Horton the Elephant, the Cat in the Hat and the Grinch were among the Dr. Seuss book characters that welcomed children from ages one to 100 to the Colonial Theater in downtown Keene.
The Keene Lions Club produced “Seussical the Musical!” to benefit local charities.Ron Farina, president of the Keene Lions Club, started off the show and explained the Lion Club’s mission of helping local charities with the proceeds from the performance.
“I meant what I said and I said what I meant, the Lions Club is faithful one-hundred percent,” Farina said. The production set to music and combined popular Dr. Seuss’ children’s stories like “Horton Hears a Who!” and “Yertle the Turtle.”
The story followed Horton the Elephant who believed he found a speck that contained tiny people on it, and JoJo a little boy who believed there were other worlds. The two lonely dreamers from the story “Horton Hears a Who!” were shunned by their friends and families because they were too imaginative. Gertrude McFuzz, from “Yertle the Turtle,” was another misfit character, because her tail was not as impressive as the other birds’.
The bird was played by Hannah Trombly, a teacher at Wheelock Elementary School in Keene. The musical brought to life many of Dr. Seuss’s themes from his books; the most important to Trombly was to be yourself. “I think there’s a lot of different characters that have their own talents, have their own insecurities, but they are who they are,” Trombly said.
A theme the audience took away from the show was the significance of community theater. Attendee of the performance, and Director of the Math Center at Keene State College, Eileen Phillips said, “It always amazes me to see how talented community members are. It just makes me feel good to go out and watch something live, to be entertained and just have a good night.”Eileen Phillips’ husband, Brian, says he also enjoys local theater adding, “You don’t have to go far to see something that’s worthwhile.”
Rehearsing with the cast since early January, Christy Wendlandt played the Lead Bird Girl.
“Everybody came into it with such a great attitude, we were all here to do the same thing, have a good time and create something beautiful together,” Wendlandt said.
Hannah Sundell can be reached at hsundell@ksc.keene.edu