It's difficult to be a curmudgeon this time of the year. Christmas sweetness is everywhere, but there are times when gum drops and candy canes are delicious. So it is with Christmas theatricals. Most of them have enjoyable scenes, if nothing else, and nice singing and dancing. Besides, I encourage all parents out there to take children to see and enjoy live theater. When those kids grow up, they'll be eternally grateful to you, their parents.
First in line for our seasonal sugar is "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas," which opens tonight at the Peabody Opera House (I saw it last night at a preview). The title is not quite accurate, but accuracy would create a title far more unwieldy than the one the show already bears.
The bright, mostly-tuneful production also will give a lot of people their first opportunity to see the remodeled, totally charming Peabody Opera House, and that's almost worth the trip by itself. The building looks good, and feels good, with a note to modern times offered by the presence of cup-holders on orchestra seats. Orchestra sight-lines were good, everything was neat and clean, and I was as impressed as I was on my first visit, in the fall of 1947, when Vladimir Golschmann conducted the St. Louis Symphony, and Jascha Heifetz was the violin soloist.
To return to the business at hand: "Grinch" is fun; it runs about 75 minutes without an intermission, and Stefan Karl is strong as the Grinch, all decked out in green. He mugs delightfully, bellows at the audience at proper intervals, sings satisfactorily, acts well and clowns in a most enjoyable manner. He's fun to watch, and he will not frighten the smaller children, the way that clowns sometimes do. Besides, his charming interaction with Cindy Lou Who, the youngest of the Who family, will demonstrate that love can often conquer all in her relationship with the Grinch. Clara Young and Bailey Ryon alternate as Cindy. I saw Clara and she's a winner.
Seth Bazacas was excellent Young Max, the dog who is the Grinch's forced assistant, and Bob Lauder was fine as Old Max, who narrates and sings a couple of songs.
The simple choreography, by John DeLuca, is enjoyable, as are the costumes by Robert Morgan and the set by John Lee Beatty. Timothy Mason wrote the book and the lyrics, adapted from the Dr. Seuss story, and Mel Marvin composed the score. Two songs come from Seuss' own words, with music by Albert Hague. Speaking of songs, it appears that the composers and lyricists got bored about two-thirds of the way through the action. The last seven songs, or more than a third of the music, is reprises of earlier songs.
Still, it's a good entertainment for the young ones, and it hasn't played here enough times to wear out its welcome with the older generation.
Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas opens tonight at the Peabody Opera House and will run through Dec. 18
— Joe