Shrek – the Musical

When the film Shrek came out in 2001 suddenly everyone who’d ever felt like a misfit, a non-princess or non-prince Charming, everyone who felt like an oddball, in fact everyone disenfranchised, suddenly felt seen and validated. Here was a huge green ogre who wasn’t a side character but a hero in his own right. He and his trusty sidekick Donkey in a true friendship with all its complexities and disagreements and humour, were off to rescue a different kind of princess: a truly feisty one, with a secret. Suddenly beauty was valued as being a character trait not a visual one. And thankfully, as Shrek says: “fairytales really should be updated”, and this helped re-write modern ones. A huge hit, spawning many sequels, including this 2008 musical. A wonderful story, a wonderful message to kids growing up and adults alike, and a truly fitting show to mark the historic 100th show for this fabulous company. 

For this show you need a great Shrek and Phil Davis, also Chairman, is a really great Shrek. Unrecognisable with the brilliant green makeup and prosthetics on his face, carrying padding and with big ogre hands, he managed to make it all look natural as if all of that extra was actually him. The green carrying on from his hands up his arms as we could see up his sleeves was an appreciated detail. His energy drove the show, everyone taking their lead in energy around him like magnets. A fantastic performance and gorgeous voice, with all the emotional nuance of someone who has spent a lifetime of being lonely and hiding it so much that they’ve even hidden it from themselves. The gruff exterior, the hurt when he misunderstands Fiona: gorgeous character work, and considering everything is through the huge makeup and costume.  

Hannah Lindsey is a superb Fiona with a voice that made everyone’s jaw drop. Incredible in tone and quality and in range: an absolute joy to hear. She made Fiona every bit matching Shrek, and their tentative love story of realising how much they have in common underneath their opposite first appearance is completely believable. It’s a love story the whole audience invested in, wanting them each to realise that they are loved in return. Her feistiness was beautifully matched against Shrek’s gruff grumpiness. As Donkey might say, you could see and feel and believe that “they dig each other” which is a testament to the way they were playing it and the way it’s been directed by Director Choreographer Rachel Davis. The fart-off was brilliantly done and laugh out loud funny regardless of how old you are – sometimes this can be a bit over the top but the way it was done here was spot on. 

Whoever takes on Donkey has a really tough job as everyone who’s seen the film is expecting a fast talking wise cracking Eddie Murphy impression and nothing else quite works. Peter Galloway in full Donkey costume including hooves on hands and feet had some sustained moments of brilliance where he truly became Donkey with the swagger and full on Eddie Murphy channelling. Those parts in the musical truly sing with vibrancy. Matt Collins made a funny, slightly unhinged and scary Lord Farquaad with some great choreographed movements on his knees, looking like he was leaping on the backs of the guard dancers at one point. The kneeling to propose is always such a hilarious moment and he milked it for exactly the right amount of time.  

There is so much to love about this production, and everyone gave so much heart and energy to it both on stage and behind the scenes. Their enjoyment in performing: all the acting, the characterisation, the singing and dancing: some truly lovely pictures on stage with all the colour and vibrancy from the multiple backdrops and side panels showing different locations. The costumes and hair were absolutely stunning, as there as so many of them and they were absolutely beautiful: from the three blind mice to the pigs to Pinocchio to Gingy with moving mouth and eyebrows to Humpty Dumpty in a huge egg and yellow yolk fringe and everything in between. The only odd thing was a huge posing pouch on the Executioner which was a bit strange in a family show. Set pieces wheeled in, including: the hut in the forest, the log, and the fabulous horse were all amazing. Production values were off the charts in this show. It’s always super to have live music and Anne Whiteside and orchestra did such a wonderful job of holding it all with the music that it was all just spot on.  

There were some really gorgeous standout moments in the show. The three part “I Know It’s Today” which blended into a three part harmony at the end was a thing of beauty, giving chills and goosebumps: stunning work from Hannah Lindsey, Eloise Samain and Scarlett Lindsey. The three blind mice song and dance with Donkey was super, although it would have been good to see Shrek and Fiona having their romantic moment behind them and dancing happened in front. All the staging everywhere else was superb. Tap dancing rats and Fiona were brilliant – a real highlight. Most people had personal mics and that worked well but it was tricky to hear some people who had lines in songs who weren’t mic’ed up: the lyrics in this musical are an utter joy and it’s lovely to hear them. The three blind mice changing one of the scenes pushing the log off and falling over was genius – it would have been great to see other transitions done visibly with humour where appropriate instead of blackouts, as it’s fun to see cast changing scenes in a comedy in a dimmed lighting state or colour. The pace in the second act was brilliant, just right, it seemed less in the first act but it would well just have been this particular performance. The orange steam vents in the dragon lair were an amazing touch giving the effects of heat and fire vapour, as were the unexpected pyros at the end of the show! Acting and singing was top quality from everyone, not a pitch out of place, and the whole show was a joy to watch: a triumph from a talented lovely company. Congratulations to everyone involved. 

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