by Hannah Wages
The theater program STEP VA Inc. is once again putting on an amazing musical, after their previous endeavors, Disney’s “The Lion King, Kids!” and “You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown.” This year, STEP VA is performing “Seussical,” a musical about, well, Dr. Seuss characters.
This musical stars Noah Finch as Horton the Elephant, and Kaitlyn Bach as the bird Gertrude McFuzz.
”Horton is a leader and has a sense of confidence. He is also known for having the responsibilities of protecting the town of Whoville on a tiny speck of dust, and sitting on Mayzie’s egg,” Finch stated about his role.
Preparing for his lead role was also fun for Finch.
“I first saw Seussical through CYT back in 2009,” he said. “I loved it, and it became my favorite musical. Horton has been a great character for me to play.”
Though it was fun for him, Finch found memorizing some of his lines a bit challenging. Though that can be difficult, Finch loves to sing, dance, and perform for STEP VA.
For “Seussical” in particular, his favorite part is the opening song, “Oh The Things You Can Think,” in which all the lead characters get their own solo parts. Speaking of the leads, along side Finch is his fellow lead cast member Kaitlyn Bach, playing the bird Gertrude McFuzz. When asked about preparation for her role she said that, “when I heard we were doing ‘Seussical Jr,’ I had to look it up because I hadn’t seen it in a long time, but the only thing I had to prepare to do was to prepare to dance and sing.”
Although, as it turned out, singing and dancing, as well as being on stage a lot more than her previous role, was challenging for Bach. She explained that Gertrude is a very sweet bird who wants Horton’s attention really badly, and even grows out a long tail for that reason. However, she realizes that she doesn’t need a big tail just to show off.
Bach’s favorite song in the play is “Notice Me Horton.”
“She always comes through for Horton when he needs her,” Bach added.
That is also the same in real life. As Bach stated, “no matter what, we’re all friends, and we’re always there to support each other, no matter what we go through.”
Come see Noah Finch and Kaitlyn Bach star in this amazing and fun musical at Courtland High School on April 13th and 14th. Tickets available HERE and on the STEP VA website, www.stepva.org.
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STEP VA, Inc. is a 501c3 non-profit organization that provides sensory-based theater and arts programs for individuals with disabilities. Its vision is to transform the world by offering each individual the opportunity to flourish in the community.