Every order supports this station. Archives Classical Jazz Pop Books Movies Radio TV Theater Green Eggs and Spam Seussical, the wannabe family musical, has difficulty serving up entertainment that will keep parents as captivated as their kids by Bill Marx Surrealistic whimsy is hard to sustain for over two hours. Seussical , which runs though September 24 at Boston's Colonial Theatre before arriving on Broadway in early November, doesn't pull a cat out of a hat. Seuss' twisty linguistic pitter patter, gawky yet cuddly visuals, and heartfelt hymns to the marginal engages young children because of its slapstick innocence, the zing of its American dada. But Seuss is no Lewis Carroll.
Frustrated adults have to make due with watching dancers bump and grind.
The thinner Seuss' material is stretched, the peachier it becomes. Children won't notice the onslaught of family values, and they will have a pleasant time at Seussical , particularly with the vivid characterizations of Janine LaManna as Gertrude LaFuzz and Kevin Chamberlin as Horton. But I suspect that even kids will be disappointed with the show's lack of visual imagination. Actors in black leotards holding kangaroo hand puppets are not going to cut it anymore. The point isn't that spectators shouldn't be made to exercise their imaginations, just that Seussical needs to suggest the world of Seuss more strongly by importing more of the screaming colors and oddball panache of the writer and illustrator's imagery.