greatest strength; since he genuinely cares about the troubles of others, he can be easily manipulated by those with less honorable motives as is the case with the bird Mayzie.  

Gertrude McFuzz

The story of Gertrude McFuzz and her desire to be beautiful lends itself to an interpretation of openness to people of various sizes, body types, colors, and appearances, which in turn emphasizes the current fascination in entertainment with "being yourself."  Viewers of Seussical are encouraged by these themes to embrace themselves as whoever they are.  Change and growth are not the fundamental building blocks of this play; this is not a bildungs-roman or coming of age story, instead, it is a story about learning to be yourself.  While in the modern mind, these two concepts seem to have become intertwined with each other, they are in fact, distinctive, and each encourages a radically different approach to life and to growth.  A more traditional coming of age story focuses on the development of the characters.  As they encounter a series of tests and trials, the characters are forced to change and grow, each new trial creating a new aspect of the character's character.  At the end of the story, while the character is recognizable, they have grown to be a different person from the one who started out on the journey.  This is not the case in many modern movies and plays, and is not the case with Seussical.  The characters in Seussical do not change as they encounter troubles; Horton is the same elephant at the end of the story as he is at the beginning, Jojo is the same thinker.  Rather, they have come to accept themselves as who they are, and to force the world around them to accept them too.  While Gertrude McFuzz seems to go through a character development, the only change that actually happens is in her ability to accept herself as who she is.  She is able to overcome the vanity that is the fault in her character, but only by setting herself up as her own ideal.  She is perfect just the way she is, the story would have us believe.  While this mindset seems to encourage a good attitude in the viewer (self esteem and accepting yourself as who you are are very important), it does nothing to encourage the audience to grow beyond themselves.  There is no one out there in the world who is perfect just the way they are.  Everyone has flaws and troubles that they have to overcome to become a better, more fulfilled person.  The goal of existence cannot simply be to be yourself; if that were the case, Mayzie would be the hero of Seussical since she is completely comfortable with who she is and her place in the world.  Instead, one must focus on being the BEST yourself that you can possibly be.  Every day should be a process of smoothing over the rough edges and working through the flaws so that an individual is constantly becoming a better, more content person.

Jojo

Jojo is a very unique because of his position both as a character within the story, but also as an outside audience member.  The story begins when Jojo, an ordinary child, pulls the Cat in the Hat out onto the stage.  Through the early part of the story, Jojo and the Cat are bystanders, watching Horton in his discovery of the dust-speck that holds the planet of Who and his confrontation with the other animals of the jungle of Nool.  Even when Jojo is himself incorporated into the story, as the young son of the mayor of who, he still enjoys a wider view of the events of the play than any other single character, except maybe the Cat in the Hat himself.  The entire question of the power of Jojo’s position in Seussical can be summed up in a single line from the song Alone in the Universe, which is a duet between Jojo and Horton.  At one point in the song, the two characters from different worlds begin to speak to each other, and Jojo asks Horton, “Are you real, or are you a very large think?”  While Horton readily assures Jojo that he is real, the audience is still left questioning; is Horton real, and in what sense?  Do the events of Seussical “really” take place, or are they simply a product of Jojo’s imaginging from the beginning of the play?  The question posed at the end of the play, “What do you think?” implies that, while all these characters may be real in Jojo’s mind, they do not have existence outside of his “Thinks.”  To some extent then, Jojo can be viewed as a representation of Dr. Seuss himself, instead of a character from one of his books.  Jojo is the thinker from whom the whole story of Seussical can spring.  Jojo, by bridging the world between the audience and the play, as the mastermind, also serves as a portal through which the audience can enter the story.  If Jojo, who is really not so different from the average audience member, can cross over and enter into the story in his mind, then we can too, a subtle shift that helps the audience to suspend their disbelief and actually develop an emotional connection to the characters, as they are not just in Jojo’s head, but in that of the audience.

