Theatre News

Flaherty & Ahrens’ Seussical spends Christmas at Arts Theatre

Seussical, Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens‘ musical based on the works of Dr Seuss, will receive its West End premiere at the Arts Theatre this Christmas.

Running from 4 December 2012 to 6 January 2013, the run is being produced by David Hutchinson and Phillip Rowntree for Sell A Door theatre company.

The show, which premiered in 2000, features an amalgamation of characters from much-loved Seuss classics including Horton Hears a Who!, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Lorax, Green Eggs and Ham and The Cat in the Hat.

The creative team is shortly to be announced and casting “will begin imminently”, according to press material.

Sell A Door’s previous credits include a 2011 UK tour of Spring Awakening and The Hound of the Baskervilles and The History Boys at Greenwich Theatre.

Speaking to Whatsonstage.com, artistic director David Hutchinson called Seussical the “perfect feel-good family show”, adding: “Sell a Door have been predominately working in Regional Theatre and Off West End since we formed as a company in 2008, however with Seussical we wanted to reach a new family audience over Christmas.”

Flaherty and Ahrens’ other musical collaborations include the Tony Award-winning Ragtime, recently seen at the Open Air Theatre in Regent’s Park, and Once On This Island, which came to the Hackney Empire in 2009. Sessical was conceived in collaboration with Monty Python’s Eric Idle (Spamalot).