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“Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you.”
(Dr Seuss ‘Happy Birthday to You’ 1959)
This might sound just a little odd to us conservative Brits but as many parents and teachers can tell you, particularly those of reluctant learners and readers, Dr Seuss is all about being yourself whilst learning to get on in society . His rhyming, witty and sometimes altogether naughty texts draw even the most disinterested child into the wonderful world of words and this is also true of this brilliant musical Seussical Junior.
Through the songs and narrative the Cat in the Hat tells the story of Horton, an elephant who discovers a speck of dust full of Whos, including Jojo, a Who child who gets into trouble for thinking too many ‘thinks’. Horton faces a double challenge – not only must he protect the Whos from a world of naysayers and dangers, but he must guard an abandoned egg, left to his care by the irresponsible Mayzie La Bird.
In a way, Seuss captures the ethos of junior drama, as one of the aims of our own society is to empower young people by giving them the confidence to be themselves in front of strangers whilst at the same time giving pleasure to others
Our junior members get a great deal of satisfaction both from working on the productions and from actually performing to their audience – these are some of the comments they’ve made during the last week:
“The standard of this show is amazing and I’m proud to be part of the cast.”
Dan Carr“I’ve been doing KYDS now for 2 years and I love it! The show we are rehearsing for now is ‘Seussical the musical’, I personally think it will be one of the best shows that KYDS would have done. It is a great mix of Dr Seuss stories into 1 big musical. The show shows character and it is for all the family.”
Ellie Russell“Seussical is progressing really well for us. Everyone in rehearsals is doing really well to develop their characters and we are all pumped for the shows in July”
Matthew Russell“It’s very exciting doing Seussical as its great fun rehearsing and finding out what the show is all about and everyone works really hard to give their best performance, can’t wait to perform it and show everyone what we have done. It’s great to be part of the KYDS team.”
Ellie Macey
As well as twice weekly rehearsals there have been a number of workshops focusing on specific skills needed for the show, the most recent of which was a fantastic dance workshop led by Aaron Owen Bailey an actor/dancer from London. Aaron’s workshops are always amazing; they really bring out the best in the cast finding an energy source from nowhere.
Of course, workshops and rehearsals are only part of the story; no production can be complete without a fantastic audience and this is where we need the people of Tiptree to do their bit – we’ll try our hardest to be the best we can be on stage, we just need you to come along and be the best audience you can be!
Our performances are on Friday 5th July and Saturday 6th July at Thurstable School, Maypole Road, Tiptree. Doors open at 7.00pm for 7.30pm for the evening shows and 2.00pm for 2.30pm for the Saturday Matinee.
You can find out more information about the show and buy tickets here
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