Displaying items by tag: Shrek the musical

Sometimes you just need to go green. No, not a vegan diet and compostable paper plates, though a little more of each would help the planet. Go green with Shrek: The Musical, which runs through the end of 2023 at North Shore Center for the Performing Arts. Music Theater Works’ production, directed by Joanna McKenzie Miller, has many offbeat delights, including green-hued fart clouds blooming onto the upstage screen. Would those count as vegan and compostable? It doesn’t matter.

Based on the Dreamworks animated film Shrek, the musical pairs Jeanine Tesori, composer of such serious fare as Violet and Fun Home, with David Lindsay-Abaire, author of equally rigorous works such as Rabbit Hole and Kimberly Akimbo (which he and Tesori recently turned into a musical). With Shrek: The Musical, the creative team stays within unremarkable territory.

Taken on those safe terms, though, the show does not disappoint. The salty fairytale follows its ogre hero Shrek – who is cast off by his parents as a child and dwells alone in a swamp – and heroine Fiona – the princess who is cast off by her parents and grows up alone in a tower – to their happily ever after. Thanks to Lord Farquaad, the nasty royal who needs a queen to make him a king, Shrek and Fiona meet and conflict and fall in love with competing farts and belches.

Dana Pike as Fiona fills the stage with her rich voice, determined personality and droll humor, all of which align with particular power in “Morning Person.” While she clings to her quest to marry her fantasy man on a steed, she’s also a pragmatist who adapts to circumstances that contradict her fictional assumptions.

Jordan DeBose lets us love him as smelly Shrek (though a few of his lines got muffled in the Scottish accent). Eustace J. Williams as Shrek’s sidekick Donkey makes his incessant jabber always entertaining. Full-sized Michael Metcalf plays pint-sized Farquaad with such finesse, it’s easy to forget the actor does it entirely on his knees. And Michaela Shapira as Pinocchio seems to have hinges in her elbows.

A word about the set, a sure sign that stage technology marches on even as love stories remain timeless. The vast upstage screen uses motion graphics to chart shifting scenes and moods, from placid sunflowers to molten lava. Media designer Anthony Churchill’s projections mostly follow traditional storybook illustrations, but they are likely, in their sheer un-trendiness, to keep audience members of all ages transfixed.

It's been a hell of a year. Time for a few “F’s” that can be printed, like family, friendly, fantasy, free parking and, okay, farts. As a distraction from dire world news for adults and a variation on Christmas culture for the kids, Shrek: The Musical does the job with lots of jolly and its own shade of green.

Music Theater Works’ production is playing through December 31^st at North Shore Center for the Performing Arts. Go to Music Theater Works for tickets and information.

The anti-fairytale is something everyone can get behind. Though there have many of these attempts over the years, Shrek is still the stand out, the one that broke the mold, the OG. Now everyone's favorite ogre is back in an  hilarious stage spectacle, based on the Oscar-winning, smash-hit film.

An unlikely hero, Shrek, is determined to reclaim his precious swamp from exiled fairytale misfits with the help of his wisecracking sidekick, Donkey. Together, they find themselves on a life-changing journey to rescue a princess who is locked away in an isolated castle guarded by a fire-breathing, lovesick dragon. Throw in a short-tempered bad guy, a royal wedding, and an evil curse and you've got the kind of mess only true love's kiss can fix!

The musical closely followed the movie, at times nearly line for line, even capturing the original line’s cadence and inflection. But the repetitive was broken up by clever musical numbers such as What’s Up Duloc?’,  ‘I Think I Got You Beat,’ and ‘Freak Flag,’ that enabled the show to stand out on its own. The musical adapted the magic of the play well with a life-sized version of the gingerbread man, a fire breathing dragon, and the stand out of the day, riding a motor-powered horse, Lord Farquaad played perfectly by Steven Strafford. As the actors, stagehands, and technical crews moved throughout the theater and on stage, the audience was transported to Duloq seamlessly.

The green anti-hero first premiered in 2001 and seventeen years later it still holds up in a form that young audiences can embrace and enjoy.

SHREK THE MUSICAL runs on most Wednesdays through Sundays at 10 a.m. with certain performances at 12:30 p.m. Visit MarriottTheatre.com or call 847.634.0200 for exact schedule, as show times and dates may vary. Single ticket prices are $18.23 per person. Groups of 20 or more receive a discount by calling 847.634.5909. Free parking is available at all shows. To reserve tickets, call the Marriott Theatre Box Office at 847.634.0200 or visit www.MarriottTheatre.com.