Traveling through one’s childhood memories of Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat can take Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center visitors on a witty, wild and whimsical ride that has never been seen in this form before. Seussical — The Musical lets the audience re-discover Seuss’ zany characters, said Shannon Connor, spokeswoman for TBPAC.

The musical is fun and also carries the message that everyone is a person no matter how small and that everybody should be treated equally, Connor said.

Connor said the show is based on several of Dr. Seuss’ books, but the plot is based predominantly on the book “Horton Hears a Who.”

Horton is an elephant that hears voices coming from a speck of dust floating in the breeze. Naturally, everyone Horton tells about the voices thinks he is crazy for hearing dust talk. What no one but Horton realizes is that the Who are very, very small, and their whole world sits on the speck of dust. Horton protects the Who’s world by putting the speck of dust on top of a flower and taking it with him wherever he goes.

Seussical — The Musical has been successful since it hit the road last year and will be in Tampa today through Sunday at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center.

“The show has been more successful on tour than it was on Broadway and has gotten excellent reviews since it began,” Connor said. “The show started touring after Sept. 11, and it’s perfect because it’s so fun. There is a lot of heaviness in the world right now, and the show really is the perfect escape for a few hours.”

This musical has brought together Clear Channel Entertainment’s Broadway Across America, the U.S. Fund for United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and Cathy Rigby, who stars in the show, to promote “Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF,” according to promotional coordinator Alexai Perez said.

In 1967, Oct. 31 was declared National UNICEF Day by presidential proclamation. In 1994, National UNICEF Day became a monthlong program known nationally as Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF, Connor said.

“U.S. Children have collected more than $115 million over the years by going door to door with UNICEF’s signature orange collection boxes on Halloween, and the money that’s collected goes to help children overseas,” Perez said.

As part of this partnership the show’s star agreed to make a spot to air on Clear Channel stations to promote “Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF” and Seussical — The Musical, Perez said.

In return, UNICEF agreed to create a page on its Web site to promote both the show and the partnership, Perez said.

“Seussical – The Musical and UNICEF are involved as promotional partners; the show promotes UNICEF, and vice versa,” Perez said.

Rigby plays the roll of The Cat in the Hat and is famous for her role as Peter Pan. She is a Tony Award nominated actress.

She is not only a well-liked Broadway actress who has been leading lady many times, she is also well known for her other notable skills, Connor said.

“Rigby is a two-time Olympic gymnast that has won 12 international medals, eight of them being gold. She is also a proud mother of four and won the 1992 Mother of the Year Award,” Connor said.

Tickets range from $20.50 – $62.50. To buy tickets, call (813) 229-7828, or go to the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center ticket office.

Contact Annie Curnowat oraclefeatures@yahoo.com