'Seussical Jr.' musical hits the stage Nov. 8-9

A group of Nodaway Valley students are excited to bring the rhymes and good times of children’s author Dr. Seuss to the high school stage soon in the musical “Seussical Jr.”

The musical will be 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 8 and Saturday, Nov. 9 in the high school auditorium.

Two seniors in the show’s cast are Josh Cronk and Shannon Newbury.

“Practice has been going great,” Cronk said. “It was a little slow going at first getting people to join, but now that we have the people, it’s been going great.”

There are a few middle school students who have filled out the cast this year, but Cronk assured that their youth does not show in comparison to the more experienced high school actors.

“Seussical Jr.” takes the performer and audience into the world of Dr. Seuss, where beloved characters are revisited, like The Cat in the Hat, Horton the Elephant, Gertrude McFuzz, Lazy Mayzie and JoJo.

Cronk plays The Cat in the Hat while Newbury plays the part of Mrs. Who.

“I enjoy being Mrs. Who because she’s a fairly easy character to play and she supports JoJo and Mr. Mayor,” Newbury said.

In its entirety, the cast includes Cronk and Newbury, Micah Bronk as Horton the Elephant; Jonathan Maldonado as Mr. Mayor; Bailey Breheny as Who Citizen; Melanie Kilborn as Gertrude McFuzz; Bella Day as Mayzie La Bird; Allegra Rectenbaugh, Kylee Van Soelen and Elaina Stuva as the Wickersham Brothers; Haisley Zoubek, Kayla Stormer and Laila Hall as the Bird Girls; Edan Shilling as Sour Kangaroo and Elaina Stuva as Young Kangaroo.

Newbury is certain that the musical, directed by Nicole Miller and Lauren (Huff) Ernst, is one that people will not want to miss.

“People should come to the musical because it’s going to be really funny and the songs are super good,” Newbury said. “They get stuck in my head so they might get stuck in yours.”