2008 Woodie Awards
The Cat in the Hat, Horton the Elephant, and Whoville come to UNCG
Alexis Richards
Issue date: 11/7/06 Section: Arts & Entertainment
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The musical is essentially a compilation of several Dr. Seuss children's books, and characters such as the Cat in the Hat, Horton the Elephant, and Gertrude McFuzz carry the main plotlines.
The show is complete with animated costumes, energetic actors, and a set composed of different levels and curved set pieces. In fact, you won't find one straight line on the set. The director and designers were inspired by the use of curvature in Dr. Seuss books and chose not to incorporate straight lines anywhere in the set pieces.
The eclectic costumes are one more captivating and playful aspect of the piece. You will find all the Whos in Whoville, and characters like birds and elephants outfitted in green and orange neon colors, bright velvets, fluffy feathers and metallic spandex. Some of the costumes are even painted and have an array of tiny trinkets such as finger puppets, foam cut-outs, miniature windmills and plastic toys glued on.
Aside from the monumental set, the insane costumes, and the exciting choreography and music, there is one more reason to see the show: the acting.
"The Cat in the Hat was my favorite character when I was a little kid. It wasn't hard for me to visualize the world of Dr. Seuss either because I grew up reading it," Emily Rieder said, a senior in the BFA Acting Program at UNCG who plays the Cat in the Hat. "Dr. Seuss gives you permission to be as big as you want and to use your imagination."
"Dr. Seuss stuff gets a little dark and there tends to be a lot of conflict, good versus bad, wars, and even environmental issues. There are serious messages behind the funny pictures and silly rhyme," Neil Shepherd said, a student working towards a BA in theatre at UNCG, who plays the character of Horton the Elephant in the show.
"Horton is this happy-go-lucky character in the middle of all this conflict. I tend to look at him as the stable force in all of this mess that's going on around him. Horton gets all this negative attention from the other characters and instead of taking that energy in, he redirects it."
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