CityLife

Ale and Arty: Seussical is put through its paces

FOR 30 years Stuart Brennan has believed that "culture" roughly translates as "beer and football". The chances of him changing now are much, much slimmer than his waistline, but we at CityLife have set the M.E.N. sports writer a task - not to find the new man but to at least discover the new Manchester.

This week he took his kids to see Stockport's Plaza Youth group's production of 'Seussical: The Musical':

I DO not like green eggs and ham, I do not like them Sam I am. And I'm not too fond of flippin' musicals either.

Doctor Seuss has a lot to answer for. The first three words I ever read were "I am Sam" from the "Green Eggs and Ham" book - I still remember eagerly turning the pages and discovering the beauty of turning squiggles on a page into language.

And once the words had been grasped, and the wonderfully wacky illustrations perused, I was hooked for life. I have bought my kids several of the Seuss books I loved as a kid - Cat in the Hat, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish.

So when I heard the Yanks had turned the good doctor's work into a musical, my heart sank.

Nothing is safe from such light-hearted treatment these days. What next, 'Credit Crunch: The Musical'?

Musicals have always done my head in. I remember as a five-year-old being taken to see 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang', and desperately waiting for the car to start flying.

And yet, for what seemed like an age, all we got was people poncing around in Edwardian costumes, singing about Toot Sweets and Hushabye Mountain.

In real life, people don't burst into song at moments of high drama, so why do it in a film? That was my juvenile reasoning, and that reasoning is still with me in my forties.

My favourite musical is, without doubt, "Stop the Planet of the Apes, I Want to Get Off".

For the Philistines among you, it comes from an episode of The Simpsons, and one of the songs contains the immortal line "I hate every ape I see, from Chimpan A to Chimpan Zee".

But, back to the musical in hand. I knew it was being put on by the Plaza Youth, and not even a flint-hearted old cynic like me could lay into a bunch of kids, right?

Cowards

So I did what all honourable cowards and dysfunctional parents do - I loaded the burden onto my kids.

I wanted THEM to tell me what they thought of it - after all, it's a kids' show.

The Plaza is a lovely, oft-overlooked building on Chestergate in Stockport. For 32 years it was a bingo hall, but some loving souls have restored it to its former glories.

The strains of an organist could be heard as we walked in, as the building retains the organ installed when it first opened as a theatre in 1932.

A nice touch to be entertained in such a traditional fashion in a lovely little theatre, the organ sinking into the pit as the curtain was ready to rise.

A glance at the programme brought the first clamour of disgruntlement from Ben, as hard-headed a pessimist and cynic as it's possible to be at seven years of age.

"What are those, dad?" he asked, pointing at the list of 31 songs. "Those are the songs, Ben," I replied.

"Oh my God, there's loads," he said, in a voice flush with desperation. Like father, like son.

Disappointed

His sister Hannah was a little disappointed at the lack of more sophisticated costumes and make-up.

But once I pointed out it was low-budget, and that the boy in grey was Horton the Elephant, and the gang in brown were monkeys, we were on our way.

Luckily, both of them knew the plot, having seen the film 'Horton Hears a Who', which follows roughly the same story line.

I read the synopsis in the programme, otherwise I would have been hopelessly lost - like all musicals with little dialogue, if you don't make out the lyrics, you soon descend into a pit of confusion.

But the Plaza Youth group soon won us all over, with vigour and vim.

"They're very good for kids," said Hannah at half time.

The story is based around Horton, an elephant who one days hears voices from a speck of dust floating through the jungle.

He discovers that the speck is actually the microscopic planet Who, populated by tiny people who are engaged in a Lilliputian war over which side toast should be buttered.

Horton is condemned as insane and ends up captured by hunters and packed off to a circus.

Twee American

Needless to say, after all the twee American philosophising and morality stuff, there comes a happy ending.

'Seussical' bombed on Broadway, and it's easy to see why. Just like the abominable films made of Seuss stories, the material itself is weak, and fails to capture the true, innocent magic which laces the pages of the books.

After its Broadway panning, it was re-launched as a vehicle for young talents like the Plaza Youth - and it works at that level.

It's a happy story, with environmental and anti-war messages which I couldn't be bothered to work out.

But as a night of kids' entertainment, it worked - for them, if not for me.

Hannah, after the costume disappointment, liked it, but Hannah is such a wild enthusiast and optimist that she would enjoy a night of Cheerful Charlie and his Amazing Spoons.

Worried

Ben had been worried about his role in helping to write this article.

"I don't know many words, dad," he had fretted. But he thought long and hard, and pronounced his verdict.

"Excellent," he said.

Good enough for me.