We went to a show with the kids a couple of nights ago at the Magik Theatre.  It was a Dr. Seuss mashup, "Seussical", and it was actually pretty delightful.  There were a few jokes thrown in for the benefit of parents, lots of excellent singing and bright, suitably garish costumes.  The makeup and costumes were simple and just hinted at animal qualities with a Dr. Seuss flair, letting the humanness of the actors show through.  The play focused on the Horton stories, and a couple of times the sentiment got to me.  A person's a person, no matter how small.  I'm not sure I could find a better mantra for AJ and Julia.

The Magik is lovely.  It holds maybe 200 people, and it has a little balcony but we sat below.  This was Julia's very first theatrical experience.  She chafed at her inability to join them on stage.  I missed a lot of the performance chasing her around outside in the drizzle.  Being an audience member is far too tame for her.

At first AJ was very quiet and seemed disinterested.  But maybe he was just a little awed by the spectacle.  When Julia and I returned for the last ten minutes of the play, he was enthralled, visibly reacting to everything that happened on stage.  Near the end a little boy, maybe three, comes out in an elephant costume.  He has hatched, and AJ is thrilled.  Horton and the bird will share parenting duties, the elephant teaching him the things of the ground, the bird the things of the air, and again the sentiment catches me.  I love the way Seuss can get at things that are emotional, but he does so in a truthful and simple way that retains its power without tipping over into sentimentalism.  But maybe I'm just nostalgic about it.  I don't know whether this musical is aimed primarily at me or at my children.

Somebody is still making money, hand over fist, on Dr. Seuss.  There is more Seuss merchandise, from this show to books to stuffed toys, than ever.  A television series with Martin Short continuing his song and dance career the likes of which he once mocked ruthlessly.  Dr. Seuss is like the Beatles, or Star Wars.  A long time ago, it was original and meaningful, but even then it was mass produced popular art (as I type this AJ is poking me with his Star Wars Happy Halloween coloring book we bought him at the Dollar Spot at Target) and it just keeps going on forever and I just want it to go away and get out of my head so that I have room for something new.

But for AJ, for Julia, it's still new.