Once up a time there was a very successful movie franchise, about a green ogre and his desire to live alone in a swamp. As with so many fairy tales, the path to happiness did not run smoothly, and soon his stinky corner of the world is disrupted by all manner of fairytale creatures. He sets off to preserve his solitude, but before he knows it, he has befriended a talking donkey and is on a mission to battle a dragon and save the princess. Along the way, he learns that girls can fart just as loudly as boys, and true love doesn’t always come packaged as you’d expect.
The beauty of Shrek was the way it took standard fairytale conventions and twisted them, just a little, to keep the parents on their toes and capture the imagination of their offspring. Shrek the musical doesn’t depart too far at all from this concept, with plenty of quick fire lyrics that sail just over the heads of the children and high-energy songs to keep the story moving along.
Eric Petersen (Shrek) holds the musical together, doing a great job of bringing emotion, humor and pathos to the role, while wearing the theatrical equivalent of a foam hot-dog suit. It’s a tough role to pull-off; everyone knows the storyline and Petersen could just do an impression of Mike Myers. Instead, he brings his own charm to the role. Alan Mingo, Jr. (Donkey) brings masses of passion and energy, but does sometimes fall into impersonation territory. His donkey is a cross between Little Richard and Eddie Murphy but while he’s always entertaining, it can get a little over-played. This show belongs to Haven Burton (Fiona) as she tap dances with rats in “Morning Person” or assures us of her faith in fairytales in “I Know It’s Today”. She gets the best of both the choreography and lyrics for the majority of the show, only being upstaged by Carrie Compere (voice), as a sensational dragon brought to life by a three person puppet in “Forever”.
Shrek the Musical has been a long time coming. High-brow British director Sam Mendes suggested the idea to DreamWorks Animation’s Jeffrey Katzenberg back when the second movie was in production. This is Dreamworks Theatrical’s first venture into legitimate theatre, and the first night audience reponse suggests that this is going to be a successful one. There’s enough here for repeat visits and both children and adults will be enchanted by the high-energy show in which everyone lives happily ever after.
Shrek the Musical is brought to Chicago by Broadway in Chicago and is at the Cadillac Theatre (151 W. Randolph St) until September 5th. For more information, visit www.shrekthemusical.com and www.broadwayinchicago.com .
Shrek the Musical features a book and lyrics by Pulizter Prize winner David Lydsay Ahare, music by Olivier Award-winner Jeanine Tesori and is directed by Tony Award-nominee Jason Moore and Tony and Emmy Award-winner Rob Ashford. Set and costume designs are by Tim Hatley, lighting design by Hugh Vanstone, sound design by Peter Hylenski, choreography by Josh Prince, music supervision by Tim Weil, music direction by Andy Grobengieser and orchestration by Danny Troob and John Clancy.
