SHREK The Musical

The journey everyone encountered in order to actually perform this production was truly extraordinary.  Due to the closure of The Core, because of the discovery of RAAC, it was touch and go whether the production would actually go ahead in the alternate venue.  The production team, stage crew, cast and committee overcame the many challenges to bring this magical musical to the appreciative audiences.

By way of a change in this review I would firstly like to applaud Veronica and the production team, including STAGS chairperson Sandra Simpson, and also staff from The Core for having the vision and outright determination to change things in order to make performing at the new venue possible. The stage was transformed into Duloc, utilising the colourful scenery that was expertly handled by the large backstage crew.  Along with the fantastic costumes, and specialist makeup that enabled the cast to bring the whole production to life, each of the many different characters replicated from the film to amateur stage very well, this might have proved challenging without such wonderful costumes, however with such a fantastic talented cast this was not the case.

There were so many memorable character’s and each one obviously had their part to play. Jake Genders was excellent as the grumpy, forlorn Ogre Shrek, playing opposite the amazing Sophia Gough as Princess Fiona.  The pairing worked very well throughout their musical numbers. Solomon Smith was great as the comical Donkey (in yet another memorable costume) his characterisation and movement were super. One of my favourite characters was Matt Barnard as Lord Farquaad - he stole the show for me. The audience really laughed out loud at his little legs every time he made an appearance.  Matt was meticulous when holding each cape of his lavish costumes around his body to cover /disguise his real legs.  His facial expressions were superb throughout, even when his wig started to live a life of its own.  The scenes with the huge dragon puppet were also impressive as was the vocal performance of Dragon played by Siobhon Thornley.   There were another 25 plus cast members, to numerous to mention individually by name.  Some of these were playing up to four different roles, from Knights and Guards, Young and Teen Fiona’s, Little pigs, Fairy Godmother, Wicked Witch, Big Bad Wolf, Alice in Wonderland, Bears and the Mad Hatter!  The list is endless, and all of these cameo roles added to the colourful spectacle. I don’t dare guess how many costume changes were done. Primarily everyone on the stage looked and acted their individual parts, without exception, really well.

Congratulations to you all and especially, more than ever this time, to the production team of Veronica, Stephen and Sharyn.  I loved the choreography throughout especially the Rat Tappers and also the intricate musical harmonies.  Although I thought I would miss having the live orchestra in the pit, my hearing quickly became accustomed to the sound from the speakers. Whilst totally understanding the organisation needed to pull out all the stops to bring such a professional end result to the stage, you embraced the challenge, and you should all be very proud. Your audiences enjoyed every minute of this one-of-a-kind fabulous show.

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