Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas

With the blessings of the estate of the late children’s author Theodore Geisel (a.k.a. “Dr. Seuss”), a musical based on Geisel’s book How the Grinch Stole Christmas was first staged in Minneapolis in 1994. The book had previously been dramatized as a 30-minute animated television special, narrated by Boris Karloff and featuring songs composed by Albert Hague with lyrics provided by Dr. Seuss himself. Two of the songs were included in the Broadway version. Grinch proved extremely popular and was brought back for seasonal revivals, with an annual production running in San Diego beginning in 1998. In 2006, it was produced for Broadway by Maximum Entertainment producer Avram C. Freedberg. With 12 performances a week, the most of any Broadway show up to that time, Grinch soon topped Wicked’s streak of 100 consecutive weeks as the top-grossing weekly musical. One year later, the show was brought back for a return engagement, but striking stagehands halted production on its second day. Nearly two weeks later, with Broadway’s labor problems settled, the show resumed its run. In its second season, Ed Dixon replaced John Cullum as Old Max and Athena Ripka replaced Nicole Bocchi as one of the rotating Cindy Lou Whos.

Music

Mel Marvin

Lyrics

Timothy Mason

Book

Timothy Mason