The Sour Kangaroo

It might just be me, but I find the redemption of the Sour Kangaroo at the end of Seussical a bit forced.  She spends 95% of the play mocking Horton for his staunch belief in the Whos on the clover.  She follows him halfway around the world to arrest him, bring him back to the Jungle of Nool for a trial, and is the star witness against him in that trial.  Then suddenly, one YOPP later, the Sour Kangaroo does an about face and is looking to protect the clover with Horton.  Now I realize that is how the book went, but COME ON! There is no way that after all that effort not merely in criticizing Horton, but actively trying to destroy the dust speck and clover, that she would accept the fact that she was completely wrong and blissfully go off to protect the clover for the rest of her life.  It almost undercuts the ending of the story, because the audience is left waiting to see if this is some kind of trick from the Sour Kangaroo to get the clover so she can destroy it.  The girl sitting next to me in the theater at the performance actually winced when Horton handed the clover over to the Sour Kangaroo and whispered to herself, "Don't let her take it, don't let her take it!"  It seems to diminish the impact of the "perfect" ending of the story when the audience is doubtful of the redemption of such a prominent character.

The Wickersham Brothers

The Wickersham brothers serve as a representation of the majority of the world; they don’t really think for themselves, they will follow anyone who is strong enough to command their loyalty, and they tend to look down on others.  Their disdain of Horton shows a disregard of anyone who does not conform to the societal norm or to the influence of peer pressure.  They are not necessarily antagonists in the story, but are instead followers of the cult of the “normal,” misguided and acting according to a warped perspective.  Unfortunately, most people are like the Wickershams, blindly following whatever a strong personality tells them is the right way of doing things and pressuring those outside the circle of normality to conform.

Mayzie

As villains go, Mayzie is remarkably tame, which makes her unusually easy for the audience to hate.  She is not wicked or evil, power-hungry or ambitious.  Mayzie is simply selfish.  No one else in the world is an important as her, at least in her own mind.  She doesn’t stop to think how her actions might affect others, she just does whatever she wants to.  Her choice to leave Horton to sit on the egg for her while she flew of to Palm Beach was not made out of any spiteful or malicious intent but rather a rejection of the thing in her life that was inconvenient to her.  If Horton had not come to sit on the egg, Mayzie would probably have left the egg alone to freeze when she got to bored and tired to handle the responsibility.  It was simply fortune that allowed Horton to come along before that breaking point.  This is what makes Mayzie such a compelling antagonist for the story; everyone knows someone like that! Every person knows that one person who thinks about themselves more than anything, who manipulates other to get what he or she wants, simply because they can.  An audience can identify with Horton as he has to deal with Mayzie because the audience knows who Mayzie is and have been in Horton’s position before.  Even when Mayzie thinks she is being helpful to others, her actions highlight her selfish thoughtlessness; the way in which she tells Gertrude how to obtain the pills to make her tail grow is focused not on who Gertrude is and her problem, but rather on how much cooler Mayzie is than Gertrude, where she can feel good about herself at the expense of Gertrude.  A similar situation is seen when Mayzie gives her egg to Horton at the circus.  She might justify her actions as being beneficial to Horton, however, this is simply an excuse for her to carry on with her current lifestyle without any guilt or regret.  In short, Mayzie LaBird is an infuriating antagonist because she is not an evil villain, but is simply a self absorbed person who wrecks havoc accidentally.

The Mayor of Who and his Wife

The Mayor and his wife are caught between three conflicting expectations in their lives.  First, as the mayor states in his opening speech to Jojo, “I have just been elected, and upright behaviour is thus for expected.”  The mayor and his wife are under the public scrutiny of the entire town, and thus are expected to behave in a certain manner.  This public expectation is further compounded by their expectations of themselves, to be good parents to Jojo.  When their son is seen as misbehaving, this reflects poorly upon them as parents, causing them to cry out in frustration, “who has the instructions on how to raise a child?”  They are futher torn by their love for their son and their desire to let him grow into the person he is meant to be, without the stifling of expectations.  The pull of these three factors leads them to try to ask their son to be “normal,” and later to symbolically relinquish their parental responsibilities by placing Jojo under the authority of General Ghengis Khan Schmitz.  It is only when they are restored to the role of parent after jojo’s apparent “death” in the battlefield, can they fulfill their roles properly, both as parents and as an authority in Whoville.  When they are able to reassume these roles, those under their authority, such as the citizens of Who, and Jojo in particular, are able to assume their own roles and identities in order the save their word.

