From a cat in a hat, to an elephant in a tree, UT Martin’s Vanguard Theatre astounded audiences with “all the thinks you can think when you think about Seuss!”
The Visual and Theatre Arts Department produced its rendition of Seussical The Musical in the Harriet Fulton Theatre from Thursday, March 6 to Sunday, March 9, 2025. As a play written by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, Director Melanie Hollis’s Seussical contained the quality and quantity of musical numbers across its two acts. Several members of the community, UT Martin and the local elementary schools attended the play, providing much-needed audience support for their peers and classmates.
Seussical’s synopsis borrows elements from multiple Dr. Seuss stories, such as Horton Hears a Who, The Cat in The Hat, Horton Hatches an Egg, Gertrude McFuzz and many others. The play starts with two primary characters, Horton the elephant and Jojo, the son of the Mayor of Whoville.
At the beginning of the show, Horton hears cries for help from a speck of dust in the air that has landed onto a clover. This leads him to talk to the clover to see if he can help, much to the dismay of his neighbors and the Sour Kangaroo. They all constantly ridicule and belittle him for it, but he tries to ignore them and listen to the Whos because “a person’s a person no matter how small.”
Jojo is the son of the mayor of Whoville, the man who is trying to contact Horton. Jojo looks up to the Cat in the Hat, the only friend he has who allows his imagination to run free. Jojo’s parents frequently scold him for his free thinking (particularly when he floods the bathroom), causing him to feel isolated.
This is all followed by many chaotic turns of events such as Horton caring for Mayzie LaBird’s egg, Jojo enlisting in General Schmitz’s army and Gertrude McFuzz growing out her tail to win Horton’s affections. During the climax of the play, the Sour Kangaroo tries to boil the clover Whoville lies upon, only for everyone to hear Jojo’s anguished shouts. Whoville is saved and Horton and Jojo finally earn the respect of their peers who had previously dismissed them. The story has a happy ending appropriate for a whimsical, children’s classic.
The performance also included multiple stand-out musical numbers, which were performed by the cast and a live orchestra conducted by Dr. John Oelrich and Austin Shoupe. Each song encapsulated the bouncy, playful style emitted from Dr. Seuss rhymes, especially the opening number, Oh, the Thinks You Can Think. The music also contained entertaining choreography, including various well-rehearsed ensemble dances and expertly timed freeze frames. It also included many touching pieces such as Alone in the Universe and Solla Sollew, which focus on the cast’s loneliness and wistful dreams. One especially creative song was Havin’ a Hunch, a jazzy composition that involved the Cat in the Hat and the ensemble tap-dancing across stage with flashlights, eventually leading Jojo back to his family. The cast’s energy was at its peak and the audience roared throughout each standout number.
The most outstanding performance was given by junior agriculture major Kyeler Penick, a Martin resident, who played the Cat in the Hat. Throughout the play, Penick exhibited all of the energy and mannerisms one would associate with the cartoonish character. Everything from his voice cadence to his slender frame and precise movements exuded the Cat in the Hat. Throughout the play, Penick would take a variety of roles ranging from a keyboardist to a helicopter reporter to a doctor. In many cases he even interacted with the audience in comic and memorable ways, like when he tried to auction Horton and the egg.
When asked how he felt when he earned the role, Penick said, “I was very shocked because I feel like there was a lot of other people that deserved it… I wasn’t really expecting it but I was really happy, of course. It’s a very good part to have. It’s been so much fun.”
Another notable lead actor was freshman Chance Cornell, a freshman Music Education major from Beloit, Wisconsin, who played Horton the Elephant. As it turns out, Cornell has had emotional attachment to this play for a long time. “I’ve been doing musicals and plays in general since I was in fourth grade. My first musical actually was Seussical and I was cast as Horton when I was 9,” he said, “I loved the show and I love the cast no matter what.”
Junior Interdisciplinary Studies major Emma Doster of Sharon, Tennessee, had a memorable experience playing Jojo. “It’s such a fun show…Just the whole, like, theme of it being imagination is so fun for everyone. We had a bunch of kids come… and it was the sweetest thing seeing them react to it,” she said. “I just think it really brings people together and it really is just such a heartwarming show.”
Other prominent cast members included, Carlin Cochran as Gertrude McFuzz, Judy Dixon as Mayzie LaBird, Madison Butner as the Sour Kangaroo, Duncan Hollis as the Mayor of Whoville, Madalene Sisemore as Mrs. Mayor and Brandon Jones as General Schmitz. They were accompanied by Liberty Handle, Maggie Moffett and Bethany Sweeten as the Bird Girls; Allen Dumas, Paris Whisnant and Rylee Wagner as the Wickersham Brothers; Olivia Vojnar as the Grinch; Allen Morris as Yertle the Turtle; Mark Mathis as Vlad Vladikoff and Zarek Mason and Jasmine Ransom as Whos.
The Vanguard Theatre will continue to produce more high-quality musical productions in fall 2025.
