There might be a ton of fun for the children working on “Seussical the Musical” in Oak Lawn but there is also a message within the production.

Oak Lawn Park District Theatre’s Broadway Junior program stages the musical, which is narrated by the character of the Cat in the Hat, from July 11-14 at Oak View Center.

“It tells the journey of Horton discovering Whoville, a tiny speck of dust,” said Dawn Farrell, director of “Seussical the Musical,” which draws from several Dr. Seuss stories including “Horton Hears a Who!”

“The message Dr. Seuss is trying to tell us is ‘a person’s a person, no matter how small’ so it’s a good example for our kids. We have been discussing the theme with our kids in camp and how important it is to stand up for other people when they can’t stand up for themselves.

“Horton hears Whoville’s pleas to save them. He is their voice. He is the one to stand up for them. With bullying in school, sometimes people aren’t very nice and sometimes people don’t stick up for themselves so we’ve been talking about how important it is for you to step in and do that for people.”

Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, who won a Tony Award for best original score for the original Broadway production of the musical “Ragtime,” did the book for “Seussical the Musical.”

The show, which features music by Flaherty and lyrics by Ahrens, was co-conceived by Eric Idle, a member of comedy group Monty Python, and is based on Dr. Seuss’ works.

“It is crazy how many characters and how many story lines are in this show. Mayzie LaBird, who is a very flamboyant and a very self-centered bird, has an egg, abandons the egg and makes Horton take care of it. You have another bird named Gertrude McFuzz who is in love with Horton,” said Farrell, of Oak Lawn.

“Then you have all these people in the Jungle of Nool who don’t believe Horton and want to boil the speck of dust in a big can of oil. There are so many different story lines within the show. There are so many references to Dr. Seuss books.

“There are so many things that happen that if you don’t pay attention and blink your eyes, you could miss them. It’s such a fast-paced show. Seeing the kids trying to embody Dr. Seuss characters, make them come to life and not be themselves on stage has been a lot of fun.”

Farrell is familiar with “Seussical the Musical” having choreographed the show in 2008 for Oak Lawn Park District, in 2011 for Broadway Junior and in 2016 for the Beverly Theatre Guild in Chicago.

“I’m very fond of the show. However it’s the kids and watching them go through the Broadway Junior program that is my favorite part of my summer,” she said.

With a cast of nearly 130, “Seussical the Musical” was broken into Red and Blue teams of kids ages 6-14 and including residents of Burbank, Chicago’s Mount Greenwood community, Evergreen Park, the Frankfort-New Lenox area, Lemont and Oak Lawn.

“These kids have done an amazing job of handling a show of this capacity. It’s a very tough story to tell. There are so many things going on,” Farrell said.

“Our staff works very well together. We all share that passion and love for educating children but especially educating children in theater.”

Jessi Virtusio is a freelancer for the Daily Southtown.