By Isaac Noll

Mt. Hebron Theatre’s production of ‘Seussical’ is hitting the stage. This will be the first musical performance at Mt. Hebron since the pandemic began, making for a unique finale for theatre students graduating in 2022 who have not done a musical since ‘Damn Yankees’ in 2019. Showings of Seussical run April 7-10.

This production of ‘Seussical’ features middle school students, who will be playing the Whos. The Whos are the people who live on the planet of Who, a small speck of dust that only Horton the Elephant is able to hear. But no one else believes Horton, making him have to go to great lengths to try and convince the people of Nool that the Whos exist.

Among the talented cast is Nick Yarnevich, who will be playing General Gengus Khan Schmitz on the Friday and Sunday showings alongside a role as a Wickersham during other shows.

“We’ve had a lot of technical experiences during practice. It’s like basketball, you need practice. You won’t be amazing as soon as you begin. Practices have become much more polished as time has gone on though, all because of the talents of the cast,” said Yarnevich.

Everybody has been working extremely hard to put together the show. With rehearsals both in the Musical Theatre class during school days at Mt. Hebron and after school multiple times a week, the cast and crew have been putting in great effort to bring the world of Dr. Seuss to life.

Senior cast member Ewan McMullen, playing Horton the Elephant, stated, “My favorite part of the show is definitely the people. The personalities of the cast members is what keeps me motivated. Also, I love singing. It’s the best.”

Seussical was not the first choice for some of the theatre students, though it has quickly become loved among the performers. 

“Admittedly I wasn’t that familiar with the show before the announcement – it’s very easy to discredit Seussical as childish. But it’s a beautiful story and one that I think has a message we all could learn from,” said Natalie Booth, Jojo’s understudy and a Featured Singer in the musical.

Showings from April 7-9 occur at 7 PM, with the Sunday matinee on April 10 beginning at 2 PM. Tickets will cost 6 dollars for children under 6, 10 dollars for students, and 12 dollars for general admission. These tickets are available online on the Mt. Hebron Theater website and at the door when you go to see the show.