Shrek The Musical

‘Shrek the Musical’ is based on the story of the much-loved, anti-social ogre from the original DreamWorks film, featuring a storyline that completely rewrites the traditional fairy tales and turns them upside down.  Directed by Mike Follen and produced by Roseann Edis, this is a glorious romp around the ‘perfect’ town of Dulac touching on themes of friendship, prejudice and inclusion. 

We first meet Shrek (William Dewick), breaking the fourth wall, telling his life story in the style of a traditional fairy tale.  He tells the audience his own tragic story how, at the tender age of seven, he was thrown out by his parents to fend for himself. I loved the tableau in front of a stack of books (one bearing the distinctive Shrek logo) and little Shrek (Amelia Brent) wearing matching checked trousers. Princess Fiona (Jade Mulligan) then interrupts dancing onto the stage saying welcome to ‘Fiona The Musical’ with her own story of how she was condemned by her parents to live in an isolated tower, awaiting the arrival of her handsome Prince.  

Shrek the ogre is living his traditional life doing what ogres do best, while keeping the outside world well at arm’s length.  He has an idyllic life living in his swamp. The world has treated him badly, so he keeps his metaphorical wall around his feelings.  

Unfortunately, Shrek’s perfect world is shattered, when a host of various fairy tale characters, led by Pinocchio (Kate Taylor) who descend on him having been evicted from their own homes.  They call on Shrek to challenge the perpetrator, the villainous Lord Farquaad (Ben Towle) to get their homes back.   Shrek agrees but only so he can get the peace and quiet of his swamp restored. 

On the way to Lord Farquaad’s castle, he meets a talkative donkey (Ollie Kirkwood) who, unlike Shrek, is totally in tune with his emotions, not at all judgmental and unperturbed by Shrek’s beastly appearance.  Reluctantly, Shrek agrees for Donkey to accompany him.  This is the first sign that Shrek can be treated differently by people and despite his constant chattering, donkey forms a budding friendship with the cantankerous ogre. 

In the Palace, we see the guards nervously awaiting the arrival of Lord Farquaad.  Huge footsteps echo around suggesting a giant of a man is approaching.  Lord Farquaad enters, and hilariously, we realise he is a great deal shorter than we expect but what he lacks in inches he makes up for in his overbearing pomposity.   Dulac’s despotic mini ruler is torturing a defenceless gingerbread man, Gingy (Lucy Brown) and we notice poor Gingy’s legs have been severed from his body.   Lord Farquaad is looking for a Princess to marry, so his precious little world can become a kingdom, and he thinks Gingy knows where he can find one.  To save his gumdrop buttons, Gingy tells him there is a Princess in a tower, guarded by a ferocious dragon awaiting her rescuer.  Obviously Farquaad is not going to do the daring deed himself so he needs someone who will. 

Arriving at Dulac, Shrek and Donkey have a hilarious run in with the mascot ‘greeter’ (Aston Fisher) who is clearly terrified of Shrek.  Dulac is an obvious dig at Disney World, and everything is colour themed in red, blue and yellow to match Lord Farquaad’s costume.  There are references to monorails, gift shops and the clockwork ‘dolls’ singing ‘Welcome to Dulac’ are a sneaky nod to the tweeness of ‘It’s a Small World.’   Even Donkey turns up wearing themed merchandise and carrying a stuffed donkey in a tote bag.   Lord Farquaad is initially horrified by the ugly ogre but soon sees an opportunity.  He persuades Shrek to take on the ‘noble quest’ of rescuing the Princess.   

I loved the way Ben moved around (on his heavily padded knees) as Lord Farquaad, throwing his skinny yellow satin legs around while singing and dancing with razmatazz.  His big number ‘What’s Up Dulac?’ was hysterical, with Ben shuffling around the stage doing jazz hands, culminating in an appearance at the top of the castle, his legs draped over the parapet singing a high note reminiscent of ‘Defying Gravity’ from Wicked bathed in green light.  On closer inspection however, we realise the lyrics are laced with prejudice as he refers to the fairy tale characters as ‘freaks’ - what could be the reason for this hatred of all things different?

