The Stuart Family: Gertrude McFuzz

Katelyn had the opportunity to star in the Hollywood Kids production of Suessical The Musical, Jr. She played the leading lady, Gertrude McFuzz, the plain bird with the one-feathered tail that secretly crushes on Horton, the Elephant.

I had never heard of Suessical the Musical before and was pleasantly surprised at the creative plot and catchy music. It was a darling story with characters from the books of Dr. Suess. Unfortunately we couldn't record the performance so I took a million pictures instead. Katelyn did a wonderful job and it makes me so proud to watch her coming out of her shell as a performer. She loves to sing and act and is getting better and better with every performance. Great job, sweetheart!

The story is as follows:
The Cat in the Hat is the narrator and the story begins in the Jungle of Nool where Horton the Elephant hears a strange noise coming from a speck of dust. He rescues the speck and places it on a clover to guard.

JoJo and The Cat in the Hat

The other animals mock him, except for Gertrude McFuzz, who admires his compassion and begins to fall in love with him. Horton hears the mysterious voice again, which belongs to the Mayor of "Who", a dust-speck planet covered with microscopic inhabitants called Whos. The Mayor and the Whos reveal their planet is so small and fragile they are constantly threatened with death, and beg Horton to help protect. His resolve strengthened, Horton promises he will guard the dust speck.

Coming to Horton's defense

The mayor's son, Jojo, is scolded for thinking "thinks", imaginary thoughts which disrupt his school classes and anger his teachers. Although he tries not to think thinks, he starts to imagine his bathtub is McElligot's pool where his thinks soon spiral out of control. Horton meets Jojo, with whom he bonds as a fellow social outcast.

Gertrude laments that her tail only has one feather, believing its sorry sight is the reason Horton is not noticing her. Mayzie La Bird, whose tail is enormous and dazzling, advises Gertrude to obtain pills from Doctor Dake, which Mayzie promises will make her tail "almost as amazing" as hers. Gertrude is so excited about her tail, she overdoses.

Singing "The One Feather Tail of Miss Gertrude McFuzz"

"Amayzing Mayzie"

The Pillbury Bush to help Gertrude's tail grow

Horton is ambushed by a group of mischievous monkeys, the Wickersham Brothers who steal the clover and drop it into a large patch of identical clovers. Horton looks for the clover, while Gertrude tries to attract his attention. Horton, however, is so intently focused on his mission of finding the clover that he does not notice her, and a dejected Gertrude retreats.

Singing "Notice Me, Horton!"

Mayzie LaBird, who has just been abandoned by her lover and left with an egg, interrupts Horton's search and begs him to sit on it so she can take an afternoon off. Horton reluctantly agrees, and Mayzie flies away, never to return. As winter approaches, Horton is captured by hunters. Gertrude makes an attempt to rescue him, but the size and weight of her new tail prevents her from flying.


"Notice anything different, Horton?" Gertrude asks.

Horton is transported to New York City and auctioned off to the Circus McGurkus, lamenting his sorry state. Mayzie is lazing about in Palm Beach, where she admits she tires of the monotony of sunbathing. She decides to attend the Circus, where she reunites with Horton and the egg. Horton pleads for her to take it back, but Mayzie refuses, and gives the egg to Horton to keep forever. Alone with the egg, a sorrowful Horton vows to nurture it himself and sings a lullaby about a magical world called Solla Sollew.

At the Circus, Gertrude reappears and frees a bewildered Horton. She has swallowed her pride, got her tail feathers plucked, and flew across the world to rescue Horton and find the Whos' clover. Ecstatic that the Whos are finally safe, Horton begins to fall in love with Gertrude.

Getting her tail-feathers plucked!

However, their happiness is crushed as the Sour Kangaroo and the Wickersham Brothers drag Horton back to the Jungle of Nool, and put him on trial for the crimes of "talking to a speck of dust and loitering on an egg". Gertrude and Horton make a stand at the trial, but in vain; Yertle the Turtle orders the clover to be boiled in a kettle of beezlenut oil. Aghast, Horton begs the Whos to shout to prove their existence, which nearly fails until Jojo comes up with a "think": the word "YOPP" whose peculiar sound is just enough to reach the jungle creatures' ears. The court acquits Horton and the Sour Kangaroo repents, swearing that she will help Horton protect the Whos. In Whoville, Jojo is honored as "Thinker Non-Stop" and finally wins the appreciation of his parents.

Katelyn's friend, Bria, was the Sour Kangaroo and did a wonderful job being sassy and mean!

Awaiting Horton's fate from Yertle the Turtle, the judge

The egg hatches, and a tiny "Elephant-Bird" emerges. Horton panics, realizing he can't handle flying progeny, but Gertrude promises him that as Horton "teaches him earth", she will "teach him sky". They agree to raise the child together and live happily ever after.