Shrek The Musical Jr

So, late afternoon on a Sunday afternoon in a packed hall with an enthusiastic, if somewhat partisan audience of parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and siblings to see an even more enthusiastic cast of youngsters ranging in age from five to 16; keen to show us what the embryonic next generation has to offer.  And wow, what fun this turned out to be.

Performed entirely to blacks under the stage management of Beccy Lou Smith, with the Director, Keith Badham, who clearly needs to learn the art of delegation, additionally taking on the choreography, vocals, and the wardrobe for this show. Costumes were great, with some super head gear for Shrek, Fiona, the Pigs and particularly Pinocchio and they were a great addition to the outfits.  Choreography was simple but effective and carried out with enthusiasm.

Lighting and sound were expertly supplied by father and daughter combination, Barton Players stalwarts, Keith and Rachael Bowie, and it needed to be as some of the best comic moments relied on sound cues being spot on.  The particularly hilarious scene involving breaking wind at both ends in a duel between Shrek and Fiona comes to mind. The lighting was very cleverly used to provide backdrops with some very neat and subtle images thrown onto the back cloths.

As for the cast, this threw up some potential stars of the future and particularly amongst the youngest members who simply captivated the audience.

Chazza Simmons was a very confident Shrek with a great performance, and was very well paired with Tallulah Smith as, human by day and Ogre by night, Fiona who showed us her very confident singing voice. Highly impressive!

Charlie Williams, a lad of normal height provided particular comedy by playing the vertically challenged Lord Farquad on his knees, which got a laugh every time he shuffled on and off the stage, dragging his regal cape behind him. When not on his knees he also very competently and confidently narrated the story, which he shared with Chelsea Smith, who played the Captain of The Guard, and Maddie Laurie who needed a somewhat bigger stage when she appeared as the larger-than-life blow-up dragon, which she deftly manoeuvred with great skill. 

Annaelle Hyllendho was a revelation as the irascible donkey, with great comic timing, she just nailed the part with a forceful performance commanding the stage as this over enthusiastic, slightly annoying character. Loved it!

Our gingerbread man, Gingy, played by five year old Cohen Buzz Jenart was another very cool character which kept us smiling. As was Poppy Widdowfield equipped with a fabulously long nose as the shy but naughty Pinocchio and Chloe Randle as Teen Fiona and The Wicked Witch.

Then we had our very enthusiastic three little pigs played by Beth Tight, Lana Reid Carr and Christopher Paxton, all kept busy also playing other multiple roles between them.

But it was the really young members of the cast who excelled, proving beyond doubt that at that age, stage fright is not an expression they have come across. Five to seven-year-olds with hand-held mics belting out complicated songs as seasoned pros was not what I was expecting, so well done indeed to seven-year-old Jaxon Hottinger as the Rat and a Dwarf and six-year-old Zelda Bee Jenart as a young Fiona. Mesmerizing!

When you consider that this group of Up-Stagers only get 2 hours rehearsal per week, Keith Badham has done a remarkable job of putting on a full production, with what is a very complicated musical score and a lot of quick-fire dialogue. But these youngsters took to it like ducks to water. Yes, there were several prompts, quite a few late entrances and one or two clearly under rehearsed scenes and, like all youngsters just starting out, need to slow their speeches down and enunciate clearly, but all was forgiven with these future stars who can revel in the rapturous applause they received. Pity they only got the one shot at it, it deserved a longer run and no doubt a run would have ironed out the little mistakes. But well done Up-Stage, as the director said to them afterwards, ‘I’m so proud of you all!’ And so he should be!

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.