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onesingulartheaterkid · 2 years

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In Defense of Gertrude McFuzz

First off, we need to get this out of the way: Gertrude McFuzz (from Seussical) is an extremely underrated character in musical theater. There, that's said and done.

As far as the analysis goes, it will follow the same format as my In Defense of Audrey post where I will be going through each song Gertrude is in and go from there. For reference, I will also be basing what songs I use off of the OBC recording from 2001.

There will be spoilers for the musical, so if you haven’t listened to it and would like to, you may want to skip it. But of you have listened to it (or don’t care about spoilers), then here we go.

Oh, The Thinks You Can Think

Gertrude's one little line in the song ("Think of a bird with a one-feather tail!") sets up her insecurity and her whole character arc (more on that further down). But it’s established right away that Gertrude has some sort of issue with her tail.

Biggest Blame Fool

Some context for this song: Horton the Elephant has just found the Whos on a little dust speck and has been talking to them. Everyone else in the Jungle of Nool, who can't hear the Whos, has started to make fun of Horton.

The Cat in the Hat (the narrator) has taken up interviewing residents and goes to Gertrude McFuzz. Gertrude introduces herself as Horton's neighbor, and that for as long as she's lived next to him, "he's never done anything crazy before". In fact, Horton has been friendly, loyal, and kind in every interaction Gertrude has had with him. Gertrude is the only one who believes Horton, and she remains loyal to him from this point and throughout the whole show.

She shows her loyalty to Horton by singing "A person's a person no matter how..." in unison with him. Immediately, the other residents of Nool ridicule the both of them.

Even though Gertrude is a bird and definitely can not hear the Whos, she believes Horton. Gertrude has every right to believe Horton has gone crazy like all the other residents say, but Gertrude remains loyal to Horton because from she knows about Horton, there isn't any reason to believe he has gone crazy. Gertrude continues to believe Horton throughout the show, even though it makes her a minority in that belief.

The One Feather Tail of Miss Gertrude McFuzz

Gertrude takes some time to lament about her one feather tail, which allows us to see more into Gertrude's insecurities and thoughts. Having one feather causes Gertrude a lot of issues and insecurity, and she's attempted to "fix" her tail a few times. She's tried to make her tail look fancy, poof it to make it look bigger, but nothing has worked.

The reason Gertrude gives for why she is so insecure about her tail is that to her, having one tail will never get Horton to like her.

A tail that simply wasn't meant To catch the eye of an elephant

Here, it's established that Gertrude has some sort of feelings (platonic or romantic) for Horton and that her tail causes a lot of self-esteem issues.

Just a side note: I don't think it's a stretch to say that Gertrude's tail insecurity is an analogy for body insecurities.

Amayzing Mayzie

Immediately after Gertrude's little ballad, Mayzie LaBird interrupts her. Mayzie is confident, charismatic, and has a tail full of feathers. Mayzie is a direct foil to Gertrude who is insecure, awkward, and has one feather on her tail.

Mayzie sees that Gertrude is insecure about her tail, and understands. Mayzie admits that she used to only have "one pathetic feather" and that she hated it because she didn't feel confident. Throughout Mayzie's short tale, she says how "plain" and not "show-offish" she was with one feather. By doing this, Mayzie is inadvertently insulting Gertrude and saying she is plain and has nothing going for her with one feather. Mayzie actually goes on to say "and there's certainly nothing showoff-ish on you" to Gertrude.

Mayzie goes on to say that she went to a doctor to help her grow more feathers. It ended up helping Mayzie to be more confident-- something Gertrude wants and aspires to be.

Gertrude starts to compliment and be envious of how fabulous Mayzie's tail is and how much she'd like to have one like it. Mayzie encourages Gertrude to go to the doctor so Gertrude can be (almost as) amazing as Mayzie.

Amayzing Gertrude

Gertrude, feeling that it is her only shot to get Horton to like her, goes to Dr Dake to get pills to make her tail grow. Dr Dake explains that for Gertrude's type of bird, having one feather is completely normal. Gertrude doesn't want to hear it and demands the doctor to help her grow more feathers. Dr Dake gives in and gives Gertrude the pills.

