BWW Reviews: You're a Bastardization, Mr. GRINCH!

What in the name of Theodor Geisel were they thinking? Not since that deplorable live action film version have I seen a worse retelling of the classic Dr. Seuss tale as "How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical" currently playing at the Paramount.

It's mostly the same story you remember. The Grinch (Stefan Karl) hates Christmas and all the Whos down in Whoville. So he comes up with a plan to steal the Who's Christmas on Christmas Eve with the help of his dog Max (Andreas Wyder). But when he meets little Cindy-Lou Who (alternately played by Raleigh Shuck and Aviva Winick) and sees that the Whos care more about the spirit of Christmas than all the presents, his heart grows three sizes and he returns all their presents and food and joins them all for Christmas.

But in this musical version by writers Timothy Mason and Mel Marvin there are a few changes. In their version we're being told the story by an older version of Max (Bob Lauder) who is leaving town to retire. Retire from what I'm not sure. Being a dog? Anyway, the show starts off with him saying some of the iconic lines from the book and then going into Whoville where the Whos sing about why they love Christmas, for the presents and food. Um, no. We all know from the book and classic animated special that Christmas doesn't come from a store. Christmas means just a little bit more. Not in this town I guess. And if all that weren't enough to get Dr. Seuss to roll over in his grave, how about the inanely repetitive songs that are jammed into the story that are at best utterly forgettable and at worst really annoying. During one of the numbers where the Grinch is surrounded by Whos loudly playing with toys and instruments, I was on the Grinch's side that I wished they would just stop. Plus the book and lyrics just seem to drag out this quite short story by making the characters repeat iconic lines over and over again and stop all forward momentum of the story to sing a song to accentuate what they already said.

The performers do an OK job with this awful material. Lauder is quite loveable as Old Max and Wyder is adorably exuberant as his younger counterpart. And Cindy-Lou is cute but got a little overly done for me. And speaking of over-done, there's Karl as the titular villain who seems to be attempting to channel less Boris Karloff and more Jim Carrey. And for those of us who painfully sat through the film version I just wanted to scream what I thought during the movie, "Stop mugging and just tell the story!"

Mason has attempted to placate the kiddies even more by filling the story with tons of superfluous moments, topical references, and belching. And there's even a sexual innuendo or two for the parents forced to take their kids to this turd. But all of it, the moments for the adults or the kids, just seemed to talk down to the audience.

I questioned at the beginning of the article, "what were they thinking?" I think they were thinking, "How can we make a ton of money?" I mean it's a classic title that they can sell oodles of merchandise at (and they do). Now I'm all for capitalism. I mean you can shop at any number of Broadway or touring shows and I have. But don't just do the show for the almighty dollar and to sell me a stuffed Max doll especially at the expense of a beloved story. With my three letter rating system I have to split the rating a bit. For the kids, as there were a bunch that were enjoying it, I can give it a MEH but for the adults like me who want to see a good adaptation of one of their favorite Christmas tales, it gets a NAH. I'll just watch the animated special like I do every year and try and erase the memory of this violation of my childhood from my mind.

"How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical" performs at the Paramount Theatre through December 7th. For tickets or information visit Seattle Theatre Group online at www.stgpresents.org.

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