Monday, November 18, 2019

Monday Mashups: The Magic of Dr. Seuss

Who wouldn't want to spend a day in Whoville or pass the time learning from the Lorax? Or eat some green eggs and ham?

In The Cat in the Hat room, guests can pick up and play with all the objects on the floor. Eventually, as the items are placed into bins, the bins explode, tossing the objects around the room.

Proving the enduring appeal of Dr. Seuss and his whimsical creations is a new immersive attraction based on the world of Dr. Seuss in Toronto. And in Los Angeles, Netflix celebrated the premiere of its Green Eggs & Ham series with a colorful event.

According to BizBash, "The Dr. Seuss Experience," located in a 15,000-square-foot former Sport Chek location at Mississauga’s Square One Shopping Centre, comes from Kilburn Live, the live events division of Kilburn Media in conjunction with Dr. Seuss Enterprises. Running until January 5, 2020, the interactive experience invites fans of all ages to participate in a nostalgic and whimsical journey.

While the attraction is earning buzz as a family-friendly version of Yayoi Kusama’s “Infinity Mirrors” exhibit at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Kilburn Live C.E.O. Mark Manuel noted differences. “There is a trend for Instagrammable exhibits,” he said. “We wanted to build on this by bringing a fully immersive and interactive experience to the marketplace. The idea was to take the visually stunning aspects of these exhibits and make them more active and thematic.”

A room inspired by How the Grinch Stole Christmas invites guests to divide into teams and find gifts in the room.

The experience offered parents and educators opportunities for teachable moments using messages from each book. Each room displays a quote from the books on the walls. In the Lorax room, “I speak for the trees, I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues,” makes a reference to the importance of protecting the environment, while in the Sneetches room, the quote “the day they decided that Sneetches are Sneetches, and no kind of Sneetch is the best on the beaches,” underlines the value of inclusion. Manual explained: “We purposefully tried to avoid overt teaching moments and be respectful of how each person wishes to spend their free time.”

Each room has a theme that designers wanted to feel “instantly recognizable as the story on which it is based, while also feeling new and unique.” While the finished space has been under construction for over a year, Manuel shares, it took three years from ideation to creation and installation. The finished product combines high-tech audiovisual components with sculptures built by fabricators and artisans from all over North America.

Since the exhibit opened in October, Manuel shares that many families have come to the exhibit, but it’s the adults who seem to be having the most fun. Once the show wraps in Toronto, Kilburn Live has plans for a North American tour with stops in Boston, Seattle, Houston, and other cities.

Life-size Sneetches immerse people in the tale about diversity and inclusion.

In the U.S., meanwhile, another fun Dr. Seuss-inspired event took place on November 3. The premiere for Netflix's new Green Eggs & Ham series took place at Hollywood Post 43 in Los Angeles. In addition to a screening, the event offered a family-friendly outdoor experience with on-theme games, snacks, and photo ops.

Series stars, including Diane Keaton, Ilana Glazer, Adam Devine, and Keegan-Michael Key, walked the green carpet, which featured mechanical arms holding skillets and plates of—what else?—green eggs and ham. Outdoors, the venue's parking lot was transformed into "Meepville"; attendees could take photos in a "Chickeraffe cage," make friendship bracelets, and play with building blocks at "Guy's Invention Park." Netflix's in-house events team worked with experiential agency Rock&Paper on the event.

In the If I Ran the Circus room, visitors can hop a ride on the working carousel.

In the wise words of Dr. Seuss, "The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go." That is surely true in this case! We hope you've read this place and will devour the details of another place to go. We'll see this cast of characters in Boston!

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