Shrek the Musical JR
Information
- Date
- 14th April 2023
- Society
- Worthing Musical Comedy Society
- Venue
- Northbrook Theatre
- Type of Production
- Musical
- Director/Choreographer
- Rachel Brown & Abi Farmery
- Musical Director
- Kim Sheldon
Worthing Musical Comedy Society has been entertaining Worthing audiences for nearly ninety years now. I have seen many of their shows since 1966 and they are are always excellent productions. This is the first time that I have seen the Youth Company and they are “a chip off the old block”. Shrek was a wonderful production and I guess that some of the cast on stage for this musical will probably be lead roles in future productions with the main company.
I have seen the full version of “Shrek” and enjoyed it. This junior version has six fewer songs than the original but loses nothing in the telling of the story or the continuity of the action. The scenery was bright and cheerful and I was impressed with the way the tower scene was accomplished and the change of Princess Fiona’s ages was made by the use of clouds. The set creator was Kim Sheldon and she was also the musical director with seven musicians who were competently accompanying the cast with a good balance of orchestration to words being heard well. The choreography throughout was extremely good, very busy and well executed by the cast.
The three main characters who were on stage for a large percentage of of the show were Shrek (Ellis Marchant), Fiona (Grace Bridger) and Donkey (Ollie Marett). These three worked together well and were well supported by a large number of nursery rhyme characters, guards, pigs, mice, Dulocers and various other people. All their costumes were colourful and smart. Some of the changes of costume had only short intervals between scenes and I can imagine the chaperones working hard in those periods and working a busy eighty minute shift. The other two cast members importantr to the story were Lord Farquaard (Jude Harman) and the dragon (Anna Emmerson). The Lord played a convincing evil part and the dragon sang well and moved around the stage easily with her entourage.
My congratulations to cast, crew, musicians, backstage, technical, chaperones and all involved for a charming, delightful and very pleasing experience.
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