Kid’s Questions Answered about “Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas”
Ask a question about the production in the comment section below and we will get it answered for you!
“My class is wondering why the Grinch called Max “Prancer” when he was dressed as Rudolph with a red nose?!” — Hanover Elementary third graders
The Grinch: So, let me get this straight. You kids want to know why I called my dog Prancer even though he had a red nose. The reason I mixed up the names is because I don’t care about Santa’s weird flying reindeer thingies! I only think about Christmas when I’m thinking about how much I hate it. I don’t have time to memorize all those goofy reindeer names!!! I’m surprised I even got one of ’em right! How many deer does he have? Twelve, right? I think it’s “The Twelve Deer of Christmas”, or something like that. So, here goes. Let’s see if I can name all 12: Prancer, Rudy, Frosty, Moana, Dumpster, Steve, Taylor, Swift, Deerface, Applejack, Batman and Toilet.
There! How many did I get right?!? I’m betting I went 12 for 12! You know why? Because I’m a genius. That’s why! I hope your school day is long and miserable. And I’ve asked your teacher to give you extra homework tonight. That’s my holiday gift to you!
Grinch, out!!!
“When the play is over what do you do with the set? Does it get chopped up?” —Boeckman Middle School sixth-eighth graders
Adriane Heflin, Technical Director: When a show at The Children’s Theatre Company is over, we can do a few different things with the scenery. Sometimes we save the show so that we can show it again at a later date here at CTC, or tour the show to other theaters around the country. We have a warehouse where we have about 15 shows saved in entirety. Some are big shows like How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and The Wizard of Oz, and some are smaller shows like Pinocchio, or Snowy Day.
Other times, we will save specific pieces of the show that we think might be useful for something in the future. Recently, we saved the large scoreboard that we built for Abominables for just that reason. If we do a sports-related show, that piece might be really useful, and then we don’t have to rebuild it.
But often, when a show is over we chop up the pieces of scenery and throw them away. We recycle as much as we can, but sometimes it’s not cost effective or time effective to save it.
If you ever see something in a show that you think you may want after the show is over, please contact us! If we can, we are always happy to give things to people that will use them instead of turning them into dumpster food!
Interesting fact: The scenery, costumes, and props for How the Grinch Stole Christmas were actually built in 1994, and we are still using the same pieces from the original production! Each time we remount the show, we clean up the pieces, fix anything that has gotten damaged, and put it back together onstage. The costumes are fitted to the new actors, and the show goes on! We work hard to stay as true to the original production as possible.
“Was all the talking live or some/all were recorded?”— Aryan, 10 years old
Sten Severson, Sound Director: Theater is at its best when it is live in front of an audience. There is nothing like the give and take between the actors and the audience to establish an emotional connection and give a story it’s heart. In the How the Grinch Stole Christmas, the actors are speaking live every time you see them onstage. The only times where we have recorded voices is when it is physically impossible for them to speak. For instance, during the Ride Down Mount Krumpit two student actors are playing the parts of The Grinch and Max on a miniature sleigh suspended in the air. During this scene the adult voices are recorded and the student actors pretend to speak the lines. We also recorded the cast saying: “And we’ll ratchet you!” at the very end of the song “Whatchamawho” in order to synchronize the voices with the video playback but everything up until that point is all live!
“Was music live or recorded?” — Aryan, 10 years old
Sten Severson, Sound Director: The next time you see a musical at Children’s Theatre Company, take a look down into the pit. That’s the area in front of the stage where the orchestra plays. It’s called the “Pit” because it is lower than the stage, almost like the orchestra is playing in a hole or pit. For How the Grinch Stole Christmas you’ll see our musical director playing a keyboard and conducting an orchestra that includes a violin, a cello, a double bass, a flute, a clarinet and a percussionist who plays about twenty different drums, bells and mallet instruments. We always have a live orchestra for our musicals and even some of our plays. Every production requires a different mix of instruments, for The Wiz we will have a guitarist and two brass players in the pit instead of strings and woodwinds. Sometimes the orchestra doesn’t play in the pit at all, we’re looking forward to The Lorax this spring and most of the band will be up on a platform behind the actors but sometimes they will walk around and play right in the middle of the action!
