Shrek The Musical

Knutsford Musical Theatre Company returned to Northwich Memorial Court this week with their 2022 season opener, DreamWorks’, Shrek The Musical. First cast in 2019 before the pandemic, it’s fair to say that the cast and production team are happy ogre’s to finally get this production on stage and what a show it was! This production was fresh, vibrant, immersive and highly entertaining from start to finish. The production values were very high with the set, costumes, and lights all working cohesively to highlight the overall tone and vibe, enhancing the location and characterisations. Its fair to say that Director Ben Ireson had a clear vision for this production. The immersive set, with hanging plants and vines really helped create a ‘swampy’ atmosphere, as did the various smells that were pumped into the auditorium throughout the production. The costumes were brilliant – probably the best that I’ve seen for this show. I loved the work on the wigs too, especially the wigs for all three Fiona’s. The set was used very well, with curtain’s being pulled across in scene changes, which helped with the overall pace and allowing time for bigger scene changes behind the curtains. Scene changes were brilliant, and the set was well used and looked really effective. Even the two pieces of static set of Shrek’s house and Fiona’s tower looked great and were used well. I also loved the way in which the show started with the characters coming out of the storybook. From a directional point of view, it’s not hard to see why Ben Ireson is a multi-NODA award winning director. His vision for productions is fantastic and this is yet another example of his great work! Only one negative for me and that is with pace and storytelling. Whilst the songs and dances were so brilliantly consistent with energy etc, it was clear that the energy dropped in the acting scenes. A few of the main cast also lacked clear diction and annunciation with the text. Overall, however, this is amateur theatre at its best!

Taking the helm once again for KMTC is NODA award winning Musical Director Michael J Scott. I love to watch MD’s conduct from the pit, and it was a pleasure to see Michael doing his ‘thang’. The band were superb! I loved the levels of all the instruments and all band members were wonderful throughout. The vocal harmonies from the entire ensemble were also excellent and it’s clear a lot of work has gone into this. Shrek is actually an ensemble musical and what a delight it was to listen to every voice!

Whilst Shrek The Musical isn’t widely known for its full-on dance numbers, there is actually a surprisingly lot of dance and movement in every song. The choreography by Sophie Dickens was wonderful and really added to the energy and enthusiasm. Having an ensemble cast this big is no mean feat but the cast were used well throughout, and the style of choreography used really added to the humour and visuals. Brilliant work from Sophie!

The lighting design was absolutely stunning! The End! I love a good lighting plot that adds to the production and this one certainly did! Superb!

The sound was great too and I cold hear everything from everyone at all times. I’ve said before that this is a very hard venue to add quality sound to due to the poor acoustics and Tom Maurice is the best in the business!

The protagonist Shrek was wonderfully played by Oliver Ball. His Scottish accent was flawless – I assumed Oliver was actually from Scotland, but I’m told not! I loved his version of this iconic character, we didn’t need anything new brought to this character, everything was in-keeping and appreciated. I felt that Oliver massively brought down the energy in scenes, however, contradictorily, I loved his dry wit and sarcasm which was helped with the pauses and laid-back vibe. I could tell that Oliver’s singing voice was a little tired (I went on the last night) but it was still effective and he was very well cast in this role – a wonderful performance.

The three Princess Fiona’s were also well cast in their roles. Yasmine Walker was excellent as the Young Fiona and was able to showcase her superb vocals! This was also true of Georgina Crank’s Teen Fiona. ‘I Know It’s Today’ was brilliant! The ‘real’ Princess Fiona was wonderfully played by Maria Ames. Whilst effortlessly belting out number after number, it was the storytelling through song and storytelling in scenes that I loved most. I really liked the way in which Maria was able to add to the humour and characterisation in a natural way without becoming too camp or heightened. It was a subtle but entertaining performance! ‘Morning Person’ was brilliant as was ‘I think I got You Beat’ with Oliver Ball as Shrek. It gave me subtle Bridesmaids humour vibes!

K Ellis was Donkey was a little hit and miss for me. Whilst K had all the character traits of ‘how Donkey should be’, for me he was far too naturalistic and laid back which massively impacted on his scenes with Shrek. As Shrek is so laid back, in my opinion, Donkey needs to be the opposite and full of bundles of energy and enthusiasm. I also lost a lot of dialogue due to poor annunciation. On the surface however, K was great in this role and the kids around me loved him and laughed at his jokes etc. Some of his one liners really landed and were hilarious!

Thomas Frith as Lord Farquaad was brilliant to watch in every scene. His laugh really added to his character and his one liners also really landed too. Thomas was able to showcase some nice vocals too and ‘Ballad of Farquaad’ was fab! If I was to be picky, (which let’s face it, I am) Thomas kept moving/holding back his cape throughout the entire show which meant that we could see his real legs. I also didn’t like the fact that we could see his standing up and walking off at the end of his scenes too. I suppose this is more of a directorial jibe.

Hannah Young as the Dragon was fantastic! She sang with gusto and the soul oozed out of her! I also loved the styling of this character! The Dragon also looked mightily impressive! Ben Ireson as Pinocchio was excellent! I loved his physicality and line delivery and the way in which he used his voice, whilst having clear diction was wonderful - A fine performance! Dani Fray as Gingy was equally good too. A wonderful vocal performance with bundles of energy and pizzaz! There are far too many other characters for me to mention in this review and it would be unfair to single people out. As I mentioned above, the standout goosebumpy moments were when the whole cast are on stage. The ensemble in this production were outstanding and your hard work certainly did not go un-noticed! My favourite number ‘Freak Flag’ was amazing! As was ‘Story Of My Life’, ‘What’s Up Duloc’ and This Is Our Story’. Overall, it’s fair to say that I enjoyed this show very much. I love it when different sections (lights, band, costumes etc) all come together in harmony to add to the overall production and each section certainly did in this show! I thank KMTC for their wonderful hospitality (Lesley Reed) and I dedicate this review to a wonderful man who I loved meeting as NODA rep and who truly did Inspire Amateur Theatre across the Northwest – Mr Cecil Walker!

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