On Friday, March 8, and Saturday, March 9, 2024, at 7 p.m., Salem Central School District’s 6th Grade Drama Club will unlock the imaginations of Salem’s citizens when they bring the Cats in the Hat, Horton the Elephant, Gertrude McFuzz, Maynard LaBird, the Whos in Whoville and other Seuss favorites to life with their production of Seussical™ KIDS, it was announced today by the Cat in the Hat and Drew Cohen, president of Music Theatre International (MTI). Co-conceived by Lynn Ahrens, Stephen Flaherty and Eric Idle, Seussical™ KIDS combines Dr. Seuss tales (…and tails!) using the plinker-plunker of many musical styles – ranging from Latin to pop, swing to gospel, and R&B to funk – as colorful as the classic books.
“It takes a lot of creativity and focus to bring this whimsical world to life, while communicating its subtle themes and meaningful lessons,” says Cohen. “MTI hopes their audience outnumbers all the Whos in Whoville,” he adds. MTI, through its Broadway Junior division, works with the authors of classic musicals to create special editions suitable for students to perform. “Now, I’m here, there is no telling what may ensue with a Cat such as me, and a Thinker like you!,” says the Cat in the Hat.
Horton will hear a Who and cheerful chaos will ensue when Salem Central’s Drama Club and 6th Grade presents Seussical™ KIDS on Friday, March 8 and Saturday, March 9, at 7:00 pm at Salem Central School in the auditorium. All tickets are $5 and available for purchase at the door.
To celebrate the imaginations of all the student zum-zummers involved in the production, Salem 6th grade students will receive a certificate thing-a-ma-bobsk signed in think-proof-ink by Ahrens, who wrote the lyrics and book to the show, and Flaherty, who wrote the music and the book, commending the cast on their successful production of Seussical™ KIDS and encouraging them to never say Toodle-oo to the arts. (It’s better than Who-Pudding or Sweeping-Up-After-Brooms!)
Seussical™ KIDS begins with a young boy named JoJo who conjures up the Cat in the Hat with his powerful imagination and is whisked to the Jungle of Nool for a fantastical adventure. There JoJo learns of the plight of the tiny citizens of Whoville, who live on a planet the size of a speck of dust. Their sole protector is Horton the Elephant, who is the only one with large and sensitive enough ears to hear them bipping and beeping and playing their oompahs. The small world is threatened by Sour Kangaroo and the Wickersham Brothers, who in disbelief that a world could be so small, try to steal the dust-speck so they can cast it into a vat of Beezle-Nut oil. During all of this drama, Horton has not noticed that he has an admirer, Gertrude McFuzz. She blames his indifference on her one-feather short tail and endeavors to find a way to change her looks. Meanwhile, Horton’s friend, Maynard LaBird, is bored of perching on his nest, and convinces the watchful elephant to sit on her egg so he can take a vacation. The Cat follows all of these storylines and finally casts the boy into his own as the irresponsible son of Mr. and Mrs. Mayor of Whoville, JoJo, who ultimately saves his whole tiny world with one big, imaginative “think.”
Seussical™ KIDS is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI. 421 West 54th Street, New York, NY 10019 Phone: 212-541-4684 Fax: 212-397-4684 www.MTIShows.com.
Music Theatre International (MTI) is one of the world's leading theatrical licensing agencies, granting theatres from around the world the rights to perform the greatest selection of musicals from Broadway and beyond. Founded by composer Frank Loesser and orchestrator Don Walker in 1952, MTI is a driving force in advancing musical theatre as a vibrant and engaging art form.
MTI works directly with the composers, lyricists and book writers of these musicals to provide official scripts, musical materials and dynamic theatrical resources to over 70,000 professional, community and school theaters in the US and in over 60 countries worldwide.
MTI is particularly dedicated to educational theatre and has created special collections to meet the needs of various types of performers and audiences. MTI’ s Broadway Junior™ shows are 30 and 60-minute musicals for elementary and middle school-aged performers, while MTI’s School Editions are musicals annotated for performance by high school students.