Jacques Ibert / Seussical

On this day in classical music: Jacques Ibert’s “Divertissement” was given its premiere in Paris in 1930. Ibert studied at the Paris Conservatoire and won its top prize, the Prix de Rome, on his first attempt. Ibert later became director of the Académie de France at the Villa Medici in Rome and headed the Paris Opera and the Opera Comique. Ibert composed seven operas, five ballets, incidental music for plays and films, choral works and chamber music. He is best remembered today for his orchestral work “Escales” and the charming “Divertissement.” Listen to the Artvento Woodwind Quintet perform the first movement of Ibert’s “Trois Pieces Breves.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPuNur3gaZE

On this day in the musical theatre: Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens’ musical “Seussical” opened on Broadway in 2000. Based on the children’s stories by Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss), the musical had a troubled tryout period with several cast and creative team members fired before the show opened. While bits of several Dr. Seuss books were incorporated into the production, the musical mainly dealt with “Horton Hears a Who,” the story of Horton the Elephant’s endeavors to protect the people of Whoville, who live on a tiny speck of dust. The Cat in the Hat served as musical guide to the proceedings, sometimes as an outside observer, other times as devil’s advocate. During the musical’s 197-performance run, the Cat in the Hat was played by David Shiner, Rosie O’Donnell and Cathy Rigby. The musical has since become popular among regional theaters and in school productions. Listen to Rigby and the cast perform “A Day for the Cat in the Hat” on the Rosie O’Donnell Show. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8W7BlINkDg&playnext=1&list=PL6855488FBF03E820&feature=results_main

Musical musings: The songs in “Seussical” were written by the gifted musical team Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty (“Once on This Island,” “Ragtime”), who also share credit for the book; otherwise, it is now difficult to say just who is responsible for what in this force-fed hybrid of stories by Dr. Seuss, the eternally beloved creator of whimsical children’s books. The director of record, whose name still appears on posters and in programs, is Frank Galati, but he is known to have left the musical after its poorly received Boston tryout, to be replaced by the officially anonymous Rob Marshall. Mr. Marshall is the brother of the show’s choreographer, Kathleen Marshall (“Kiss Me, Kate”), whose graceful, inventive stamp is strangely missing in the high-impact aerobics offered here. The set and costume designs have also gone through more than one set of hands. Whoever the many chefs were, the finished product is a flavorless broth. The heightened brightness of all the ingredients — the eye-searing design palette, the dizzying lighting effects, the bouncy orchestrations, those mega-watt smiles —  perversely meld into a general gray dimness. “Seussical” doesn’t inspire revulsion or hatred; it doesn’t, in fact, inspire any strong emotional response. Numbness creeps over you as you watch it, and you start to think that even a little physical discomfort, like your feet going to sleep, might be welcome as a sign that you’re still sentient. This glazed feeling stems mostly from the gaping divide between the sensibilities of the show’s source, the drawings and narrative verses of Dr. Seuss, and that of their presentation. Striking the right tone — one that would be both child- and adult-friendly — has apparently been a problem with “Seussical” from its early rehearsals. One of the repeated lines in “Seussical” is “a person’s a person, no matter how small.” The same might be said of theatrical concepts. The real fable to be found in “Seussical: The Musical” is that there is no disgrace in being small; it’s trying to look big, when you’re innately little, that throws things off-kilter. The Whos may survive the predations of a larger, destructive universe; “Seussical,” sadly, does not. – Ben Brantley in The New York Times

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