Avenue Seuss

Avenue Seuss is an Avenue Q musical special with songs from Seussical.

Plot
It was a very rainy day in Avenue Q, and the Avenue Q gang (consisting of Stephanie, Bean, Matilda, Olive, Princeton, Kate Monster, Julian, Lucy, Nicky, Rod, Cinderelmo, Ginger, Kieran, Lizzie, Trumplet, Joan, Angelita, Terry, Henry, Eric, Parker, Alys, Pinkie, Dot, Milo, Luckl-Duckl Bird, Sparra Bird, Speck, Stacey Weingarten, Rue, the Puzzle Place Kids, Allegra, Lindi, Rondo, Riff, Poco, Kanga Roddy and Tackle Bear) and a Boy were all bored. Despite the fun potential things they could do in the room, they were not in the mood. There was nothing for them to do but sit in the apartment. But then, the Boy noticed something peculiar; an odd red-and-white-striped hat. He and the gang checked it out, wondering to whom it might belong. But then, Matilda realized who the hat belonged to and mentions the Cat in the Hat, who appeared before the Boy and the gang and told them he had been brought to life by the Boy's "Thinks". The Cat created the "Seussian" world and characters around the Avenue Q gang, the boy and himself ("Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!"), then revealed he was about to tell a story about someone as imaginative as the Boy and his friends are.

To begin the story, the Cat encouraged the Boy and the Avenue Q gang to think up the Jungle of Nool, where Horton the Elephant was bathing. Horton heard a strange noise coming from a nearby speck of dust, and reasoned that someone must be on it, calling out for help. He carefully placed the speck on a soft clover and decided to guard it ("Horton Hears a Who"), but was mocked mercilessly by the Sour Kangaroo and the other animals of the jungle, who did not believe him ("Biggest Blame Fool"). The only exceptions were Horton's bird neighbors, Gertrude McFuzz, who admired his compassion, and Mayzie LaBird, who is more concerned about herself.

Horton soon discovered that the speck was actually a microscopic planet populated by creatures called Whos. The citizens of Whoville introduce themselves and their yearly Christmas pageant directed by their friend the Grinch, but also revealed that in addition to being unable to control where the speck flies, they were on the brink of war and their entire population of Truffula Trees had been cut down ("Here on Who"). The Whos thanked Horton and asked for his protection, and he agreed to guard their planet.

At this point, the Cat pushed the Boy and the Q gang into the story; the Boy becomes Jojo, the son of the Mayor of Whoville and his wife. Jojo had been getting into trouble at school for having Thinks, so his parents ordered him to "take a bath and go to bed, and think some normal Thinks, instead." Jojo blamed the Cat for getting him into trouble and tried to send him away. The Cat refused and persuaded Jojo and the Q gang to imagine the tub was McElligot's Pool ("It's Possible"). Jojo inadvertently flooded the house, leading the Mayor and his wife to contemplate what to do with their son ("How to Raise a Child"). When the Cat handed them a brochure, they decided to send Jojo to a military school run by General Genghis Khan Schmitz, who was preparing to go to war with those who eat their bread with the butter side down ("The Military"). While there, Jojo and the Avenue Q gang met Horton, and found a mutual friend in him ("Alone in the Universe").

Gertrude, meanwhile, had fallen in love with Horton, but was afraid he does not notice her because of her own tail, which consisted of only "one droopy-droop feather" ("The One Feather Tail of Miss Gertrude McFuzz"). At the advice of Mayzie, whose tail was enormous and dazzling, she consumed pills which make her tail grow new feathers. Gertrude was so excited that she overdoses, causing her tail to grow long and unwieldy ("Amayzing Mayzie"/"Amazing Gertrude").

Horton was ambushed by the Wickersham brothers, a gang of delinquent monkeys, who stole the clover and made off with it ("Monkey Around"). Horton gave chase until the Wickershams handed the clover to an eagle named Vlad Vladikoff, who drops it into a large patch of identical clovers ("Chasing the Whos"). Here, the Cat cut briefly into the action to remind the audience how lucky they are to not be Horton ("How Lucky You Are"). Undeterred, Horton began to look for the clover, hoping the Whos are still alive, when Gertrude caught up with him and tried to get him to notice her new tail. Horton was too busy, so she left to take more pills ("Notice Me, Horton").

