Patrick Hunter, a longtime featured artist at the Barn Theatre School, tells Cara Lieurance about the Barn's newest production, Seussical The Musical, which runs Jul 8 - 20. He's directing and starting as Horton the Elephant in this stage adaptation by Stephen Flaherty and Lynne Ahrens, which stitches together classic Seuss stories, primarily "Horton Hears a Who" and "Horton Hatches the Egg," with appearances from the Grinch, Thing 1 and Thing 2, and the Cat in the Hat. 13-year-old Kalamazooan Spencer Duguay plays JoJo, the young protagonist whose imagination brings the Seuss universe to life.
The song-filled musical, which Hunter describes as "basically through-composed," delivers the timeless Seuss message that "a person is a person no matter how small". For certain shows, the Barn Theatre is offering its free Backstage Xperience, which gives young people the chance to learn what goes on behind the scenes before they see the show.
Tickets for "Seussical the Musical" are available at BarnTheatreSchool.org. The family-friendly production continues the Barn Theatre's tradition of immersive summer stock theatre, where shows are run for two weeks while simultaneously preparing the next production. Hunter says that this all-hands-on-deck approach gives participants skills that serve them well for a life in theater and careers of all kinds.