Eventually we meet the other protagonist of our story, Princess Fiona who we see as a little girl of seven clutching her doll.  Amelia Brent was fantastic in the role of the young Princess, singing confidently and with great expression, as she told her story.  Fiona has nothing to do all day but read fairy tales and therefore has convinced herself she would get her own happy ending just like Snow White and Rapunzel.  Time passes and we meet Teenage Fiona (Georgia Powell) another confident performer, who eventually leads us to Fiona herself all grown up but, still a little girl at heart waiting for her fairy tale to come true. 

Meanwhile, Shrek and Donkey, go on a journey eventually crossing a rickety bridge over a lake of lava.  Donkey meets some unfortunate knights who are imprisoned in stocks, their long beards hinting they have been prisoners for a long time, who tell Donkey they are the dragon’s backing singers.   We finally see the fearsome dragon, who was been guarding the tower protecting the Princess.  She is a magnificent sight, towering above the stage, with enormous (yet feminine) yellow eyes and huge white teeth, her wings flapping along as she sang.  Dragon (Keira Dormer-Hazell) had a phenomenal voice, and we pick up on her loneliness.   

Shrek has donned a helmet and meets the Princess for the first time. Fiona is determined to play out her role of damsel in distress to fulfil her childhood dream but quickly realises that Shrek is very different to her promised Prince Charming. The Princess is rescued and the dragon incarcerated behind a huge portcullis.   Fiona is understandably disappointed to see that her rescuer is, in fact, an ogre and we initially believe that Fiona is another judgemental human with preconceived ideas about ogres.   They head off to Lord Farquaad’s castle, but Fiona suddenly insists on making an overnight pit stop.  Sunset is approaching and she is happy to sleep in a cave out of sight of her rescuers.  Fiona, however, has a secret of her own.  She has been cursed with a magic spell, causing her to transform into an ogre at night, and the curse will only be broken by true love’s kiss. 

Shrek and Donkey have a deep conversation about their dreams and ambitions, and he sings a poignant, heart-warming song ‘Who I’d Be’ about Shrek’s desire to be a hero in this fairy tale but realising the futility as he is destined to be an ogre and play the part he has been assigned. 

Up bright and early the next morning, Fiona shows a perky side to her personality, tap dancing with rats and causing a poor bird to explode with her piercing high notes.  Something is off about this Princess and in a hilarious duet with Shrek, with each trying to outdo the other in their miserable childhoods, we see that something is sparking between the two.  This is confirmed when Shrek farts and Fiona responds with bigger one of her own!  They then have a burping match, much to Donkey’s bemusement, and we realise that Shrek can sense the inner ogre within Fiona despite her Princess-like exterior.  The pair are outrageously flirting with each other and a budding relationship is beginning to form.  Even Fiona herself is seeing Shrek through new eyes as the ogre side of her is attracted to him.  

However, as with all fairytales, the path to true love never runs smoothly.  Donkey discovers Fiona’s secret and is overheard by Shrek.   Believing he has been betrayed by the pair, he summons Lord Farquaad to collect his bride to be and makes plans to return to his swamp, alone.  

Will Shrek gets his happy ending, and will Fiona finally assume her true form and identify?

In the meantime, the fairy tale creatures have decided to rebel against Lord Farquaad and the prejudice they have endured and embrace their freak status and be proud of who they are.  This is the central theme of the show as each character has been made to feel ashamed of what they are.  Fiona believes she will be happier human, while Shrek has been abused all his life and learnt not to trust anyone with his emotions.  Lord Farquaad has prejudices stemming from his own childhood resulting in him using that against people who are just like him.  Only Donkey speaks the truth as he is happy with who he is and just wants a friend. 

Some magnificent performances on display from every single person on stage and I was blown away by the vocals and dancing skills of many of the characters.  The fairytale creatures were wonderful, each inhabiting their own individual character with matching facial expressions and mannerisms. For example, the white rabbit hopping around the stage while nervously clutching her suitcase, the cross-dressing wolf and the way Pinocchio’s nose grew when he lied.  His self-deprecating lyrics in ‘Story of My Life’ highlighted the plight of them all, with them joining in ruefully in agreement.   Some very strong interpretations from all and impressive harmonies especially in the uplifting ‘Freak Flag’ started by the rebel Gingy sick of ‘wishing on stars’ and continued by Mama Bear (Lucy Dale) and the rest of the characters when they realised, they were freaks and proud.  There was some amazing inventive choreography produced and led by Katy Stafford.

