VIDEO: Seuss Comes Alive at the Middle School

There were more Red Sox victories this week than there were empty seats at the Middle School during the run of .

The Middle School Theater Club brought the curtain down on their four-show run with a knockout performance Saturday night, bringing some of Dr. Seuss’s most famous characters to life.

Horton, The Who’s, Mayzie, The Cat in the Hat, Yertle the Turtle, Sour Kangaroo and the Grinch sang and danced under the direction of Glenn Kane, and the musical direction of Jennifer Bowler.

Both Kane and Bowler are teachers at the Middle School, and have watched their cast and crew grow in confidence and stage presence over the last 11 weeks.

“It’s great to see them grow, they’re such nice kids, a pleasure to work with and they work so, so hard,” Bowler said at intermission.  “Once the kids come out, and they do it, they realize how much fun it is, and the kids become such god friends.”

With two small children at home, Bowler is fond of Dr. Seuss’s Thing One and Thing Two.

Forty-five students were in the cast, with another 15 kids in the crew and support team.  All of the members of the cast and crew are students at the Swampscott Middle School, from grades five through eight.

“The feeling I get when I see these kids on stage, is unbelievable,” Kane said. “There is nothing better than to see these kids smiling and the audience applauding, I wouldn’t trade that feeling for all the money in the world.”

“We went from kids who I could barely hear onstage when we started to kids who became characters, it was great to see,” Kane said.

Kane’s favorite Seuss story is The Big Brag, and his favorite character is The Worm from Yertle the Turtle.

Members of the Seussical Junior cast and crew included:

JOE TURCOTTE - Jojo

ANNA HUNT - Gertrude

GINA ASIPENKO - Sour Kangaroo

CAROLINE BAKER - Mayze

KATE BRODSKY - Mrs. Mayor

RIKKI ROOKLIN - Grinch

BARRY TEVROW - Horton

KRISTIAN HOSKER - Wickersham U/S Cat

KHAMARI BARNES - Cat

COLLIN WALSH - Wickersham

IAN CRIMMINS - Mr. Mayor

ADAM DISHMAN - Wickersham

TOYAH PASS - Bird Girl

TESS DIBENEDETTO - Bird Girl

ANNIE NORTON - Bird Girl

JANUARY BLAIS - Bird Girl

EMILY HARTMANN - Bird Girl U/S SOUR

JAMIE RING - Bird Girl U/S Mayze

BAILEY KENNEDY - YERTLE

ALEX CHERKASOV - VLAD VLADIKOV

CHARLOTTE WESTHOVEN - ELEPHANT BIRD, WHO U/S Gertrude

EUGENIA NOSYRYEVA - Who U/S Mrs. Mayor

WHOS - JUAN ROJAS,  RUBY JACOBS, CLAIRE POWELL,

MAEVE AUSTIN CONATY, SENA DIABATE, ALEX VOGEL,

RACHAEL ROOKLIN, KASEY ROCCOGRANDI,

DALLIS COLLELA, SARAH COMINS,

EMMA SOUTHERLAND, MEGAN WEISSENBERGER,

 FOREST WILLIAMS, NATHAN YOUNG, OCEAN CRAWLEY SWEENEY  

JUNGLE ANIMALS - KALEIGH CANTIN, JESSICA LIMBOCKER,

ELENI LASKARIS, ELLA PARKER,MARIA CHIKVASHVILI

MEGAN MENTUCK, EMILY HENG,ABBY LEBLANC,

ERKIA O’BRIEN, OLIVIA KEILY,JEFF BENTZ, KENDALL RHODES

Crew

Director -  Glenn Kane  

Music Director - Jennifer Bowler

Lighting - Julie Donnenfeld, Namita Bhattacharya

Spotlight - Abby Bergman, Amiee Aylward

Stage Crew - Connor Lau, Luke O’ Brien,  Brady Miles, Liam O’Brien, Austin Jaffe

Painting Crew - Connor Lau, Julie Donnenfeld, Megan Weissenburger,

Abby Bergman, Namita Bhattacharya, Liam O’Brien, Brady Miles, Austin Jaffe,  Aimee Aylward, Khamari Barnes, Eleni Laskaris, Dallas Collela, Barry Tevrow
      

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