Shrek the Musical

Shrek the Musical is, in my view, a first class choice for any Youth group. But, when you have a Company that is brimming over with talent and enthusiasm, such as Leven AMA (Youth), you must surely be on to a winner.

And so it was tonight. In the rarely off stage title role, Inis Balfour had the audience in his hands! His singing and dialogue were, at all times, enunciated well, and the chemistry between Shrek and Donkey (Joseph Paton) was obvious. Donkey is very obviously a fun role to undertake – as long as you have the energy to carry it through – and Joseph had it in spades! I was literally exhausted watching him make full use of the stage, at the same time gaining the necessary sympathy from the sell-out audience! Lord Farquaad (Ewan Maguire) engaged with the audience achieving well deserved belly laughs during his evening spent on his knees, or, indeed, on his steed, aka a rocking horse!

Effy Duncan made a lovely Princess Fiona, with first class timing and wit, and demonstrating an excellent vocal range, whilst performing throughout with confidence and skill. Her duet with Shrek “I Think I Got You Beat” was one of the many highlights of the show! A special mention to Olivia Morgan as the Dragon. Olivia, too, showed an astounding vocal range, which, combined with excellent vocal projection made for a mesmerising take on this character. Final mention cast-wise must go to Pinocchio (Holly Kitchen) and Gingy (Kara Izatt) both of whom provided performances that were full of vitality.

It would be impossible to individually compliment the many fairytale characters that made up the ensemble, suffice to say that each and every one of them added to a well performed show that brought well deserved applause from the audience tonight.

Choreography in the show was well designed and developed by Amy Elder. Moves accurately performed in unison were the order of the day!

Direction by Andrew Doig and musical direction by Katy Holligan were both outstanding, but perhaps given the years of experience between these two, this is not surprising!

The set focussed around a video wall – but one with excellent graphics, which, combined with appropriate mood enhancing lighting by Kieran Hotchkiss, made for a colourful fairytalelike show. The use of the video wall allowed maximum stage space for the fifty plus performers on stage tonight. Smaller set pieces were used on occasions to further define the locations. Good sound operation helped to ensure we never missed a word during the show.

Well done LAMA (Youth)

Many thanks for your invite to Shrek the Musical.

 

 

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