Twas the night before Christmas, and all were snug in their beds, while nightmares of synthetic Who noses danced in their head.
“Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch Musical Live” premiered Dec. 9 on NBC. The new adaptation of Dr. Seuss’ “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” was heavily critiqued before it aired and received even further backlash after its premiere. While I think it was odd and probably unnecessary in the first place, there were some cute moments.
The story was narrated by “Old Max,” the Grinch’s dog, played by Denis O’Hare. I thought it was an interesting choice to have the dog narrate, but I didn’t actually enjoy the material they wrote for O’Hare. I’m sure he’s a great actor, but fully grown men should not have to crawl on the floor in a dog costume. Personally, I’m still mentally recovering from the last time I had to watch people crawl around in furry suits in the latest “Cats” movie, and frankly, I find it a little insensitive “The Grinch” would do this to us in another year.
The fact that Old Max narrates the story is also where the plot gets a little confusing. The song “This Time of Year” takes you through a sequence where you meet Max in different stages of his life from being a puppy, to a teenage dog and an adult dog. The sequence ends at the adult dog, “Young Max” played by Booboo Stewart, which is the Max that’s by the Grinch’s side for the remainder of the musical. However, the older dog (Old Max), is narrating the story the whole time.
Giving the dog a backstory is all fun and games, but this particular telling has inconsistencies. Throughout the musical, characters make little jokes about social distancing and other allusions to 2020 that lead the audience to believe it’s set in the present day amidst the pandemic. But since “Old Max” is looking back and reflecting on his younger years as “Young Max” and appears in many scenes at the same time as the younger adult version of himself, it means that the old narrator version of Max is…from the future?! And if he is, that’s a major plot point that went unacknowledged! Furthermore, if time travel becomes possible in the future, why would anyone in their right mind choose to relive 2020?!
Another thing I thought was weird was that the makeup designer only used the pointy synthetic Who noses for the adults. This choice implies the pointy noses are not something Who babies are born with, rather, something they develop in puberty. I don’t know where I’m going with this, I just thought I should point that out.
The third and biggest believability issue I noticed is that all of the couples were wearing matching outfits AND appeared to be extremely happy while doing so. I don’t know about the Whos, but in my experience with my boyfriend, those two things are mutually exclusive.
I suppose we must talk about the elephant—I mean…Grinch in the room: Matthew Morrison. If there’s one thing 2020 doesn’t need, it’s a Grinch with sex appeal. Morrison portrayed “The Grinch” as if he were a rock star, making the character his own with lots of hip thrusting and weird moaning. I get he hates the Whos, but he apparently loves Elvis, imitating his persona and not realizing his target audience is children.
All jokes aside, it was heartwarming and surreal to watch large group musical numbers performed without masks after so long. I found the opening number and all of the ensemble numbers extremely charming. Even more charming was “Cindy Lou,” played by Amelia Minto.
In “Santa for a Day,” Cindy Lou sings to the Grinch dressed up as Santa about how he must be lonely being by himself on Christmas. The lyrics “Sometimes when you’re all alone / Christmas and there’s no one home” rang true for many this holiday season who didn’t attend regular family gatherings. The song continues, “Even when we’re far apart / You’ve done something to my heart.” The song is sweet and poignant and reminds us that we’re loved, even if we may feel lonely at times.
So overall, the Grinch didn’t end up stealing Christmas, but the musical did steal two hours of our time we’ll never get back. Haha, I kid! Mostly. I did think the adaptation was cute. It definitely deserved the criticism it received, but at the end of the day, it was nice to watch a live musical, and for that I am thankful.
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