On a mid-autumn night, on a dimly lit stage,
In a state of delight not too hard to gauge,
Cast members flit about, feeling good-hearted,
Then silence … rehearsal’s about to get started.

There’s no need to worry, no cause for fright,
It’s more than a week still till opening night.
And who could be down? There’s just no excuse
When you’re staging a play by the great Dr. Seuss.

Well, not really by him, but based on his work,
With all of its whimsy and magic and quirk.
The playwrights turned Dr. Seuss rhymes into songs,
Striking a chord with theater throngs.

Now Lawrence is getting its turn with the musical,
As actors prepare their production of “Seussical.”
Director Doug Weaver says open your mind
And the world Seuss created is not hard to find.

The play starts with lots of the books Seuss has penned,
Then chooses a few and creates a nice blend.
The best-loved Seuss characters stop by to chat:
Think Gertrude McFuzz and The Cat in the Hat.

There’s Horton the Elephant, guarding the Whos,
And Mayzie LaBird with her egg-hatching blues.
Green eggs and ham make a minor appearance,
With the Wickersham Brothers to run interference.

The Cat in the Hat runs the whole rhyming show,
Which loosely follows a plot many know
Of Horton the elephant risking his neck
To protect all the Whos on a flying dust speck.

“Our community’s smaller than most eyes can see,”
says Ann LaPoint, sporting her costume with glee.
She plays a diminutive character who
is wed to the mayor of the whole Whoville crew.

LaPoint says the spectrum of music you’ll hear
Will wiggle your feet and beckon your ear.
You’ll cry at the touching and laugh at the funny
(But mostly you’ll smile ’cause the show is quite sunny).

The cast is made up of at least 24.
The youngest is 10; the oldest is more.
Nearly all the production is sung and not spoken
And the everything-rhymes rule never gets broken.

Actor Jeff Blair says when words sound the same,
Memorizing your lines can become a fun game.
He portrays Whoville’s wee mayor in the play,
And his son, JoJo Who, ends up saving the day.

The holiday season’s about to take shape,
And the Seuss show is meant as a mental escape.
Its lessons are loyalty, love and peacekeeping,
And keeping your sense of invention from sleeping.

Five days from today, the curtain will rise,
And two dozen actors in whimsical guise,
Will spring into character, hot to produce
The smiles that arise when dealing with Seuss.

The question is whether you’ll join in the thrill,
Inside the theater, away from the chill,
Where creatures will jump from Seuss pages to greet you,
And as for the cast, well, they can’t wait to meet you.