‘The Dr. Seuss Experience’ to make world premiere in Mississauga

It’s easy to name at least one Dr. Seuss book. The iconic children’s writer and illustrator was the brains behind more than 60 books, including classics like Green Eggs and Ham, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Lorax, and Horton hears a Who.

And now, for the first time ever, children and adults can jump into the pages of their favourite Dr. Seuss books at a new travelling exhibit.

“To allow you to walk into the pages of our book and touch and feel and play seemed like a natural, and so we did,” said Susan Brandt, president of Dr. Seuss Enterprises.

“The Dr. Seuss Experience” is a 15,000-square-foot imaginative installation that will make its world premiere at Mississauga’s Square One Saturday.

“Toronto is actually a really Suess-friendly city and we’ve had a lot of premieres (here),” Brandt said.

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“Our ‘Suessical’ stage show came here first before it went to Broadway … We brought the Old Vic’s production of The Lorax from London here first before it went to Minneapolis … and so we wanted the worldwide premiere to be here in Toronto.”

Entertainment company Kilburn Live has partnered with Dr. Seuss Enterprises to create rooms that allow children and adults to look, feel and interact.

“It’s trying to make an experience that sort of captures the look and feel that we imagine a Dr. Seuss book would have if it was real life. It’s our best guess at how a Truffala forest would look and feel and sound if it were real,” said Max Painter, artistic director of The Dr. Seuss Experience.

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This is the first time the unique characters and distinct scenes from the books can be appreciated up close. Visitors can touch the cotton candy-like tuffs of The Lorax’s “Truffala trees” and make a mess with objects in “The Cat in the Hat” room.

But the design of the rooms couldn’t only be eye-popping for real-life viewing — the visuals need to be a hit on Instagram too.

“Instagram is huge. A lot of the experiences are based on posting,” said Mark Manuel, CEO of Kilburn Media.

Whether you go to post to social media or go because you are a fan of Dr. Seuss, the exhibit will remain in Mississauga until January.