Shrek the Musical

As Regional Councillor for NODA West Midlands it is wonderful to visit shows throughout the West Midlands region. 

It is however nice to only have to travel just a few miles to a very local venue – namely The Norbury Theatre in Droitwich. On this occasion covering for my colleague and regional representative, Bruce Wyatt.

What made the evening even more enjoyable was the opportunity to witness such a high-quality production so close to home. Before going any further, I must offer my sincere congratulations to everyone involved in this great show.

I was unaware that Lollipop Youth Theatre is currently celebrating its tenth anniversary, so congratulations on reaching this significant milestone. The company most certainly lives up to its motto, 'Every child deserves the opportunity to shine.' Throughout the evening, every member of the cast was given that opportunity and embraced it with enthusiasm, confidence and obvious enjoyment.

Shrek the Musical, which is based on the 2001 film as well as elements of its sequels. Having opened originally on Broadway in 2008 it reached the West End in 2011. The show has toured several times and has become a firm favourite with many societies as well as audiences.

I should mention that I attended the performance by Team Castle, which unfortunately meant I was unable to see Team Swamp. Consequently, I missed some members of Lollipop Youth Theatre perform. However, based on the standard demonstrated throughout the evening, I have no doubt that those in Team Swamp delivered performances of an equally high quality.

With a cast of around one hundred young performers, it would be impossible to mention everyone individually, and for that I apologise. Every member of the company contributed to the success of the production, giving their all with enthusiasm, commitment and energy. Each person should be immensely proud of what they achieved.

The show got off to a great start with Owen Skyvington and Caitlin Evans as Shrek’s parents waving him off due to becoming seven years old. Their delivery was clear with good diction, and this set the scene for the whole show. Congratulations also to Josh Cawston and Chloe Starkey as Fiona’s parents.

Eva Huxley as Shrek delivered a strong performance with a characterisation showing the loveable although somewhat grumpy, gruff recluse who is on stage for the majority of the show. Eva gave a confident rendition of ‘Big Bright Beautiful World’ and managed restrictive make up well as Shrek becomes the hero.   

Of course, Shrek would be no one without his trusted ‘steed’ Donkey. Illyssa Simon was wonderful in the role as Donkey tries to please everyone and digs their hoofs in declaring half the swamp to be theirs. She had good comic timing which is vital for this role and a great personality which came over the footlights towards the audience.

Phoebe Fisher as Fiona was simply outstanding from the onset. Her stage presence was remarkable alongside wonderful facial expressions including a broad smile and great acting. She was every bit what Fiona needs to be. On top of great acting was the vocals especially during ‘I Know it’s Today’ and ‘Morning Person.’  I must of course also recognise Young Fiona (Evie Turner) and Teen Fiona (Martha Dawson- Jones) both of whom also sang well in ‘I Know it’s Today’ making the song one of the many highlights of the evening.   

Phoebe and Eva along with Illyssa worked seamlessly well together.  I did enjoy the somewhat childish farting and burping carried out by Shrek and Fiona and I was not alone!

It is always with anticipation as to how the iconic role of Lord Farquaad is going to be played. I was particularly pleased that Holly, as director, chose to remain faithful to the traditional portrayal by having the character perform on his knees throughout. It is a technique that creates a wonderful visual illusion, and I am glad there was no temptation to move away from it. Noah Balen as Lord Farquaad played the part with great confidence and style. He regularly came right down stage to virtually look the front row right in their eyes. His movement, although obviously somewhat limited, was good.  His cutting one liners such as at the wedding scene were well delivered. The scene when he arrives on horseback was well stage. In place of the usual large plastic horse was one straight from Carousel called ‘Holly’ – a nice touch.  

Annie Ajetunmobi was superb as Dragon. Her performance of ‘Forever’ was full of energy, character and confidence, with strong vocals that filled the auditorium. Her interactions with Donkey were believable (well as far as a talking donkey and dragon can be).

Although I can not mention all the fairly land characters, I must mention Millie Falconer as Pinocchio who had a great costume and mastered the high squeaky voice and the ever-growing nose very well. It would be unfair to name any other of these characters as I would inevitably missing some which would be unfair.

The choreography devised by Stacey Falconer was well-rehearsed by the whole cast. However, what was performed by both the senior troupe and junior troupe of dancers was a highlight every time they entered. I truly do not know what to mention as each routine was so well delivered however I did like the rats and mice section at the start of act two. The finale was well staged especially the final tableau whereby some of the younger cast were set down stage. I liked how baby bear was lifted up high by daddy and mummy bear.  

The stage area was used well including when all were on together. I particularly liked the use of the auditorium. This not only brought cast out close to us watching but also helped clearing a lot of people with speed allowing pace.

It has become somewhat the norm at the Norbury to have the pit covered over (thus enabling the actors to come down stage) and having the band upstage in front of the cyclorama. Musical director Ben Thompson lead a large well accomplished band of 14 musicians. Not only did they sound good, never overpowering the cast but also looked great with their Shrek ears!

I am very aware of The Norbury Theatre. Although a remarkable venue it has its limitations regarding stage height and wing space. Add to this the shear number of people having to gain access to the stage. The crew under stage manager Kathryn Thompson did a remarkable task. The ‘choreography’ of set piece both on and off stage had clearly been well thought-out and rehearsed showing good stage discipline by everyone and enabling good pace.  

Lighting and sound were well done. The use of microphones was effective with changes. which must have taken place. well plotted by Anthony Hunt. The sound effects (I assume they were sound effects) of the farting and burping were well timed and coordinated with the actors.

The use of LED lighting, including moving heads was well designed by Ben Thompson (who was also MD).  The use of lighting was great throughout the show however I really liked the end of act one with a green area upstage for Fiona and the shadow effect when donkey witnesses Fiona as an ogre.

Make up in this show is vital and must be right. The transformation of Fiona from human to ogre is very speedy without any time for delay. This was achieved. However, this is not the only challenge for this show. Shrek was of course suitably green with the required latex and donkey looked great. Each of the fairy tale characters, far too many to mention, looked as one would expect – well done therefore to Paul Herrington for this.

The costumes and props were all amazing and looked fabulous from the front. How many costumes? No idea but well over 300 must have appeared they were bright and well-coordinated, some only appearing for a few moments, but these were not shortcut. If these changes were manged by the chaperones, then well done. Attention to footwear was good as was hair style especially almost the dancers with match looks.  I must refer to Amelia Jessop who made the dragon puppet (somehow this word does not do it justice because it was remarkable and very effective) as well as the Gingerbread (Gingy) ‘puppet’ mastered by Lottie Cutler who also sang in ‘Freak Flag’ along with others.

The company have an exciting 12 months ahead of them all at the Norbury Theatre in Droitwich.  A concert in September to celebrate their anniversary followed by Disney’s Beauty and the Beast JR and then Alice in Wonderland JR. Finally next July, and anyone who knows me will know how pleased I am to say this, the wonderful Les Misérables: school edition.

Thank you to Lollipop Youth Theatre for the kind invitation to Shrek the Musical, and once again congratulations to everyone involved. I was pleased to see you all on stage following the final curtain to be able to personally say I much I enjoyed the show and say Well Done.

Andy Brown, Regional Councillor NODA West Midlands

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