For one hour last Wednesday night, young patients at the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Children’s Medical Center forgot their medical troubles as they took a trip to the whimsical world of the Cat in the Hat and Horton the elephant and his friends in Whoville.
The occasion was a production of “Seussical the Musical,” a play based on the books of Dr. Seuss that debuted on Broadway in 2000, that was presented to the young patients and their parents at Cohen’s Children’s Hospital.
“I think it’s unbelievable they’re doing this today. It really raises the children’s spirits,” said Bridget Petrovic who watched the play with her five-year-old daughter Sydney.
Petrovic said the play was the first time in two days that she had seen her daughter smile.
Sydney smiled broadly and jumped up and down with excitement when the actor playing her favorite character, the Cat in the Hat, signed her program after the hour-long performance.
“I think this is great for the kids. My son’s been too many days sick,” Louisa Campoverde said.
“It motivates me so I can have some fun and laugh,” said 11-year-old David, a patient and an avowed Dr. Seuss fan. “I like how he makes funny rhymes in all the stories.”
Giving the children and their parents some emotional relief was just what North Shore-LIJ officials had in mind when they invited the Seussical cast from the John W. Engeman Theater at Northport to present the musical in a first for Cohen Children’s Medical Center.
“This is a children’s hospital where we have kids and families going through difficult times,” North Shore-LIJ Health System President and CEO Michael Dowling said. “We like to hold events that give some pleasure and happiness and put some smiles on their faces.”
Dowling said he hoped to put on more live performance events at the children’s medical center in the future.
“To me it’s part of the healing process,” he said. “It’s exposing them to something different and giving them joy for a period of time. Who knows what effect it can have on them over a period of time?”
Kevin O’Neill, managing director of the Engeman Theater, said the production was part of the theater’s youth series sponsored by the Bethpage Federal Credit Union.
“We thought it would be a nice way to brighten the day for the kids and their families,” O’Neill said.
The one-act adaptation of “Seussical” had the desired effect on the audience members, both young and old, who smiled and laughed through the performance at the antics of the familiar Dr. Seuss characters, including that Cat in the Hat, Gertrude McFuzz, Mayzie LaBird and Horton the elephant – who is intent on protecting his tiny friends – and the Who, hidden in the clover where they live.
The kindly Horton agreed to replace Mayzie LaBird on the perch where she was incubating an egg, which ultimately hatched a little winged elephant in the mini-musical’s climactic moments.
“A person’s a person, no matter how small,” Horton repeats as a mantra appropriate for the young patients in the Cohen center audience.
As he struggles to save the inhabitants of Whoville from three mischievous monkeys who frustrate Horton by scattering the clover, he also repeats a line that some of the youngsters echoed: “Anything is possible.”
“It’s amazing. It’s overwhelming,” Dennis Setteducati, who played Horton, said about the experience of performing at the children’s hospital.
“It’s incredible,” added Adam Mosebach, who played the Cat in the Hat and signed autographs for the children afterward. “The most rewarding part is this part, getting up close and personal with the kids.”