Horton was about to search his three millionth clover when he lost hope. Mayzie, sitting in a nearby tree, offered to help him forget about the Whos by hatching an egg that she was too lazy to care for ("How Lucky You Are (Reprise)"). Horton reluctantly agreed, and Mayzie left for a vacation. Horton sat through months of harsh weather as he tried to decide between the egg and the Whos ("Horton Sits on the Egg") before he was captured by hunters (Nicky and Rod), who took him away along with the entire tree. Gertrude tried to stop the hunters, but cannot fly due to her heavy tail.

The Cat closed the act with a reprise of "How Lucky You Are", and conducted the band during the intermission.

Act II Horton, still hatching the egg, was auctioned off to the traveling Circus McGurkus ("Egg, Nest, and Tree"/"Circus McGurkus"/"How Lucky You Are (Reprise)"). At one show in Palm Beach, he met up with Mayzie, who insisted that he keep the egg for himself before leaving ("Amayzing Horton"). Horton mourned the loss of the Whos, Jojo and the Avenue Q gang, but vowed just as surely to protect the egg, as it, too, was alone without its mother ("Alone in the Universe (Reprise)"), and sang it a lullaby with Jojo and the gang about a magical place called Solla Sollew. At the same time, the Mayor and his wife began to miss Horton and Jojo, and wished for Solla Sollew, as well ("Solla Sollew").

Jojo was with General Schmitz and his platoon as the Butter Battle commenced. Jojo deserted Schmitz, but sprinted into a minefield and vanished in an explosion. Schmitz assumed the worst and headed to Whoville to tell Jojo's parents that their son had died. The Cat returned to perform a reenactment of the dramatic scene. But in reality, Jojo had survived, but was lost with no idea of where to turn. The Cat appeared to him with a band of Hunches, encouraging him to use his Thinks to find his way home ("Havin' a Hunch"). Jojo did so and happily reunited with his parents, who forgave him for his Thinks.

Gertrude snuck into the circus to free Horton, explaining she plucked out all but one of her tail feathers to fly there, and confessed her love for him. She also revealed she had found his clover, delighting and relieving Horton to find the Whos alive and well ("All For You"). However, the Sour Kangaroo and the Wickersham brothers arrived to take Horton back to the jungle.

In the jungle, Horton is put on trial for the crimes of "talking to a speck, disturbing the peace, and loitering... on an egg" ("The People Versus Horton the Elephant"). Aided by Gertrude, Horton made his best case, but Judge Yertle the Turtle found him guilty. He ordered Horton remanded to the "Nool Asylum for the Criminally Insane" and the clover destroyed in a kettle of hot "Beezle-Nut" oil. Desperate, Horton encouraged the Whos along with the Avenue Q gang to make as much noise as possible to prove their existence, but the animals did not hear them. Jojo finally used his Thinks to conjure a new word, "Yopp", which he shouted loudly enough to reach the animals' ears. Convinced at last, the animals repented and promised to help protect the Whos, and Horton was acquitted. Jojo was accepted by his parents and the rest of Whoville as "Thinker Non-Stop" for saving their planet. At that very moment, Horton's egg hatched into a tiny flying "Elephant-Bird", amazing everyone, but dismaying Horton, who panicked at the thought of flying progeny. Gertrude reassured him that they could raise the child together, and they agreed to do so.

With the story finished, the Cat returned to close the show ("Finale"/"Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!"), then vanished along with the scenery, leaving his hat and the Avenue Q gang and Jojo, who was now the Boy again. The Boy picked the hat up, donned it, and said, "Seuss!" with the Q Gang saying "Seuss!" afterwards.

During the credits, everyone performed a number based on Green Eggs and Ham ("Green Eggs and Ham").

Trivia

 * The puppets from the Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss are all used for almost every single Dr. Seuss character. Some other Avenue Q characters are used to represent some of the Whos as well.