Shrek The Musical

Shrek The Musical is based on the DreamWorks Animation’s 2001 film Shrek and William Steigs’ 1990 book Shrek!. Librettist and lyricist David Lindsay-Abaire and director Jason Mason started developing the musical in 2002 and Jeanine Tesori began contributing music to the project in 2004. 

It is set in a mythical ‘once upon a time’ land and tells of a green ogre who at the age of seven was sent, by his ogre parents, out in to the world to make his own living. After being feared and mocked his whole life he eventually retreats to an ugly green swamp to exist in happy isolation. However, a group of  fairy-tale characters disrupt his solitude saying that they have been evicted and banished to the swamp by the ghastly ruler of Duloc, Lord Farquaad. Although hesitant, Shrek agrees to go and see Farquaad to try to regain his swamp. Along the way he rescues a talkative Donkey who then insists on accompanying him to show him the way to Duloc. Meanwhile Lord Farquaad has found out that he can only become a King if he marries a Princess. On advice he chooses Princess Fiona who is currently trapped in a castle guarded by a fire-breathing dragon. Many Knights have been sent on this mission, without success, but on meeting Shrek he agrees to give the fairy-tale characters back their homes and Shrek his swamp, if he will rescue Fiona. 

There was no set as such, the sides of the small stage area were blocked out with flats and the back wall became a screen on to which were projected the various scene locations, which were indeed most strikingly effective. John Ellis gave an exceptional portrayal of Shrek totally echoing the perceived image of the ogre. He wonderfully captured all the various aspects of the character from his shyness, gruffness, anger and unfriendliness to revealing his eventual more amenable, vulnerable and endearing traits. He has a super singing voice so evident in his solos and his songs with both Fiona and Donkey - I especially liked the fun-duet with Fiona ‘I Think I Got You Beat’. He maintained a quite subtle Scottish accent and there was a lovely blossoming chemistry between himself and Fiona. The growing friendship between himself  and Donkey was so well achieved, they certainly made a perfect partnership. As Donkey, Kayleigh Turner was just brilliant. She was perfect for the role in every way from her body language and facial expressions to her incredible grasp of the comedic elements. She portrayed the arrogance, the optimism, the chattiness and lovability of Donkey so superbly and as well as her exquisite acting, her singing and dancing skills were top-notch. Princess Fiona was so delightfully played by Olivia Bailey. She has a lovely singing voice, I just loved ‘Morning Person’ and those high notes that she reached were amazing. This whole number was terrific with her lovely interactions with the various ‘creatures’ and to top it all we had two excellent tap dancing rats and she too, joined in the dance. She was feisty and funny but expressed her inner torment of her transformation to an ogress splendidly. The scene when this was revealed to Donkey was so well achieved taking place behind a brightly lit two-windowed glass screen so all we saw were their silhouettes and the song ‘Who I’d Be’ at the end of Act 1 was so heart-felt and movingly sung by all three of them. Another outstanding performance came from Thomas Bailey as Lord Farquaad. To spend an entire performance on one’s knees is so deserving of praise but not only that, he absolutely commanded the stage (albeit being vertically challenged) so completely whilst managing to convey the powerful, ruthless, ambitious, self-absorbed nature of Farquaad so adamantly, so animatedly and with such astonishing facial expressions and frenzied hilarious antics. He has a great singing voice and those falsetto notes were just awesome, it was a truly formidable performance. The Dragon was splendidly portrayed by Korina Steed as she towered over the proceedings dressed all in red with fabulous flapping red ‘wings’. The slow-motion fight between the Dragon, her two skeletons, Shrek (now wearing a metallic helmet) and Donkey was very well executed. The somewhat leader of the fairy-tale characters, Pinocchio, was mischievously and very playfully portrayed by William Woodroffe as was Gingy by Poppy Dodsworth who also delightfully played Teen Fiona along with Lily Reynolds as Young Fiona and their singing of ‘I know It’s Today’ with Adult Fiona was most harmoniously and beautifully delivered. Terrific support came from those playing the many cameo roles also from cast members playing the Fairy-Tale Characters, the Knights and Guards many of whom were involved in multi-characterisations. All of the ensemble numbers were so harmoniously sung and danced with such enthusiasm and energy none more so than the finale number ‘I’m A Believer’. The costumes, all sourced in-house, and the make-up were fabulous and together with the excellent projections, props and a stunning lighting plot this was a most entertaining and fun show. There were a few hiccups with the sound but it was the first night and I’m sure they would be sorted for the remaining performances. The icing on the cake came in the form of the seven-piece orchestra which was first-rate and it is so lovely to hear live music. 

Many congratulations to the Director and Musical Director Alison Bailey, to Assistant Director Trudy Taylor, to Choreographers Alison & Olivia Bailey, to all of the Back Stage Crew, to the excellent cast and indeed to everyone else involved. May I just add, that every accolade must go to the four outstanding young people who played the Principal roles, you were all amazing. Thanks also for the very warm welcome that I received. 

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