Totara College's Seussical wows the crowd in Dannevirke

The crowd wonders what is the matter with JoJo.

The Hub in Dannevirke became a magical world of jungle and tiny beings on Thursday afternoon as Totara College put on its version of Seussical (Junior). The audience was amazed by the colour, the singing and the acting of the entire school as Horton the Elephant's multiple dilemmas were enacted.

The Mayor and Mayoress wonder what to do with son Jojo.

The school took full advantage of having both a junior and senior department, Head Boy Josiah Max playing the role of Horton with great skill and musicality, maintaining the mood and decorum in the core of the show, supported by very strong other leads:

- Jesslyn Reid as The Cat in the Hat being an energetic storyteller,

- Kyle Strydom as Jojo singing beautifully and showing acting skills beyond his years,

- Logan Strydom being a very emotional Gertrude whose singing and acting tugged the heart strings,

- Abigail Max as Mayzie the very extravert bird with no social conscience and

- Charlotte Patu as the Sour Kangaroo with a remarkable singing voice.

The ensemble really got into the story, the Wickershams were horrible monkeys, the birds were spectacular in costume and choreography, the citizens of Whoville led by staff and parent Johnny Max as Mayor and Hope Welsh as Mrs Welsh were authentically desperate as to their plight and the citizens of the jungle who were easily swayed by appearances.

Some of the charm was due to the little people. As Horton said many times "A person is a person no matter how small" and some of Totara College's smallest like Thing One and Thing Two (Damian Jordan and Eden Sprague) and the elephant bird (Davi Lopes Genach) just added the cutist touches in a stellar performance.

The costumes were spectacular, the props creative, the lighting accurate and the scenery just right as a setting for the drama which unfolded.

Director and musical director Ruth Peters with assistant director Mrs Isabelle Omundsen have done a superb job moulding this cast into such a wonderful show over many weeks of rehearsal.

It all paid off. It was a production not to be missed!