Lee Pulaski, lpulaski@wolfrivermedia.com
Leader Photo by Lee Pulaski Mayzie LaBird, played by Tatelyn Ferguson, nudges her way into the spotlight between Horton the Elephant, played by Randy Chicks, and Gertrude McFuzz, played by Alyssa Roe, during a musical number in “Seussical the Musical Jr.” The students at Gresham Community School have been rehearsing and will present the show for three nights next week.
Leader Photo by Lee Pulaski The Wickersham Brothers, played by, from left, Bryson Nelson, Alex Burr and Weston Roe, bounce around the stage before they torment Horton the Elephant in a scene from “Seussical the Musical Jr.” The tales of Dr. Seuss will be Gresham Community School’s second musical.
Musicals are apparently like potato chips for Gresham Community School — it can’t have just one.
The school will debut its second annual musical, “Seussical the Musical Jr.,” on St. Patrick’s Day. Almost 30 students are part of the show, which features a number of Dr. Seuss children’s stories with characters such as Horton the Elephant, Cat in the Hat and the Grinch.
The school presented the “Honk! Jr.” musical last year.
Amy Doefer, the show’s director, took a music teacher position at Gresham two years ago and was asked to oversee the school’s drama club. She noticed that the group was not doing any major public performances.
“I was always involved with theater when I was in school,” Doefer said. “I knew I wanted to do a musical because that was the most experience that I had, and people told me, ‘Oh, you’ll never do one.’”
Doefer quickly proved them wrong when she got the drama club to perform “Honk! Jr.,” a musical based on the children’s tale, “The Ugly Duckling.” The community honked afterward that the school’s first musical was a success.
“The kids all begged me, the moment it was done, ‘We have to do it again, Miss Doefer,’” the director said. “In fact, my drama club doubled in size from last year.”
With community and school support, Doefer decided to tackle the world of Dr. Seuss, which should be familiar to local theater goers, as the Box in the Wood Theatre Guild produced the full length “Seussical” in 2014.
The Gresham show will run about 80 minutes, but only one story that was in the full show has been cut from the junior version — the plotline involving General Genghis Khan Schmitz from the Seuss tale “I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew.”
Doefer said most of the other stories are still in the junior version, albeit with a few lines cut here and there.
Doefer said the students learned the songs easily enough, but the challenge has been to get them to stay in the characters they’re portraying while they’re singing.
Another challenge was sharing space — and students — with other programs. The school’s stage is in the gymnasium, and until last week, the high school boys basketball team needed the gym at the same time as the drama club.
It hasn’t been all challenges, though. Doefer noted the show has received technical and lighting support from Nathaniel Madsen, who is directing an upcoming play with Box in the Wood Theater Guild.
“Little by little, everything has come together,” she said.
Doefer chose the musical because it was something familiar to younger children, and it was a way to get younger students involved with the drama club. She is hoping the students will remain infected with the acting bug and continue well into high school.
The cast for “Seussical” ranges from third grade to high school seniors.
Doefer hopes audiences will take with them the show’s message of accepting people as they are.
“The show is just one big imagination,” Doefer said. “It’s promoting all that creativity in kids that has been in all of Dr. Seuss’ books, as well as the accepting of other people. I think it’s a good lesson for the kids.”