From Broadway to Leawood, It’s a Very Small World

June 29, 2021

From Broadway to Leawood, It’s a Very Small World – Leawood Stage Company Presents “Seussical”

Check out Seussical, a free family show in Leawood

Leawood Stage Company is thrilled to be performing live again this summer! LSC welcomes back Chris McCoy as the Director of Seussical, a family friendly musical based on the works of Dr. Seuss. McCoy has assembled a stellar cast and crew to bring the world of Dr. Seuss to life for our Leawood audience! In the 23-year history of LSC, this might be one of the most talented groups to grace our stage as several members of the Seussical cast and crew have connections to Broadway.

In the summer of 2013, our very own Chris McCoy spent time working as the Assistant Director to a new Broadway musical, Soul Doctor, that ran at The Circle in the Square Theatre in New York City. McCoy’s directorial style is dedicated to presenting classic American musicals with modern sensibilities.

In addition to his Broadway directing credit, McCoy has directed other popular summer musical productions for LSC including: The Music Man (2007), Guys & Dolls (2010), Hello, Dolly! (2014), and Annie (2017). Chris McCoy, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Theatre at William Jewell College where he also serves as the Artistic Director for Jewell Theatre Company.

Seussical’s Costume Designer, Scotty Wiggins, lived in New York for fifteen years and worked for John Kristiansen New York, Inc. (JKNY Inc.) where they create costumes for all forms of professional performing arts including Broadway, Off Broadway, Regional and Touring productions, Live Events (Disney on Ice, Ringling Bros., Cher Farewell Tour), Dance, and Opera. Additionally, JKNY Inc. creates costumes for film and television.

During his tenure at JKNY Inc., Wiggins worked in the costume department sourcing materials, swatching, and archiving design plans for future recreation of costumes. This incredibly talented and creative costume designer has been in the Kansas City area for three years and works as an Adjunct Professor and Guest Artist Costume Designer for William Jewell College.

To build a specific costume piece that you will see on stage in LSC’s production of Seussical, Wiggins reached out to Brittany Church, a former co-worker at JKNY Inc., to build a special puppet for Seussical. Church works in the crafts department creating hats and sculpted costume pieces. Upon informing Church this piece was for a LSC production, Wiggins was amazed at how small the world truly is when he learned Church was in the LSC cast of Music Man in 2007 with Chris McCoy as her director.

Wiggins is returning to New York in 2022 to costume a show for The Heights Players, Brooklyn’s longest-running sustaining community theater. Coincidentally, Erin Coleman, a member of the Adult Ensemble in Seussical, has performed with The Heights Players and, to Wiggins’ delight, has even been in a show with his partner.

LSC is pleased to welcome Erin Coleman back to our stage after an eight-year hiatus. Her last performance with us was the 2012 production of Fiddler on the Roof. Her first community theatre appearance was in LSC’s 2007 production of Brigadoon, providing the catalyst for Coleman to perform in three more LSC productions.

Since then, Coleman has been living in New York City and has continued to participate in community theatre performing with the St. Jean’s Players and The Heights Players.

Coleman says, “The quality of community theatre in Kansas City is the best in the country.” She loves New York but misses her community theatre family here. Coleman is participating in Seussical while spending the summer visiting relatives in the Kansas City area. Both she and her husband are working virtually while they spend their summer with us, and both are happy to be spending time with family after being apart for nearly two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Delilah Pellow is another familiar face at LSC who was last seen on our stage playing Molly in the 2017 production of Annie with her sister, Josephine Pellow, playing the title role. Following that performance, Delilah performed on Broadway as Little Anastasia in Anastasia. She was with the show on Broadway for a year and then spent an additional eight months on tour.

Delilah Pellow is another familiar face at LSC who was last seen on our stage playing Molly in the 2017 production of Annie with her sister, Josephine Pellow, playing the title role. Following that performance, Delilah performed on Broadway as Little Anastasia in Anastasia.

Following that performance, Delilah performed on Broadway as Little Anastasia in Anastasia. She was with the show on Broadway for a year and then spent an additional eight months on tour.

Both Pellow sisters are homeschooled and lived in New York with their mother during the run of Anastasia. While Delilah was in rehearsals or shows, Jo was able to immerse herself in the NYC culture by seeing every show on Broadway.

The Pellow family returned to Kansas City just before the pandemic forced Broadway to go dark. Seussical has been a great way to return to theatre while the world begins to reopen. They had previously enjoyed their experience working with Leawood Stage Company and Chris McCoy, so participating in this production seemed to be a perfect fit.

Both Anastasia and Seussical were written by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens. The sisters have noticed the stylistic similarities between the shows and may even see some similarities in the quality of their costumes as JKNY Inc., created Delilah’s costumes for Anastasia.

Seussical, will feature a cast of actors of all ages and audiences will be amazed to find LSC presents the highest quality, free theatre in the Kansa City area. This show will be enjoyed by people of all ages and is a great way to introduce young audiences to the performing arts. Bring the entire family to beautiful Ironwoods Park and enjoy a free night of theatre under the stars. We will take every precaution necessary to keep audience members socially distanced for the safety of all at performances.

Leawood Stage Company, in cooperation with The Leawood Parks and Recreation Department, presents Seussical, a family friendly musical based on the works of Dr. Seuss, July 9, 10 ,11 & 15, 16, 17 at 8:00 p.m. at the Ironwoods Amphitheatre in Ironwoods Park, at 147th and Mission Road.

Some seating is available at the amphitheater; however, we recommend bringing a blanket and/or lawn chairs. Picnics are welcome but alcohol is not allowed in the park. Light concessions are available for purchase. There will be a minimum purchase of $5 for credit/debit cards at the concession stand. Dogs are welcome but must be leashed, and we request they not disturb the audience members around them. For show cancellations due to weather, check our show page or our Facebook Page.