SYNOPSIS

ACT ONE

A strange and fantastic red-and-white striped top hat  appears on an empty stage, full of possibilities. A Boy enters and is drawn  toward the magical hat. The Cat in the Hat suddenly materializes. "I can  see that you've got quite a mind for your age," quips the Cat as he/she  begins singing about the power of imagination ("Oh The Thinks You Can  Think"). Throughout the song, famous characters are introduced who will  figure in the musical: Horton the Elephant, Gertrude McFuzz--the bird with the  one feather tail, the Whos of Whoville--including the Mayor and his Wife,  General Genghis Kahn Schmitz, Mayzie La Bird, the Sour Kangaroo and the  Citizens of the Jungle of Nool. As the energizing opening number comes to a  close, the Boy and the Cat use their imaginations to transport everyone to the  Jungle of Nool, and the adventures begin.

Horton is splashing in a pool when he hears a distant cry  for help. ("Horton Hears A Who"). He follows the sound to a tiny spec  of dust floating through the air, and realizes that there are people living  here, so small they can't be seen-- the tiny citizens of Whoville. Horton vows  to help them and places Whoville safely onto a soft clover, just as Sour  Kangaroo and her baby arrive. The Sour Kangaroo thinks Horton is crazy for  talking to a speck of dust and she and the rest of the Jungle Citizens mock him  for his delusions. ("Biggest Blame Fool"). The rascally Wickersham  Brothers--a cool group of bad-boy monkeys--join in the fun of teasing Horton.  The Cat in the Hat weaves through the number, taking on the persona of a talk  show host, who interviews everyone in the jungle, including Mayzie La Bird and  her backup group of Bird Girls. The one person who stands up for Horton is his  neighbor, Gertrude McFuzz, who is not noticed by anyone, most of all Horton.

Horton is left alone, and discovers much more about the Whos  and their tiny town of Whoville  ("Here On Who"). He assures them of his belief that "a person's  a person no matter how small." The Cat in the Hat, who is continuously  present, throws the Boy into the story, and he becomes JoJo, son to Mr. and  Mrs. Mayor of Whoville. They are both very unhappy with Jojo because his "Thinks'  have gotten him into trouble at school. 

Jojo is scolded and told to "take your bath and go to bed."  but the Cat in the Hat has another idea, and Jojo's imagination gets the better  of him again.  ("Oh, The Thinks You  Can Think - Reprise") Magically, his bathtub becomes McEligott's Pool, full  of fantastical fish ("It's Possible")! The fun is interrupted when Mr. and  Mrs. Mayor rush in--Jojo has flooded the house with bathwater. With Jojo  finally in bed, his parents lament the change in him since his "Thinks"  began ("How To Raise A Child"). The Cat in the Hat gives them an idea  to help solve Jojo's problem.

The next morning, Mr.  and Mrs. Mayor introduce their son to General Genghis Kahn Schmitz ("The  Military"). They feel the rigors of military school will straighten out  their unusual son.

After a long and very tough first day at military school,  Jojo sits alone in his bunk. Simultaneously, Horton sits alone guarding the  clover ("Alone In The Universe"). Horton and Jojo hear each other and  become friends when they realize their imaginations are so much alike--"one true  friend in the universe who believes in me."

In another part of the jungle, Gertrude has just written her  four hundred and thirty-seventh love song about Horton ("The One Feather  Tail Of Miss Gertrude McFuzz"). She believes Horton doesn't notice her  because of her pathetically small and uninteresting tail. Mayzie appears with  her Bird Girls, and offers advice ("Amayzing Mayzie") and this leads  Gertrude to Doctor Dake (played by the Cat in the Hat) and his pills for 'amayzing'  feathers. After taking too many pills, Gertrude is very happy as her tail  begins to grow ("Amayzing Gertrude"), but the Cat in the Hat warns  that trouble is brewing.

The Wickersham Brothers are up to no good ("Monkey  Around") and they decide to steal the clover with Whoville on it. They  ambush Horton, grab the clover, and  "Chasing  The Whos" begins, as the monkeys tease Horton and he huffs and puffs after  them all over the Jungle of Nool. The Cat in the Hat plays a helicopter  newscaster, tracking the chase.

The Wickershams hand off the clover to "a black-bottomed  eagle named Vlad Vladikoff" who flies off with the clover and drops it. As the  clover plummets toward the ground, the Cat in the Hat freezes the action for a  blithe, ironic song ("How Lucky You Are"). The Cat unfreezes the  action and the Whos drop directly into an enormous field of clover.

Horton begins looking for the Whos, clover by clover by  clover. Gertrude has followed the chase and arrives with her now incredibly  long and unwieldy tail, determined to tell Horton how she truly feels  ("Notice Me, Horton"). But Horton doesn't notice her at all, and just  continues looking for the Whos. Gertrude leaves, rejected and sad.

Mayzie La Bird calls to him from her nest in a tree. She's  bored to death, ("How Lucky You Are - Reprise") and she convinces  Horton to sit on the nest for her while she takes a brief vacation  ("Horton Sits On The Egg").

