The daily routine for the child actors of The Grinch (who play Cindy Lou and Annie Who in this year’s national tour of Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas, coming to the Broward Center December 15-27, 2016) is quite different from the life of a normal grade schooler.
Rachel Katzke is a fourth grader who plays Cindy Lou Who and Stephanie Ticas, a fifth grader, plays Annie Who. The girls have very busy schedules while on tour. We had the chance to speak with both child actors of The Grinch and find out about their daily routines…
Chid Actors of The Grinch: Daily Routines
9:00 AM: Because we are usually up late after the evening show, we sleep in every morning. After waking up, we eat breakfast and get dressed.
10:00 AM: We usually start tutoring each morning at 10. At each theatre, we have tutoring in a room that is dedicated to our educations called “Schoolville.” We spend four hours there each weekday (except on the days we travel) and work on our schoolwork. Our tutor, Gina, works directly with our regular teachers and gets our homework and class work assignments from them. Since we don’t have much time, we work hard to finish everything we need to.
2:00 PM: After school we have lunch and either relax in our rooms or do something fun like swim in the hotel pool until it’s time to go to the theatre. Once in a while, we go on a field trip with our tutor. In Detroit, Michigan, we visited the Ford Museum. In Appleton, Wisconsin, we visited the History Museum at the Castle and learned about Houdini. In Jacksonville, Florida, we visited the zoo!
5:00 PM: Before every show, our moms get us ready for the show. They put our hair in something called pin curls and wig caps. This makes our hair ready for our amazing wigs!
6:30 PM: One hour before showtime, we meet our wrangler at the stage door. She takes us to our dressing rooms where our makeup artist puts on our makeup and wig. Our dresser – we have a different one in each city – helps us in to our costumes.
7:25 PM: Five minutes before the show, the entire cast does something called a “whoodle.” One person in the cast calls out a motivating word like “energetic” or “spirit.” We then put our hands all together in a circle and yell out the word together. This gets everyone excited to perform. We are really like one big family. Then it’s SHOWTIME!
7:30 – 9:00 PM: It is so much fun to perform in front of thousands of people. The cast members look out for each other on stage. Working with professional adult actors and actresses as well as the directors has helped us learn so much about acting, singing and dancing. It is also so much fun.
9:05 PM: After getting out of our costumes, we meet our moms at the stage door. We usually eat dinner after the show since we are hungry and much too energized to go to bed. Sometimes we watch a movie or TV show after the show or we might go for a swim if the hotel has a pool.
11:30 PM – midnight: We go to bed late on tour. But, since we are so tired, we sleep really well every night!
The Grinch broke box office records for two consecutive years on Broadway during its holiday engagements at the St. James and Hilton theaters in New York. Since then, more than 1.2 million theater-goers across America have been delighted by this heart warming holiday musical, which the Gannett papers hailed as “A genius of a show! A total delight for both kids and adults.”
Dr. Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical features magnificent sets designed by John Lee Beatty and costumes designed by Robert Morgan, inspired by Dr. Seuss’ original book, while the Music and Book of Mel Marvin and Timothy Mason breathe new life into this timeless story.
The 2015 production is directed by Matt August and choreographed by Bob Richard, based on the original choreography by John DeLuca and originally created by three-time Tony Award® winning director, Jack O’Brien.