General Ghengis Khan Schmitz

The military subplot involving General Schmitz is sometimes removed from the story, and it is not difficult to understand why.  In the post 9/11 world, expressing an antimilitary sentiment with a character like General Schmitz and the absurdity of the bread and butter war is going to be unpopular to say the least. General Schmitz is more than just a military figure, however.  As the head of a military Academy, he is portrayed not only as a soldier, but also as an educator, an educator who seeks to stifle the independence and intellect of his students by forcing them to conform to a socially accepted norm.  Fortunately for the General, his character is one of the few in the play who actually seems to evidence growth; when he is forced to tell Jojo’s parents that their son is presumed dead in battle, he is also forced to confront his personal role in the boy’s death and to re-evaluate his position.  Since his military academy is never mentioned, the audience can assume either that the General himself had a change of heart, or that Jojo’s parents decided not to send him back.  Either way, there is evidence of a little growth and recognition of the foolishness of the war.

The Egg/ Elephant Bird

A few quick words on the egg that hatches into an elephant bird; this character represents a common literary question about human development, namely that of nature versus nurture.  When the egg hatches, it becomes a visual symbol of this dichotomy.  The bird aspect of the creature represents the nature part of its existence, the genetic predisposition it inherits from its father and mother.  The elephant aspect of the creature, however, represents the nurture aspect of human development, which can shape and alter the original nature.  The egg, recognizing that Horton was much more its parent than Mayzie, changed its physical appearance to reflect that of its adoptive parent.  The elephant bird symbolizes perfectly the profound impact a parent can have on a child, influencing how he or she will grow up and the kind of person he or she will be.  Second, the elephant bird also highlights the necessity of a two parent family.  Horton recognizes this need when he first sees the elephant bird, commenting to Gertrude McFuzz, “Oh Gertrude, what am I going to do, I am slow and I am fat.  All I know is the earth, he will need much more than that!”  One parent cannot effectively teach a child everything they need to know about the world, cannot give them a complete education because no one person is perfect.  Everyone has their own talents and weaknesses, and the joy of a two parent family is that the parents complement each other in such a way as to make up for the other’s weaknesses, or as Gertrude McFuzz said, “I have wings, I can fly, you teach him earth, and I will teach him sky.”

The Cat in the Hat

I must be frank and admit right off that I am in love with the character of the Cat in the Hat.  He is such an enjoyable, humorous character, with such a unique perspective on the events of the play.  Like Jojo, the Cat serves as both a member of the audience and a player in the story, however, while Jojo can be seen as the author, the Cat is the Narrator.  He knows what is going to happen before it actually does, is familiar with the in and outs of the story, and always seems to be in control of the story itself.  Because of his overarching position as narrator, the Cat seems to transcend the story itself, to become something greater than either the story or its creator can be individually.  If Jojo is the mind behind the story, then the Cat in the Hat represents a physical manifestation of the realm of imagination, or the story itself.  While the author is nominally in charge, sometimes the story runs away, overwhelming the author and carrying him off places he didn’t intend to go and getting him in trouble.  Thus, the Cat is seen everywhere in Seussical, popping up wherever a character is needed to make the story progress or to explain some untold aspect of it.  When the story itself seems so out of control it has descended into madness and darkness, like in the song Havin a Hunch, the Cat shows up to remind both the audience and Jojo that the story is a story, and that stories have happy endings, so that even when things seem dark as they can be, al you have to do is “think a glimmer of light!”  The Cat is neither good nor evil, neither real nor a “think,” instead, he is somehow all of these, an extension of Jojo’s position as storyteller and the story itself, a guide through the twists and turns of Seussical.  The Cat in the Hat is more than a member of the audience, and more than a character in the story, he is the mind of everyone in the audience, come together, and he is the story.

Conclusion

Seussical is a complex play, filled with powerful themes and compelling characters who can also be read as powerful symbols.  The two major themes are, first, that of imagination and being willing to use your mind and imagination to overcome the troubles and obstacles that face each person, while the second that of size, as it relates to the characters and the audience itself.  Each of the individual characters relates in a different way to these individual themes, and can often have their own unique symbolic purposes within the scope of the play.  Whether you have enjoyed my analysis or not, I definitely recommend watching Seussical as it is both a compelling and heart wrenching story.