Shrek The Musical JR

The Junior Youth Theatre delighted everyone with their committed and energetic performance. The land of fairytale and woodland creatures came to life and all the colourful characters sang, moved and danced in keeping with their roles. The stories of a young ogre Shrek being sent out by his parents to live his life without knowing what was ahead and a young Princess Fiona held in a castle waiting to be rescued struck a chord at the start. Calvin Smith gave an assured and believable performance, as Shrek who, when his swamp was invaded by the evicted creatures, was confident in his power to take on Lord Farquaad. He learned to cope with all the obstacles and discovered love. He didn’t miss a beat and showed his depth in the singing of Make A Move. Amelia Michie was a graceful Fiona desperate to leave her tower. She created lovely harmonies with the Young Fiona, Leyla Cameron, and the Teen Fiona, Poppy Marshall. She showed her her frustration at Shrek’s un-knight-like behaviour and aroused sympathy for her predicament. I Know It’s Today was well sung and presented. Their competitive song I Think I Got You Beat was loads of fun. Trying to bring the two together, and creating and teeing up the humour, Kai Morris was an engaging Donkey. The rapport of the relationship between Shrek and him was well orchestrated and the pivot of much of the show’s fun. As the baddie, Iona Scott tackled the role of Lord Farquaad with craftiness and humour especially at his own cleverness and coped well on her knees. Others showed their talents with Lily Henderson in fine voice as a striking Dragon, Fern Waddell catching the plaintive tone of Pinocchio and Mollie Stokes as the frightened Gingy. The groupings were well matched: The Storytellers; the Three Little Pigs; The Bear family especially with the eye catching Baby Bear, the singing of the Ogre family and The Dancing Mice. The whole cast gave splendid performances of Story of My Life, What’s Up, Duloc? Freak Flag and I’m A Believer. The costumes were colourful and fun, The Mice so mouse like, and make up for Shrek, Fiona, Donkey and The Pigs very well done. The sets focussed on creating effective background and scene changes were carried out smoothly. The sound was very good enabling the young voices and their dialogue to come across clearly. This young section showed lots of talent, good for the future, but for the present they all accredited themselves well and delivered an amusing and spectacular show.

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