review

Also in this section:
Theater, Seussical Jr.

Books, Science fiction

Much more tempting than green eggs and ham

Apple Creative Theater, the latest offering on the English theater scene

a review by Eric Jackson

Seussical Jr.

directed by Charles Todd Apple

with Samantha Kirk, Billy Shyne, Evelina Preciado, Charlotte Arnoux, Gemma Turnbull, Ana Lorena Quijano, María José Recalde Vela, Gabriel García de Paredes, Cane Walden, Alannah Quetel, Valeria de Sanctis, Katie Savastuk, Kathryn Nerys Apple, Emma Quetel

produced by Theresa M. Apple

based on the works of Dr. Seuss (Theodore Geisel)

music by Steven Flaherty

lyrics by Lynn Ahrens

choreography by Ana Lorena Quijano

assistant director and stage manager Aviva Cohen

costumes by Theresa Apple

sound by Jim Quetel

set by Charles Todd Apple and Rogelio Sanchez, in consultation with Emily Zhukov

publicity by Gale Cellucci

help technical and otherwise and a venue by the Theatre Guild of Ancon

I went to opening night of this musical, which may have been designed for performances by kids and based upon the children's books of the late Dr. Seuss (more than anything on Horton Hears a Who), but was entertaining for adults who didn't even have kids in the play.

(How many of those were there? I wasn't the only one, but the parents and extended families of those on stage did turn out in force, while, on the other hand, given a new-found lack of institutional compulsions the turnout by teachers and school administrators was reduced in comparison to previous plays directed by Todd Apple. The reasons for that will be discussed below.)

So why would a kids' play appeal to adults? First, because the Dr. Seuss books were written with a similar aim as were the Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoons: quality children's literature and entertainment must appeal to adults who will read the stories or watch the TV shows with their kids. They must address universal themes on several levels, with things for preschoolers, sophisticated adults and the wide spectrum in between. The worst and most mindless of children's culture is stuff that adults can't stand, always because it's for lame brains and usually because it's also morally suspect by all but the shallowest TV censor and Texas textbook commission standards.

Theodore Geisel's life had its controversies, as did his lifetime body of work, from the bug spray ads that first made his art prominent, through his World War II anti-Nazi propaganda, to his enduring classics of children's literature under various pen names, the most notable of them Dr. Seuss. His children's books endure not just because of the cool artwork or their utility in teaching the joys of reading, but because of the moral lessons that they teach.

Thus the Cat in the Hat, the trickster who leads bored kids into near-disasters.

Thus Horton, the altruistic, abused and ultimately heroic elephant.

As in Seussical Jr.'s leading lady, Samantha Kirk as the Cat in the Hat and leading man Billy Shyne as Horton, respectively. The former was solidly good, the latter so excellent that he would have completely stolen the show with his shining performance had the cast around him not been top-notch as well.

Billy Shyne has performed in the Ancon Theater before, both in International School of Panama and Theatre Guild of Panama productions. He's clearly learned something along the way.

Gemma Turnbull was the lady --- actually the bird --- who wavered a bit but in the end stuck loyally by Horton the elephant and his lonely commitment to the inconspicuous citizens of Whoville. Both as Horton's main supporter and the one who stood up to the wicked Mayzie La Bird (Charlotte Arnoux) when nobody else would, she was positioned between two great performances and came up with one of her own.

That's a major accomplishment, because, as has been noted before in this reviewer's observations of plays past and also by others, Charlotte Arnoux is so prodigiously talented. She says she wants to make it on Broadway and will not be denied that dream for lack of ability. This was another great Arnoux performance, here in the role of heavy.

The most impressive thing about the whole play, however, is that the rest of the cast didn't get upstaged by Arnoux. Chalk that up to a good director, chalk it up to what's in the kids themselves, chalk it up to healthy young egos among the cast members --- I don't really know, but I suspect it's all of these things and more.

By the way, Arnoux did not go unsupported in her creepiness --- Ana Lorena Quijano, in addition to her choreographer's work and another role, did very well on stage as an obnoxious kangaroo, as did youngsters Gabriel García de Paredes and Crane Walden as the miserable Wickersham Brothers.

Anyway, it had this white-bearded reviewer with no relations in the cast having a good time.

Stepping back to look at the larger picture

Labor relations and philosophy are not traditional subjects for a theater review, but these are things that go to the heart of what Seussical Jr. means to the English-speaking community here, whether anyone cares to admit it or not.

Say what?

Apple Creative Theater is, so long as the Apples are in Panama, a huge feature of the English-language cultural scene. Will it end? Well, all things pass, but in another sense nothing ever ends.

Todd Apple's relationship with the International School of Panama ended as a part of a large-scale labor relations disaster at the end of the last academic year, which cost that school more than a dozen teachers, including gifted and seasoned veterans who were quickly snapped up by rival schools. For various reasons nobody involved wants to talk for the record about what happened at ISP. So be it. One result is that the drama program that Apple directed at ISP will continue but an era ended. Another result is that Apple's work of educating the younger generation of Panama's English-speaking theater people now continues with a broader and more loyal base, in the form of the independent Apple Creative Theater. Seussical Jr. was its first production.

The parents and kids whom Apple so impressed in his ISP years have stuck with him as he's gone independent, and in this production other kids from other schools and in some cases from home schooling have joined the team. What he was leading a year ago hasn't ended, it has expanded. The International School still has its drama program, as does the Balboa Academy, but now this independent effort has set a high bar against which they will be measured.

When Todd Apple moves on, and when most of the kids whom he has taught here do likewise, the effect will linger on in ways obvious and subtle. The community ought to appreciate what it has here and think about long-term projects to build upon it.

Quite frankly, ISP blew it by not keeping Apple.

From what this reporter has heard from multiple sources about the larger situation that led to Apple's going independent and a bunch of other ISP teachers going elsewhere, it was a matter of small minds coupled to large egos acting under the delusion that institutional and administrative authority mean more than the sum of individual qualities when it comes to academic excellence. It's a tale oft retold, in many a school system in many a place. Maybe the greater community that's ISP will learn something from what happened and make some adjustments for the better.

Maybe.

But meanwhile ISP's loss has been an even greater gain for Panama's English-language theater scene.

Also in this section:
Theater, Seussical Jr.

Books, Science fiction