I wish I knew who to credit for being the outrageous and unforgettable dancing banana, he is a delight. The ensemble does double, triple and more duty, morphing from a white (in this case green) trash family to lawyer from bar-ba-loot to swomee-swan and, quite memorably, manatees complete with a pond from factory workers to runway Thneed models. The dancing is acrobatic and the sets and costumes crib unabashedly from the loopy illustrations that Seuss excelled at. Heavy stuff for a musical, but the songs courtesy of Charlie Fink are catchy and in idioms from classical musical theatre to rap and techno. It is made clear that we are all part of the problem: industry is destroying the planet but we are dependent on industry and are complicit. It is far more effective than just lecturing or preaching.
In a pointedly ambiguous speech he asks the audience if we'd be willing to save the forest by giving up our cell phones. The message of The Lorax is similarly tweaked with the villainous Once-ler given a back story and motivation. This is the best kind of puppetry, the audience is in on it and thus completely suspends disbelief. The effects range from the spectacular to the comical, but always with a fourth wall breaking explication of how they are done. The stage version maintains the bluntness, adds its own clever rhymes courtesy of a remarkably faithful-with-extrapolation text by David Grieg, and bumps the whimsy and invention over the top with state-of-the-art theatrical magic and eye-popping puppets. An afternoon, or evening, of theatre that is not just entertaining for the children it is ostensibly aimed at.ĭr Seuss's book The Lorax is a blunt eco-parable that manages to charm thanks to Seuss's clever rhymes and wonderfully whimsical illustrations and invention.
So far this season there have been at least two sterling opportunities and now there is a third, The Lorax. One of the most sacred of all guncle duties, is instilling a love of musical theatre into their nieces and nephews, and the best way to achieve that noble aim is to expose them to the best the art form has to offer. Guncles, which could be a Seussian word, in the GTA are getting a big break this holiday season. The Lorax: amping up theatrical magic and song and dance to deliver a blunt parableīy Drew Rowsome - Photos by Manuel Harlan The Lorax: amping up theatrical magic and song and dance to deliver a blunt parable - Drew Rowsome - MyGayToronto
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