Scripps thespians rehearse the musical number, ‘Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!’ Photo by Megan Kelley.

By Megan Kelley
Staff Writer
ORION TWP. — Students at Scripps Middle School have been hard at work preparing for opening night of Seussical Jr., set to run on Feb. 15 and 16.
Suessical is a musical comedy written by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty and begins with Horton the Elephant after he discovers a noise coming from a speck, soon realizing the speck holds Who-ville, a planet populated by Whos. The musical follows Horton as he works to protect the citizens of Who-ville.
“The musical is a very adventurous, spunky musical. It’s filled with a bunch of adventure and plot twists and the songs – it has a very musical ear to it. We have a lot of parts that suit the characters really well,” said seventh grader Sophia Karnib who plays Horton. “If you were to describe it as a color it would be: colorful. It’s a tale about a bunch of characters going through multiple different things.”
The play features a number of well known characters from the Dr. Seuss universe including The Cat in the Hat as well as other characters from the book series Horton Hears a Who.
“It’s a musical based off of Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who and it actually very closely resembles the 2001 movie Horton Hears and Who, especially the last part, with minor differences,” said seventh grader Emilie Sinnaeve who plays one of the Wickersham Brothers.
While this is the first time many of the students have been on stage performing, the energy is palpable even during rehearsal with all the students radiating excitement to participate in the production.
“My favorite part of putting this together is when we did staging because I’ve always loved the movement of being a character and the feeling of that is just amazing to me,” said sixth grader Jillian Herrick who plays Gertrude McFuzz.
Backstage crew has also been working hard to provide props and different effects to help the play run smoothly.
Eighth grader Emma Mercer who is in her third year working on lighting and sound for various plays is excited to round out her final year at the school and hopes the experience will help her next year when she hopes to participate in productions at Lake Orion High School.
“I really enjoy doing lighting and sound. It’s pretty easy and I really love it and my friends are all here,” Mercer said.
Most of the cast is excited for the song and dance numbers that accompany the musical with each student naming different numbers like Alone in the Universe sang by Horton and Jojo; All For You sang by Gertrude, Horton and the Bird Girls; and the whole cast number Biggest Blame Fool.
The students hope that while it is a small production, people will still come out and enjoy the show and take away the meaning behind the story.
“You should definitely come and watch it because it’s just life-changing, even if it’s a small theater like what we’re doing, it definitely can change your perspective on things,” said Karnib.
Seussical Jr. will take place at Scripps Middle School at 6 p.m. on Feb. 15 and 16. Tickets are available at the door for $10, cash only.