Shrek THe Musical

Shrek The Musical is a fantasy romantic comedy with music by Jeanine Tesori and book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire and it basically follows the storyline of the 2001 Dreamworks Animation film Shrek, written by William Steig. 

It is set in a mythical 'once upon a time' sort of land and tells the story of a green ogre who at the age of seven was sent, by his ogre parents, out into the world to make his own living. After being mocked and feared his whole life he eventually retreats to an ugly green swamp to exist in happy isolation. However, a group of homeless fairy-tale characters disrupt his solitude saying they have been evicted and banished to the swamp by the ghastly ruler of Duloc, Lord Farquaad. Shrek agrees to go and see Farquaad to try to regain his swamp and along the way he rescues a talkative Donkey who insists on accompanying Shrek to show him the way to Duloc. Lord Farquaad agrees to give the fairy-tale characters back their homes if Shrek rescues Princess Fiona so that he can marry her and become King.

Tom Banks certainly emulated the image we have of Shrek and portrayed all his nuances to perfection from his grumpiness to the eventual showing of the more amenable side of the character. He was so believably convincing and endearing with a scottish accent that never faltered in both his acting and in particular in his singing, which was so wonderfully, so powerfully, and when required, so movingly delivered. A truly great performance. Jonny Salt's portrayal of Donkey was absolutely outstanding. He totally looked the part and I loved his asides, his amazing gestures and body language, his facial expressions visible even under all that make-up and his singing, on top of his superb acting skills, was top-notch. They, Shrek and Donkey, certainly made perfect travelling companions 'feeding-off' one another brilliantly. Another superb performance came from Helen Perry as Princess Fiona. Helen acted the part with accomplished ease totally capturing the feistiness yet fun side of the of the character exquisitely and together with her amazing singing voice, gave a truly stunning performance. Yet another masterful portrayal came from Martin Counter as Lord Farquaad and it was also a remakable one in that he spent the whole time literally on his knees! He was sumptuously attired and even being 'vertically challenged' he still managed to command the stage with his fine acting skills, his splendid facial expressions, his animated antics and especially funny was his frenzied scurrying around the stage with arms going ten to the dozen. The imposing dragon puppet was expertly operated by Andrew Buxton, Scott Mill and a third cast member, not mentioned in the programme, whilst the 'live' version of the Dragon was gloriously sung by Cat Howourth. What an adorable Pinocchio was brought to life in the excellent hands of Georgina Bateman as was Gingy by Lindsay Greasley and what a super singing voice she has. At the performance I saw, Young Fiona was played by Jess Simcox and Teen Fiona by Millie Simcox. They were both delightful and their singing of 'I Know It's Today' along with Adult Fiona was divine, so harmonious and beautifully sung. Terrific support came from those playing the many cameo roles and most of the huge cast, including the Junior cast, played double, treble or even more of the numerous roles. There were some extrememly funny and some quite emotional scenes all of which were executed with such enthusiastic energy and fun. All the singing by everyone was of a very high standard as were the many fabulous dance routines - loved the tap-dancing rats. The costumes were stunning as was the make-up and together with the exceptional scenery from UK Productions (the Stage Manager, Steve Cole, and the Stage Crew certainly did a fantastic job) a good lighting plot, sound and music and not forgetting the phenomenal cast, this was a truly memorable and outstanding piece of theatre. It most certainly made for a "Big, bright, beautiful world" if only for a short time and the finale "I'm a Believer" was most definitely enjoyed by the standing ovation from the audience as much as by those on stage delivering it. All praise to the Production Team, to the brilliant cast and to everyone involved in what was a most spectacular show, Also, many thanks for the very kind and warm hospitality that I received.

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