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Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas!
December 3, 2005
The Old Globe Theatre is putting its musical spin on Dr. Seuss' quintessential Christmas story now through Dec. 31 in Balboa Park. All the Whos down in Whoville, Maxes young and old, and the grinchy Grinch himself are represented in full holiday splendor. Tickets are $19 to $59 and may be purchased by calling the Globe's Ticket Services Department at (619) 23-GLOBE; by visiting the Globe box office in Balboa Park; or at www.TheOldGlobe.org.
By SONIA ASITIMBAY
Review: Shivering as I was when I entered the theater,
I began to think, did I have a fever?
When it started, boy, did I get spooked.
I thought I might find a Grinch in my boot!
The Grinch, with his glow-in-the-dark eyes,
Looked at me in glowing surprise
I couldn't pay attention to anything else,
The Grinch was so great,
Thank goodness, I didn't come late!
The grouchy Grinch in green
sang his songs of mean,
until the love of Cindy Lou Who
when the heart of Grinch grew.
This musical you must not miss
for you have to find out why
the Grinch didn't like Christmas!
It's about that time when actors speak in rhymes and we think about the meaning of Christmas. In "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas!," nothing can stop Christmas from coming, not even the mean old Grinch with his evil eyes that are scary to look at sitting in the dark at the Old Globe.
The Dr. Seuss-inspired play has magical set designs. One is created in pink, red and white. It made me think of candy canes and a place where Santa waits for you to sit on his knee.
Another design is a group of white mountains drawn in black and white. The town of Whoville has houses with smoke coming out of the chimneys, windows with lights on, and hand puppets that sing Christmas carols.
The dogs that were howling together are the Grinch's dogs, an old Max and a young Max. The show is told by the older Max (Ken Land), while the younger Max (Rusty Ross) is taken by the Grinch to help him with his plan to cancel Christmas. The acting of the "dogs" was really good, but both dogs seemed a bit too big to belong to the Grinch.
The Grinch (Leo Daignault) was great. You can see what an incredible actor he is by the faces he makes as he tries to steal Christmas from the Whos. Of the Who family, Grandpa Seth Who (Steve Gunderson) is the funniest because he's hard of hearing.
The who's who in Whoville was Cindy Lou Who (Timyra-Joi Beatty of San Diego), the young girl who wakes up and finds the Grinch stealing her tree. Timyra-Joi sings so well even though she's only in the third grade! She gave Grinch the love he needed to make his heart grow three sizes bigger.
I really liked the special effects in the scene where Max pulls the Grinch in his sleigh across the sky. The electronic mouse that comes out to see if the Grinch left any crumbs is cute, too.
The costumes are colorful, and I especially liked the curled-up shoes the actors wore. When the Whos sing "Last Minute Shopping," they show us how crazy we get when we buy something at the last minute.
At the end of the show, Christmas does come, and we know why it's never been canceled. Then we get to sing "Deck the Halls" with the actors who come into the audience, and guess what happens then? Soapy snowflakes fall on sunny San Diego.