Jade as Fiona was a tour de force.  Is there nothing this girl cannot do?  She tap-danced, sang and acted her way through making a perfect Princess with a hint of quirkiness while giving knowing glances and winks at the audience.  Her relationship with Shrek was sweet and touching as she overturned years of programming as the fairy tale heroine, she believed herself to be.  Her final acceptance that she was beautiful in Shrek’s eyes was a particularly touching moment.

Ollie was excellent as Donkey with his quick-fire delivery and witty lines he created a version of Donkey, who despite his annoying need for chatter, had a heart of gold.  He also showed his talent for song especially featuring his lead vocals with the three blind mice sporting black glasses and channelling his own Otis Redding.  His bemusement with Shrek as he showed his attraction to Fiona was hilarious prompting him to express his own love for a certain dragon lady! 

Ben as Lord Farquaad very nearly stole the show with his camp villainy and obvious enjoyment of the role.  He was perfect as the would be king of Dulac with daddy issues keeping his role just the right side of evil, so we laughed rather than booed his performance.  I loved his entrance on the plastic horse and his final melt down when he realised, he had lost control.  I was reminded of Stewie in Family Guy with his outrageous performance and love of a musical number! Whenever Ben was on stage, he was literally acting his little boots off. 

Shrek himself, William Dewick, I’ve seen him in many performances including the unforgettable Gaston in ‘Beauty and the Beast’, but this was the best role I have seen him in.  William was the driving force of the show with his pitch perfect Scottish accent and self-deprecating humour, he developed and changed before our eyes from a reclusive ogre into the fairy tale hero who finally gets his girl.  William’s relationship with Donkey was wonderful ranging from frustration to a true friendship and his growing attraction to Fiona was lovely.  His ability to create a sensitive soul with a wicked sense of humour, despite the prosthetics is testimony to his acting skills.  You really felt his anger and hurt when he thought Donkey and Fiona had betrayed him.  

Costumes were perfect for the theme of the show with the guards wearing shiny silver which contrasted with the brightly coloured costume of Lord Farquaad.  I especially liked Thelonious’s overlarge cod piece which garnered lots of giggles from the audience.  Fairy tale characters were given clothes that suggested their part but still enabled them to dance and move.  I loved Gingy on his baking tray his severed legs reattached with icing sugar. 

They whole cast were supported by an enthusiastic ensemble who took on various roles as happy villagers screaming in terror at Shrek, palace guards, residents of Dulac or tap-dancing rats.  I especially loved the bearded Knights – with a subtle nod to Monty Python! The final scene where everyone was on stage was like an illustration from a fairy tale book.

The set was stunning like a pop-up fairy tale book opening before your eyes as each scene seamlessly appeared using sliding panels decorated as trees.  Lighting was used very effectively giving the whole stage a greenish glow when in the forest.  Music and singing, under the direction of Musical Director, Paul O’Leary and a live orchestra, was a delight switching to different genres and musical styles such as rhythm and blues for Donkey and the Three Blind Mice, 42nd street style tap dancing routine for Fiona and a big Hollywood dance number for Lord Farquaad, finishing with the 60s inspired I’m a Believer a homage to the film.

Well done and huge congratulations to Director Mike Follen and your incredibly talented creative team of Katy Stafford, and Paul O’Leary and production team led by Roseann Edis, and anyone involved in bringing this sensational show to life.  Once again you have raised the bar to create this professional and highly entertaining piece of theatre, I had to keep reminding myself I was actually watching an amateur show and not a West End production. Shrek is not just a children’s show, but it is a joyous, celebration of love, friendship with a powerful message of being yourself in the face of prejudice.  

Thank you again to Chairperson Rita and her husband Bob for the wonderfully warm welcome to the theatre, it is always a joy chatting to you both and I can’t wait for Newark Amateur Operatic Society’s next production as you continue your 90th year celebrations.

 

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