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Friday, March 29, 2024
The independent student publication of The University at Buffalo, since 1950

Check Yourself Before You Shrek Yourself

Through energetic acting, lively choreography, and beautiful sets, Shrek the Musical took members of the audience at Shea's Performing Arts Center out of their seats Tuesday night and brought them to a land far, far away.

Directed by Jason Moore and Rob Ashford, scored by Jeanine Tesori, and written by Pulitzer Prize-winner David Lindsey-Abaire, Shrek the Musical is an adventure of fun. The stage incarnations of Shrek (Eric Peterson) and his friends walk the fine line between adult innuendo and children's gags as though it were easy, picking up recurring jokes and running with them faster than the Gingerbread Man along the way.

The story, for the most part, stays faithful to the film on which it was based. For those unfamiliar, both the film and stage versions concern the titular ogre's quest to get his swamp back from a group of fairytale creatures forced to move there at the behest of one Lord Farquaad (David F.M. Vaughn), the story's villain. To get his land and precious solitude back, Shrek agrees to go on a princess-fetching errand for Farquaad, a journey on which the misanthropic ogre discovers friendship, love, and self-esteem.

Fans of the movie will be delighted to learn that Shrek the Musical keeps everything that was great about the film intact and virtually unchanged in its stage incarnation. Shrek, Donkey (Alan Mingo, Jr.), Fiona (Haven Burton) and company are all the same characters that they were on the big screen, and virtually all of the film's classic scenes are left unchanged as well. Some scenes, like Farquaad's "muffin man" exchange with the Gingerbread Man and Shrek's reverie about the likeness of ogres to onions are greatly improved by the energy and bravado of a live stage performance.

Shrek the Musical is hardly just a rehashing of the film on stage, however, and the musical is at its best when it departs from the source material. The backgrounds of most of the major characters are expanded upon greatly, giving an extra dimension of depth to their interactions.

The play begins when a young Shrek is kicked out by his parents in order to see the world at age seven. Though the scene is acted comically over an upbeat musical number, the sad undercurrent adds another onion layer to Shrek's character.

Fiona and Farquaad are given similar treatment. "I Know It's Today," one of Fiona's solo numbers, shows the frustration and restlessness the fractured fairytale princess feels as she waits years for her rescuer. Farquaad's own solo number, titled "The Ballad of Farquaad" in the Napoleonic-villain's typical self aggrandizing fashion, provides glimpses into Farquaad's own background and motivation.

Story elements would be nothing without actors and actresses to carry them, though, and Shrek the Musical delivers in this capacity as well. Eric Petersen plays an endearing Shrek, with Alan Mingo, Jr. providing a sassy foil to him with his role as Donkey. Haven Burton's pep and energy does Fiona's character more justice than Cameron Diaz's flat deliveries in the movie ever did. David F.M. Vaughn certainly doesn't come up short in the role of Farquaad, either, and takes the vertically challenged villain in an unexpectedly comedic direction.

Perhaps no one moment better demonstrates this than the climax of the play's first act, where Shrek and Donkey arrive at the castle to rescue Fiona. While Shrek searches for the princess, Donkey — and the audience — are soon face-to-face with the dragon guarding the castle, a massive puppet flawlessly operated by a team of four puppeteers and voiced by an offstage Carrie Compere. "Forever," the ensuing song-and-dance number, channels all facets of the show's creative energy into a truly magical five minutes.

Shrek's magic won't be staying at Shea's Performing Arts Center for long. With only a handful of shows left to catch, get your tickets as soon as you can before Shrek the Musical packs its bags for another kingdom far, far away.

E-mail: arts@ubspectrum.com


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