'Make it Seuss': High schoolers a guiding force behind North Hills Middle School’s 'Seussical Jr.'
Imagination took center stage recently during North Hills Middle School drama club’s 30th annual winter musical.
This year, the theme was Dr. Seuss, and about 100 middle school students and eight North Hills High School students worked together to produce “Seussical Jr.”
Middle school musical director and choir teacher Shaun Cloonan said though the story interweaves elements from several different Seuss books and thus may seem strange to some, the story is a wonderful and fun experience.
“It’s just a really great story about all the things that are possible,” Cloonan said. “Your imagination gets to run free, and it’s so vibrant and colorful, and the songs are fun.”
Eighth grader Molly Schneider, who played the role of JoJo/Boy, said she found “Seussical Jr.” to be a “very fun show.”
“No one has a small part, and you can really be anyone you want because it’s so imaginative,” Molly said.
Eighth grader Masayoshi McGahey played Horton, an elephant who hears some “interesting things that other people don’t seem to realize.”
“And I have my little adventures trying to, you know, save this little voice that I hear,” Masayoshi said.
Masayoshi has been in four musicals, three of them were middle school productions and one took place during a summer camp. He said he enjoys theater for the singing, the chance to meet new people and the chance to pretend to be someone else.
“I love singing, and that’s what really got me into musicals in the first place. I think being another completely different person is quite a wonderful experience,” Masayoshi said. “I meet a lot of new people that I regularly wouldn’t meet if I wasn’t in the musical.”
Masayoshi’s love for singing stood out during his performance as he used his sonorous voice to bring Horton the Elephant to life, particularly during his favorite song, “Alone in the Universe.”
The North Hills Middle School students were not the only students working on “Seussical Jr.”
Eight North Hills High School students returned to their old school to help with the musical, serving as directors and lightning designers.
Staging director Erin Lankes, who teaches Latin and gifted and talented education, said the high school’s student directors were great and helped with many aspects of the production. She said student director Daniel McCarty, in particular, helped to fulfill the vision she and Cloonan had for the set.
“We just said, ‘Make it Seuss.’ And he took some paint to the foam and some markers,” Lankes said. “He came up with this.”
Cloonan said the high school lighting designers took on a teaching role.
“Everything is pretty much run by the students back at the (lighting control) board. The high school students programmed all of the light cues and showed the middle school students how to use the board,” Cloonan said.
Lankes also said it was nice seeing “how the high school kids can really rein in some of these middle school kids.”
“It’s been great seeing just how much the high school kids care for them, and then to see how much the middle school kids love them in return,” Lankes said.
The middle school students particularly enjoyed getting to work with the student directors and lighting designers.
Working with the high school students led some middle school students — such as eighth grade cast member Jordan Mason, who played Yertle the Turtle, and eighth grade hair and makeup crew member Tenley Wichelmann — to consider becoming high school directors once they get the opportunity.
“Sydney (McCaslin), she’s basically in charge of (hair and makeup), and she’s so nice and so sweet,” Tenley said. “Sydney and Emmy (Emma Lewis), one of the other student directors, already asked if I would come back and help (next year).”
McCaslin, an 11th grader, didn’t get much of a chance to be in any middle school musicals because of covid. This made her all the more grateful to be able to participate as a high school student director. She also enjoyed being “like a big sister” to the middle school students.
“The makeup crew, they’re just so fun to be around. I just wish I had someone like that while I was in middle school,” McCaslin said.
Bella Markovitz is a TribLive contributing writer.
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