September 15, 2019 by Roy Harris
“Seussical The Musical,” Hingham Civic Music Theatre’s next production at Town Hall’s Sanborn Auditorium, opens for the first of its four shows on Saturday, Oct. 19.
Leading the cast through the strange worlds created by children’s author Dr. Seuss—including The Jungle of Nool and The Planet of Who—will be the Cat in the Hat, played by Michael Warner, of Weymouth. Warner most recently was on the Hingham stage in “Sweet Charity,” but his performances for HCMT go back 15 years.
Other recent Hingham Civic performers in the “Seussical” cast include Whitman’s Athan Mantalos, playing Yertle the Turtle; Salem’s Bruno Barbuto (the Grinch); Quincy’s Justin Grankewicz (Horton the Elephant), Carole Shannon (Mayzie La Bird) and Cohasset’s Paul Antico and Wareham’s Jean Lyon (Mr. Mayor and Mrs. Mayor.)
Cast members from Hingham are led by the Cat’s sidekicks, Thing One and Thing Two, played by Sydney Steele and Oisin Rowan. All five members of the Childrens Ensemble—Angela Kennedy, Maeve Murphy, Lilly Weymouth and Riley and Grace Byrne—also hail from Hingham.
Other “Seussical” performers are Brockton’s Jessica DePalo as Gertrude McFuzz, Boston’s Jack Ferdman as General Genghis Kahn Schmitz, Scituate’s Ella Botogowski as Vlad Vladicoff, Bridgewater’s Katia Green as Sour Kangaroo, Plymouth’s Natalia Tsourides as Young Kangaroo, and Norwood’s Chris Boyajian and Holbrook’s Ricky Desisto as Wickershams. Playing Bird Girls are Brighton’s Audrey Clark, Needham’s Anne Martland and Abington’s Morgan Campbell. Abby Tondorf and Lily Grazioso, both of Scituate, are in the adult ensemble. Tondorf starred last year in the title role of “Annie” for Hingham Civic.
Director Victoria Kirichok-Pratt, of Brockton, is a graduate of Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., who fell in love with directing after school. Her first directorial appearance at HCMT was 2003’s “Damn Yankees.” Both her sons, Brockton High senior Owen and sophomore James, are involved in theater. And her husband of 22 years, Dan Kirichok, also acts in community theater, having appeared on HCMT stages in several shows. Kirichok-Pratt’s “day job” is as communications and event specialist at IKEA in Stoughton.
In her vision for Hingham Civic’s show, she is aiming to focus the story on how the Cat inspires the imagination of the boy Jojo, played by Brockton’s Marcus Myers. The director is designing the production so that each character and scene seems to “come straight out of a boy’s imagination,” she says. Kids in the show will resemble real playground characters, so that the Bird Girls and Wickersham Brothers, for example, “will remind you more of popular girls and jocks than birds and monkeys,” as they are represented in other “Seussical” productions.
The musical, based on some of the 66 books written by the late Theodor Seuss Geisel, who was from Springfield, Mass., has become extremely popular around the country since it was introduced on Broadway in 2000. Music is by Stephen Flaherty and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, who also wrote the music for “Ragtime,” for example. “’Seussical The Musical’ is by no means a show just for kids,” says Kirichok-Pratt. “The music is fantastic and draws on jazz, R&B and Latin styles.” Liz Tronni is choreographer for the show.
Rehearsals at Sanborn in recent days have focused the song-intensive score, with music director Jose Merlo working with the cast on the numbers.
“Seussical” will continue for a second Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 26 and 27, at Sanborn Auditorium in the Town Hall, 210 Central St. Saturday performances will be at 7:30 p.m., with Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. Tickets are $25 for adults and $20 for seniors and students. Children under 12, accompanied by an adult, are $15. Ticketing may be purchased by calling 781-749-3400, or by visiting the website https://hcmtseussical.bpt.me.
Roy Harris, of Hingham, has appeared in many Hingham Civic Music Theatre shows over the years, most recently last year’s “Annie,” where he played Drake, the butler.