As Gertrude takes the pills, she starts to feel itchy and strange, until she notices more feathers growing on her. Seeing the feathers gives Gertrude immense joy and happiness and she calls herself Amazing Gertrude and exclaims:

And hopefully I'll impress Horton!

At this point in Gertrude's storyline, it is following very closely to the Ugly Duckling Transformation in many movies and shows. Gertrude is insecure and doesn't have the traditional bird-look like Mayzie. While there's nothing wrong with finding a way to be more confident in yourself in order to help you talk to someone you like/want to befriend, it is a problem when movies and media depict it as a girl changing her appearance and personality in order to appease a guy she likes. It's not as if she's changed over time through development, but a quick montage of her physically changing to appear "more attractive". And in most of those montages, the girl has a style that has nothing to do with who she is (like near the end of The Breakfast Club), almost like she had no say in it.

At least in this instance, Gertrude did have some say and choice in her transformation. But mostly, Gertrude had pressure from Mayzie to "Get those pills" (as Mayzie says it) for Gertrude to be more confident. And getting feathers isn't like Mayzie is giving Gertrude a whole new look that's completely different to who Gertrude is. Mayzie is just telling Gertrude to do the same thing that helped Mayzie when she was in Gertrude's position.

Later in the show, Seussical flips the Ugly Duckling Transformation trope on its head, but for now, it's just following the same plot.

Notice Me, Horton

This is Gertrude's moment to shine. The time she gets to swoon Horton with her declaration of love and full tail that she just acquired. She's full of confidence and ready to tell Horton how she truly feels. Gertrude hopes that Horton will look past being the "odd little next-door neighbor".

She says she doesn't have much as appearances goes (she has small eyes, big feet, and a pitiful tweet), but at least she has a full tail.

I'd also like to include the cut verse from Seussical that I think adds to Gertrude. The cut verse has:

No one’s ever looked twice at Ms. Gertrude McFuzz. But this tail makes me almost twice as I was. And I did it for you, so you’d notice me more.

It's a shame the verse was cut because it really brings out Gertrude's character. As the verse says, she's been largely ignored and gone unnoticed, but now Gertrude believes she can get noticed by Horton and she admits she got a bigger tail just so Horton would notice her.

Gertrude continues to beg Horton to notice her, but Horton is busy trying to find the Who Clover (the clover Horton put the Whos on) that Vlad Vladikoff threw into a larger field of clovers. She begs him to stop looking at the clovers and notice her, but Horton doesn't hear her. They both end up singing:

I was just a no one only yesterday You showed up and showed me something more Now I've become a someone Who has someone to believe in And to be there for

Horton is singing to the Whos. Gertrude is singing it to Horton. They're both singing about how someone (or multiple people) have changed their lives. Horton has changed Gertrude's life and she wants to tell him that. Although Horton hasn't noticed her yet, Gertrude isn't ready to give up. She tells Horton that the reason she started to like Horton was because she admired his kindness and compassion.

She tries once again to get Horton to notice her, repeating "notice me, Horton" three times. Each time, she gets more and more desperate, until she gives up and leaves.

This is where the show flips the Ugly Duckling Transformation trope on its head. Traditionally, this is the part of the story where after the girl has undergone The Transformation, the boy notices her and likes her back. But in Seussical, it doesn't happen. Even though Gertrude has undergone The Transformation, Horton doesn't notice her.

Horton Sits on the Egg / Act I Finale

At this point in the show, Horton has agreed to take care of Mayzie's egg for a bit, but he is in danger from hunters. He calls for help, and the only one around to help him is Gertrude.

Gertrude tries to help Horton as he is being kidnapped by the hunters, but when she tries to fly, she is unable to because of how long her tail is. This causes more problems for Gertrude because while she wants to have a full tail to impress Horton, she wants to be able to help Horton more.

