One of the chief pleasures provided by Dr. Seuss is that of language; his words take sharp turns in your brain and explode in bright, unconventional flavors. Consider, for example, the traditional Christmas dinner enjoyed in Whoville - roast beast.
Bet you smiled when you read that.
That delight in language is precisely what's missing from the tinkered-with, tweaked and overly earnest production of Seussical The Musical running through Sunday at the Mechanic Theatre.
This is the second attempt to fashion a musical from The Cat in the Hat, Horton Hatches the Egg and 42 other children's books written by that late literary master, Theodore Geisel.
The project ought to be a natural. Not only do the books overflow with a fertile visual imagination that translates naturally into stage pictures, but Seuss' lyrics, with their relentless meter and rhymes, practically beg to be set to music.
But the Broadway show was one of the biggest flops of the past decade, closing in 2001 after just six months. The new national touring version reworks the plot, introducing earlier the young boy JoJo (the smallest of the Whos), who imagines the whole story, participates in it and gives the audience someone with whom to identify.
But the plot changes fail to resolve the main obstacle to the musical's success, which is this: The plot itself. Any plot. Contemplate, for instance, a similar project with very different results, Andrew Lloyd Webber's record-setting Cats.
Cats worked because it was based on a book with a unified theme, T.S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. It was comparatively simple to fashion a loose narrative from the stories of a bunch of fractious felines while retaining much of Eliot's whimsical children's verse.
But the stories that Geisel told were so varied - from an elephant who sits on an egg abandoned by a flighty mother bird, to a trickster cat, to a Christmas-hating Grinch - that it's virtually impossible to fashion a coherent plot linking all these episodes together. The team of Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens has done its best, but at the cost of jettisoning most of Seuss' verse in favor of their own, which is serviceable but too infrequently witty or charming.
Granted, Seuss' characters are present, along with some recognizable plot elements from the books. But without his verse, what remains is like a brightly packaged empty box of candy.
If Seussical The Musical ever is to enjoy a successful stage treatment, it probably will have to abandon any efforts to connect Geisel's stories and simply present a revue of his individual works.
But if the story disappoints, the physical production and performances do not.
Set designer James Kronzer has an inspired moment during the musical number, "Havin' a Hunch" when a giant, glow-in-the-dark foot and hand and a nose seemingly float disembodied in the air. Lighting designer Howell Binkley's star-filled sky is beautiful when it serves as the backdrop for "Alone in the Universe," but the reprise of that effect in the second act is a bit overdone and garish.
The show's star, Cathy Rigby, imbues her portrayal of the Cat in the Hat with a pleasing scruffiness and exhibits impeccable form while being tossed head over heels during the flying portions of the show - a fitting demonstration of the physical prowess that made her an Olympic gymnast in 1968 and 1972.
Natasha Yvette Williams, as the Sour Kangaroo, has a voice so powerful that I wouldn't be surprised if lights all over town flicker when she sings.
And actress Garrett Long (Gertrude McFuzz) has a knock-kneed comic flair and a delightful way of making small, abrupt turns of her head, just like a real bird.
Gertie, of course, is the bird who longed for more feathers in her tail. With the help of some magical pills, she grows a splendid, bushy tail - but finds that it's so cumbersome that she can no longer fly.
Unfortunately, that out-of-control tail - or tale - proves an apt metaphor for Seussical the Musical.
Theater
What: Seussical the Musical
Where: Morris A. Mechanic Theatre, 25 Hopkins Plaza
When: 8 p.m. Tuesday-Friday; 2 p.m., 8 p.m. Saturday; 1 p.m., 6:30 p.m. Sunday
Tickets: $22.50-$70
Call: 410-481-SEAT or visit www.ticketmaster.com
Auditions
Children's Playhouse of Maryland. Auditions for children 18 and under will be from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday for a production of Pocahontas. Bring a song and sheet music or taped accompaniment to the Conference Center on the grounds of Sheppard Pratt Health Systems, 6501 N. Charles St. in Towson. Performances will be on Saturday and Sunday afternoons Feb. 22-March 9. Call 410-321-6595.
Chesapeake Music Hall. Auditions for a production of Music Man will begin at 1 p.m. Saturday and 7 p.m. Wednesday at Chesapeake Music Hall, 339 Busch's Frontage Road in Annapolis. Be prepared to sing, dance and read from a script. An accompanist will be provided. Performances will run from Feb. 22-May 3. Call 410-974-1822 or 800-406-0306 or visit www. chesapeakemusichall.com
Upper Chesapeake Chorus of Sweet Adelines. Open auditions for women singers will be held at 7 p.m. on Mondays through Jan. 20. Call Kathy at 410-877-7314 for information and the location of the week's auditions.
Church Hill Theatre. Auditions for a production of Lend Me a Tenor will be held from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monday at the theater, on Walnut Street (Route 19) in Church Hill. Performance dates are March 14-30. Call director Bonnie Hill at 410-348-5181.
St. Paul's Players. Auditions for a March production of Guys and Dolls will begin at 7 p.m. Sunday and Monday at St. Paul's Lutheran Church, 201 Mount Royal Ave., Aberdeen. Needed are actors, singers and dancers ages 15 and up. Bring a monologue, and be prepared to sing, dance and read from the script. Call 410-272-3111 or 410-515-7767 or e-mail Phil Kilby at Drama50@hotmail.com.