The Grinch Musical just not worth your time
In the decades that followed its publication, Dr. Seuss’ original book How the Grinch Stole Christmas became an iconic part of the holiday canon. The story’s timeless message, its unique visuals, and its fun rhymes made it an immediate favorite for audiences both young and old. Now that the Grinch has become an icon of the season, it is no wonder that we have so much additional Grinch related media outside of the original story. This year, as if we all haven’t been through enough, writer Simon Nye decided to make a two- hour musical based off of the original Grinch story. Just a reminder, that original story probably has fewer words in it than this review does. So, how would a studio manage to stretch out such a short text into a musical that can last for a whole two hours? By stretching out every scene to an uncomfortable degree without adding anything of substance to the timeless Dr. Seuss tale it’s based on, of course. In spite of its length, there is nothing new that this musical does that works. It is a bloated and unsettling take on a beloved story. Without further ado, let’s check whether or not Dr. Seuss is spinning in his grave yet by reviewing Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch Musical.
The story of this musical shares the same basic framework as the original story it is based on. There lives a grumpy creature called the Grinch ( Matthew Morrison) who decides to steal all of the Christmasrelated items from the town of Whoville in order to ruin their holiday festivities. However, this musical stretches out every sentence of that story by using some of the most uninspired musical numbers this side of Cats ( 2019). Here’s how every scene works in this Grinch musical. A character will say a line of dialogue or two. Then, there will be a five- minute long song about why they love or hate Christmas. Then, a different character will say a line of dialogue or two. Then, there will be a five- minute long song about why they love or hate Christmas. Repetition is the name of the game in this adaptation. Every single thing a character says seems to get repeated and repeated until it feels like the movie is drilling that idea into your head. It is not enough for the Grinch to say he doesn’t like Christmas in this musical. Instead, he needs to say four times that he doesn’t like Christmas and then sing two different songs about that same subject. It’s clear the writers were stuck without enough material to make a full- length musical. So, I must ask, why not just write a shorter musical? Would anyone have been sorely disappointed if the 2020 Grinch Musical was only 30 minutes or even an hour long? Look back on the original cartoon special starring Boris Karloff. That was barely a half hour and it remains a classic. It knows the story it is trying to tell. So, it tells that story with a couple of unique songs that ooze absurd creativity worthy of a Seuss book. Then, it ends. What a novel concept.
What makes this aimless amount of time all the more challenging is the peculiar series of performances from the musical’s cast. Matthew Morrison’s portrayal of the Grinch is oddly charged with a swagger that makes watching his scenes uncomfortable rather than silly. He is not grumpy, he is creepy. Everything from the way he does pelvic thrusts at children down to the way he hisses certain words comes off as off- putting. That is one thing you don’t want a children’s character to be. It’s one thing to make a character kind of dislikable like the original Grinch was. However, it sucks all of the fun out of a musical when the main character acts like they shouldn’t be allowed near children. They also decided to make the Grinch’s
dog Max ( Booboo Stewart) something of a protagonist in this film. He’s a grown man in a dog suit who crawls around the Grinch while also constantly objecting to the Grinch’s rude deeds. This adds to the creepiness of the film as we watch a fully grown man crawl around the stage on all fours and beg to be pet and receive belly rubs. Watching him interact with the Grinch gives me the feeling of accidentally walking in on something I shouldn’t have.
As for how appropriate this oddity is, I would say there isn’t much to worry about in technical terms. There isn’t any swearing or violence or anything else of that sort. However, I can’t get past the bizarre creepy tone the musical has. I’m not sure whether that tone would affect children or not. Regardless, the musical is technically suitable for all ages.
The Grinch Musical is an obviously half thought attempt at a holiday cash- grab. It’s clear none of the people
involved actually had any passion or ideas to make this something special. So, the result is a musical that is incredibly boring. The only times when it isn’t boring are when it is unintentionally creepy. The odd portrayals of these timeless characters end up betraying everything that made this story such a classic in the first place. If you have a craving to watch this musical, I would highly recommend you watch the original 1966 cartoon instead. The cartoon is better than this new adaptation in every way, and it is shorter to boot. I wish all of you a Merry Christmas. You deserve it.
Overall Grade – F ( An upsetting waste of time)