All For You

Gertrude is mostly absent for the majority of Act II, but shows up right at the tail end. She arrives--with a one feather tail-- and has found Horton at the circus and plans to get him out. It's clear that Gertrude has found confidence in herself over the course of her journey as she says:

I bet you (the audience) forgot about Ms. Gertrude McFuzz. That's nothing new, I mean everyone does. Yet Gertrude did something that few birds could do. So here's the Tale of Miss Gertrude: Part 2!

She pokes a bit of fun at herself, but she lets everyone know that she has something new up her sleeves (or feathers, whatever you prefer).

Gertrude tells Horton how she got here. She talks about her giant tail that she grew to have him notice her, but admits that while it was attractive, it was silly to grow it so large because she couldn't fly--the thing birds are supposed to do. She especially notices that it was foolish to grow such a large tail when Horton was taken by the hunters and was unable to help right away.

And I got so very frightened 'cause I knew I had to save you No one else was gonna go to all the labor It was all up to me All you had was your next door neighbor

Gertrude isn't trying to pat herself on the back or trying to get Horton to like her for her efforts. She's stating a fact. Gertrude is the only one who willingly would go out of her way to find Horton and help him, unlike everyone else who just let him go and didn't care. She decides to help Horton because she cares about him and wants him to come back home.

But first, she had to go back to Dr Dake and get rid of her tail so she could fly. After that, she traversed through the jungle. But that wasn’t any easy task for one bird. She got met with bees, thick fog, almost fell down a giant slope, went through freezing temperatures, caught the flu, tripped and fell down a hill, fell into water, sprained her toe, and injured a leg. She went through all of those obstacles for what? For Horton. She would have gone through anything and everything for him because she cares for Horton.

On top of that, Gertrude also spent seven weeks searching for the Whos Clover and carried it with her. She knew the Whos were important to Horton and made sure to find them.

She did all of it because Horton has "always been friendly and loyal and kind". He stayed loyal to the Whos, even though everyone thought he was crazy. He stayed loyal to Mayzie's egg, even though it got him kidnapped. Horton has always been selfless, and it was time someone did something for him. And that's exactly what Gertrude did.

Like Notice Me Horton, All For You is Gertrude's confession of her feelings for Horton. Notice Me Horton is the simple love song and interaction as other similar storylines have, but in this story, it doesn't work for Gertrude because it was her telling Horton she cares about him, rather than showing it. All For You is Gertrude displaying and showing how much she cares for Horton (with a declaration of how much she cares for him at the end).

Gertrude expresses genuine feelings in both songs, but All For You aligns better with both Horton and Gertrude's personalities. All For You works because Horton isn't busy trying to find a clover and, more importantly, because Horton values showing compassion for others. Gertrude displays her compassion for Horton by taking care of the Whos, because that's what he wanted to do all along. And because Gertrude cares so much about Horton, she went to find him when no one else would. When she finishes the song, that's when Horton notices Gertrude, and it works because Gertrude did all those things because she wanted to, not expecting Horton to have a certain reaction it.

The People Versus Horton the Elephant

After Gertrude and Horton are reunited, Horton is put in court for loitering on an egg, talking to a speck, and disturbing the peace.

All the residents of Nool testify against Horton, except Gertrude. Gertrude remains loyal to Horton and acts as his lawyer to defend him. Gertrude and Horton, together, support and defend the Whos as the clover of Whos is about to be boiled.

Finale / Oh, The Thinks You Can Think!

When every citizen of Nool hears the Whos, Horton and Gertrude declare that there are persons on the speck. This changes the resident's minds and they promise to protect the Whos as well.

Then, Mayzie's egg begins to hatch and out pops an elephant-bird (weird implications, but okay). Horton becomes worried that he won't be able to take care of the baby properly. Since Horton cannot fly, he won't be able to nurture the baby and fulfill all its needs (especially in the flying aspect). Gertrude reassures Horton that she will help him raise the baby by telling him:

I have wings, Yes, I can fly! You teach him earth, And I will teach him sky!

Since Gertrude has wings, she can help the baby to fly, and Horton can help it walk. Together, they will be able to nurture all of the baby's needs properly.

#seussical #gertrude mcfuzz #seussical the musical #an unnecessary overanalysis #overanalyzing characters with bugs

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