Seasons pass and Horton is still stuck sitting on the egg,  the Whos are still lost in the clover and Gertrude still cannot get Horton to  notice her or her very long tail. Hunters suddenly arrive and capture Horton  and the egg. Gertrude is unable to help because her tail is so large, she can  no longer fly. Chaos begins but once again, the Cat freezes the tableau and  Horton, Gertrude, the Cat and all the Whos send the audience out to intermission  ("How Lucky You Are - Second Reprise"). Just before doom strikes, the  curtain comes down.

ACT TWO

As the orchestra tunes up, we realize that the conductor is  the Cat in the Hat. The music becomes increasingly wild and out of  control--pages fly, the baton goes crazy, the Cat does his/her tricks and  finally regains control so Act Two can start. ("Seussical  Entr'Acte").

The Boy questions the Cat about the future of Horton, the  egg and JoJo, but the Cat just sends the Boy back into the story as Jojo, and  we segue to three little scenes, reprising Act One:  Horton is still surrounded by hunters as he  sits on Mayzie's egg; though the tiny town of Whoville was damaged in the  "fall", the military school continues to march. Jojo marches,  wondering what the point of marching is when their world is in ruins. And back  in the jungle, Gertrude is extremely worried about Horton, but can hardly walk  without help because her tail is so long and heavy.

Now the action begins, as Horton, still on the tree nest, is  carried away by the hunters ("Egg, Nest and Tree"). After a long,  arduous journey, Horton arrives in New    York where he is auctioned off to the circus. The "Seusseby's  auctioneer" is played by the Cat, and allows the audience to bid on Horton.

The Cat then plays Mr. McGurkus, and introduces us to his  fantastical circus with Horton as his main attraction ("The Circus  McGurkus"). As the circus travels across the country, Horton worries about  Jojo and Whoville and wonders when Mayzie will return to her egg; ("The  Circus On Tour/How Lucky You Are - Reprise").

The circus lands in Palm    Beach, where we find Mayzie under a palm tree  bemoaning the monotony of vacationing ("Mayzie In Palm Beach"). She  decides she needs a change of scenery and heads to the circus, where she runs  into Horton.

He begs her to take back her egg, but Mayzie decides Horton  would be a better parent for her egg than she could ever be ("Amayzing  Horton"), so she gives him the egg for good, and leaves before he can say  no. Horton accepts the responsibility of caring for the egg ("Alone In The  Universe - Reprise"), even though he worries about JoJo and the Whos. He  sings the egg a lullaby ("Solla Sollew") that is echoed by JoJo and  Mr. and Mrs. Mayor.

The next morning, General Schmitz and his military cadets  head off to war to fight the 'Butter Side Downers' who eat  their bread the wrong way ("Green Eggs and Ham II"). JoJo confronts  the General about the ridiculousness of the war and quits, marching off in the  direction of a minefield. We hear an extremely loud explosion, and Jojo is gone.

Back in Whoville, the Christmas pageant is under way, led by  the Grinch ("The Whos' Christmas Pageant"). General Schmitz suddenly  enters with his cadets and approaches Mr. and Mrs. Mayor with horrible news  ("A Message From The Front/Solla Sollew - Reprise"). JoJo has been  lost in the war--a war which has become questionable in everyone's eyes.

The Cat helps us discover that Jojo has survived, but is  confused and lost ("Alone In The Universe"). Frightened, Jojo blames  the Cat for all his troubles. The Cat helps him find his way home to the arms  of his parents by listening to his own Hunches. ("Havin' A Hunch").

Far away at the circus, Gertrude finally finds Horton asleep  in his cage. She has gotten rid of her unwieldy tail and has journeyed great distances  and through much peril ("All For You") to find and rescue him. At the end of  her number, she mentions one more thing--she also has found the Whos' clover!  Horton finally notices that Gertrude is amazing.

But just as Horton finds the Whos again, the Sour Kangaroo  and the Wickersham Brothers arrive and make a citizen's arrest . They take  Horton back to the Jungle of Nool, where he is put on trial, "for talking to a  speck and sitting on an egg." The trial begins ("The People Versus Horton  The Elephant"). Judge Yertle the Turtle sentences Horton to the Nool  Asylum for the Criminally Insane, and sentences the speck of dust to be boiled  in oil. Horton trumpets his protest, and tells the Whos they must yell to be  heard. They have to prove they exist, and there's no time to lose!

The Whos scream and make as much noise as they can, but  still, only Horton can hear them. Suddenly, Jojo comes up with a Think: a new  word to shout that will be heard by everyone-YOPP! At the last minute, all the  animals of Nool hear Jojo's cry and Whoville is saved. Just then, the egg  begins to crack--all gather around as the new baby emerges--and they are  astonished to see that it's...an Elephant Bird! Horton looks to Gertrude for  help, realizing that she is his "one true friend in the universe," and she  agrees: "You teach him earth and I will teach him sky." A new and very unusual  family is formed.

As the show ends and all are united, the Cat hints that many  more adventures are likely to occur "if you open your mind, oh, the thinks  you will find" ("Oh, The Thinks You Can Think - Reprise").  All the characters vanish, leaving The Boy  alone onstage with the red and white striped hat which embodies his limitless imagination.  As he puts it on, it falls over his eyes putting the stage into BLACKOUT!