Remember reading Dr. Seuss stories with the colorful and weird characters on every page in elementary school? Bernards High School students have taken on the challenge of portraying these characters live in the spring play, Seussical. The play’s plot features a combination of two classic Dr. Seuss stories, Horton Hears A Who and The Cat In The Hat.
The original play features a love story between Horton and Gertrude McFuzz, but the director, Chris Tomaino, is leaving the details for opening night. Director Tomaino will be joined by music director Stephen Sands and is confident that “this play should be a good ensemble piece.” Tomaino went on to say that, “There are more roles, so there [are] more opportunities for people to have a role in the play.” Casting for the play was completed on December 8th, 2014.
The actors include Conor Mcshane, Jack Broderick, Julie de Diego ,Grace Allen Mayzie, Spencer Knoll, Stephen Walley, Maggie Fischer, Darian Hampton, Kai miura,Greg Heimerl, Greg Lobo, Evan Thomas, and Will Shelto. According to Director Tomaino, one of the most difficult challenges facing the cast is “Embodying the lives of cartoons”. However, the cast is looking forward to the challenge. One of the actors, Greg Lobo, has embraced the challenge of playing The Grinch. He said, “It isn’t hard to be the bad guy for me because I usually play the bad guy in recent plays. So it makes the acting easier for me.”
The rest of the cast shares Greg’s optimism and hopes to put on a good show as rehearsals have started on January 8. Seussical premiered on Broadway in 2000 and has, since then, seen some success off-broadway and is a favorite for high school productions. Director Tomaino and the cast is working hard to give BHS a good show. Tomaino said, “It is a family oriented show and it should be a fun play.”
