Come one, come all, to experience Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas The Musical, live on the Palace Theatre stage, Dec. 3-8. For more information and to purchase tickets click here.
He's a mean, green, garbage-editing machine, it's the Grinch!
An interview with the Grinch
CityScene sat down for a breakfast of cookies, candy wrappers, and banana peels with the anti-villian to dicuss his show and holiday celebrations.
Check out the hilarious interview below.
CityScene: Have you ever been to Columbus?
Grinch: We were here in 2015 with my musical, How the Grinch Stole Christmas the Musical, and we are so excited. We love Columbus so much we had to come back, it's so good to us. Then throughout the year, instead of shouting 'Whoville' we shout 'OH' and to have people go, 'IO' is always super fun.
CS: What about the show are you most excited for?
Grinch: Well, I'm excited for everyone in Columbus to come and see my show. It's gonna be a wonderful time. I'm excited for all these Buckeyes out here, enjoying my Grinch-eyes, and to let everyone know that they can come to it, and you can bring the whole family.
It's so magical to look out and see all the teeny, tiny little Whos out in the audience, enjoying a big live theater show for the first time in their lives. A lot of kids, this is the first big show that they ever get to see, and so knowing that I can help with that, that I can help introduce them to the magic of theater and the wonderful time they're gonna have here at my show at the Palace Theatre, it's gonna be great.
CS: How do you feel about Christmas decorations beginning to appear around town?
Grinch: I can't wait to steal it all. I can't wait for all this to wind up in the back of my truck. It's gonna be so I mean... sorry, old habits, it looks beautiful. I can't wait to look at it from afar. Baby steps here.
CS: Is the Whobilation all it's cracked up to be?
Grinch: Here's the thing, you know, where it's like, everyone talks about it for so long, and it's so great, we're so excited, and then the day of, you're like, 'That's it? Okay, I guess.'
I mean, I'm a little less impressed than everyone else, obviously. I think there should be more production, I want fireworks. If we're gonna have a Whobilation, let's have a Whobilation, let's have a celebration for the entire world to see. But you know, I get a little carried away, so they take my ideas and go, 'Okay, thanks,' and then, on a scale of one to 10, they do the one version, let's just say that much, and I want the 10, but it's okay. We're still friends. It's still fine.
CS: Is your green hair natural?
Grinch: Oh, yeah, it's natural. I went ahead and took a bath last week, so I'm nice and good now and I trimmed my nails this morning when they came back. But yeah, it comes in green. It comes in beautiful. I really love it so much. I got the gardening shears and made sure that I'm looking good for everybody throughout the world.
CS: Are you still friends with Cindy Lou Who?
Grinch: Listen, Cindy, she's just the best. She has a full heart, and she helped me realize that I too could have a full heart.
Cindy, she was kind of the first person who was nice to me, which I was like, 'Wow, that's kind of weird, nobody was ever nice to me in Whoville,' and then she was, and I was like, 'Well, maybe they're all not the worst people on planet Earth,' that's why we love her so much.
She'll still come by and hang out. She'll play with my dog Max. She's watching him right now, feeding him, making sure he's walked every day. But yeah, my good friend Cindy. Oh, love her. She made my heart grow.
CS: Will you be spending the holidays with Martha May?
Grinch: No. Unfortunately, she's, of course, very busy, and I, of course, I'm busy doing my musical all around the country, so yeah, I'll be with the most important person that is important to me, which is myself. That's who I'll be with on Christmas.
CS: Have you gotten Max anything for Christmas?
Grinch: He gets the leftover bones… that I don't want to eat, and we got a couple of toys for him. But listen, he's got a nice little couch with the TV. He loves to sit around. He watches his favorite shows, Bluey, Paw Patrol, and he got really into the Olympics this year because Snoop Dogg was on it a lot.
CS: What is your hair care routine?
Grinch: I never brush it, I wake up every morning, look in the mirror and go 'Perfect. That's exactly what it's supposed to be doing,' I sleep on one side. I sleep on the other. I make sure to sleep on my face, that way it goes up and out in every direction.
CS: How do you stay in shape to perform?
Grinch: I learned some magical things that night that I stole Christmas from everybody. I love to practice climbing up and down chimneys, that's always a real fun one. Of course, I help Max pull the sleigh, he pulls a little, I pull a little, you know, we gotta keep the cardio going. And then, other than that, I did a push-up last year, so I was really feeling real strong from that one. It was good.
CS: What is your favorite Christmas song?
Grinch: Oh, well, of course,"You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch," the best song ever written. You know, my theme song, I should say. But other than that, you know, anything with a jingle bell, I'm a fan. I love a jingle bell, you put it in the background, make it the subject of the song, that's a great thing.
Maisie Fitzmaurice is an editor at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at mfitzmaurice@cityscenemediagroup.com.
