Shrek The Musical

There should be a name for productions that have been held over due to Covid.  Covidelayed?  Viralate? The show must go onmicrons?  Whatever they might be called, WODYS’ Shrek is one of them, the show having originally been planned for 2020.  Happily, it is now seeing the light of day, and if the rapturous reaction of the sold out audience is anything to go by, it’s been well worth the wait!  With an amazing, enthusiastic young cast of fifty two (count ‘em!), anchored by excellent performances by the Principal actors, this was a show full of vim and vigour.

Shrek, based of course on the famous Dreamworks movie, is at heart a relatively simple story.  When he is deluged by a mass of fairy tale characters who have been banished by nasty Lord Farquaad, Shrek sets out to confront him.  Along the way, he is joined by an excitable Donkey and the pair are soon sent on a mission to capture the Princess Fiona from her tower.  Love slowly blossoms between the pair and, after a fair few ups and downs, they defeat Farquaad (with the help of an impressively designed dragon), return the fairy tale characters to their homes, and live happily ever after. 

WODYS stretched their age restriction rules a little bit to allow Alfie Rudd to take up the role that he had been cast in back in 2020, and what a good decision that turned out to be!  Alfie did superbly well as Shrek, effortlessly mastering a variety of moods from sullen to lovestruck to triumphant.  Alongside him, Phoebe Jones gave us a smart and cheeky Fiona, her performance of ‘Morning Person’ at the start of Act 2 being a particular highlight.  The trio of good guys was completed by Ethan Coombs as Donkey, an effervescent performance that was particularly strong in movement and characterisation. 

Ben Sears was excellent as the dastardly Lord Farquaad – I loved how he smiled through the meanness – here was a character who really enjoyed his misdeeds!  He had a very strong singing voice, and coped very well with the trials of performing as a ‘vertically challenged’ character – somehow managing to perform a faultless dance routine on his knees!  Special mention must also go to Isabelle Mann as the Dragon, who displayed a stage presence and singing voice that belied her tender 14 years.  Well done! 

Supporting the principals was a talented cast of young performers, who carried off their roles as fairy tale characters, townsfolk, knights, guards and ghosts with great aplomb.  It was a real pleasure to see their joy in performing really shine through, their singing and dancing being of very high quality.  Well done to them all, and to the directorial team (David Humphries and Laura Fullelove) for marshalling them so expertly.  Congratulations also to choreographers Rachel Price and Katie McNamee, who made both the big ensemble numbers and the small group songs pop with movement and fun.  The songs themselves were delivered with real gusto by the cast and a nine-strong band led by Musical Director Harriet Amos.

The show used a number of very nice painted backdrops, enhancing the somewhat panto feel of the show (some of the younger audience members were very keen to join in!)  Larger items of scenery, such as Shrek’s loo and Farquaad’s castle walls, were well managed by the backstage team.  Special mention must go to Farquaad’s horse and to whoever had the inspired idea to bestow it with a reversing siren as it was moved off stage! 

Sound and lighting worked well, despite the odd technical gremlin.  The wardrobe team performed a frankly superhuman task in costuming such a large cast so well and with such attention to detail.  This was particularly evident with the fairy tale characters, who were all readily identifiable by their costuming, hair and make-up.  I also liked the fact that the three little pigs carried bags made of straw, wood and brick – a nice touch by the props team.

Massive congratulations to all at WODYS for getting this show on, and for presenting us all with such a fun and joyful evening of theatre.  I’m sure even grumpy old Shrek would have approved!  Roll on 2023 when I hope to join you aboard the Carousel.

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