Shrek The Musical - A Review and Comments...

SHREK THE MUSICAL - A REVIEW and COMMENTS

Hello Friends!

Well, just returned from Seattle, Washington and I must say I simply LOVE that city. There's a good feeling you get just walking around that town and the weather last week was perfect. I've been here many times to perform for corporate events ovver the last 15 years, and I always try to add a few extra days to my itinerary to see the sites and catch a few stage shows.

While attending a conference this last week, an associate of mine had a ticket to see SHREK THE MUSICAL which is in previews in Seattle until it heads to New York in a few weeks or so. Unfortunately she was sick as a dog and didn't want to waste the ticket and I happily bought it from her to go that very night.

Two hours later, at the 5th Street Theater, which is an incredibly beautiful venue, I was sitting in the 11th row with friends and found myself actually eager with anticipation to watch this brand new puppy of a musical unfold.

Now granted, the FIRST thing that comes to mind when you hear that they've turned yet another movie into a stage musical is that corporate greed is running amok again. And since Disney's phenomenal hit "Lion King", everybody and their brother (this time, Dreamworks) is hoping to turn anything they can into a live stage version which would hopefully turn into a cash cow.

Disney has been doing a pretty good job....and then there was the "Little Mermaid" which was horrible. Uncreative staging, bad costuming and lackluster effects. But the most important thing they missed is the actual physical translation of an underwater cartoon into a living, breathing entity.

"How can we show them 'swimming'?", and then someone comes up with the brilliant idea of using the wheeled shoes. "How to they float around the ocean with a mermaid tail?", and someone offers a costume that sticks the "fins" out of the back like a rigid dog's tail. It's these things that are gigantic obstacles that really should have told the producers to simply leave the animated movie alone and NOT turn it into something it could never truly be.

No one seems to realize that the Lion King would NOT have worked at all if the actors simply wandered around the stage with huge cartoon costumes like a bad theme park show. The genius was not necessarily in the making of the puppets used (as they could have been designed several different ways and styles). No, the genius was in having a 'tribe' of people "tell the story" and THEN use puppets to help them tell the story. With that overall concept in place, anything could be accepted by the audience.

When Disney decided to LITERALLY translate "Mermaid", they missed the boat. No one was smart enough to actually transcend the original material and turn it into its own stand-alone creation.

Mel Brooks did a great job with "The Producers", because it was ABOUT THEATER. Duh! How perfect and fitting for a show dealing with producing a musical!?!! Perfect. Then he missed entirely by LITERALLY translating his "Young Frankenstein" to the stage and stretching each classic joke into a 3-5 minute song or dance number. THUD!

Now, granted, both "Frankenstein" and "Mermaid" are still doing brisk business, and that is mostly out of their popularity of being classics, and not the tepid to terrible reviews each has received.

And so, standing on my soapbox of how to fix a musical, I think "SHREK" will wind up with the same success story. No matter what I write here, it will still do a great amount of business and could be even considered a "sure thing" due to the millions of people, young and old, who have seen at least one of the three Shrek movies. For myself, I am probably going to have to see it a 2nd time because I'm sure my 7 year old son would get a kick out of it.

Okay, and now for the review! (Aren't you glad you waited?)

On a scale of 1 to 10.....

STAGE PRODUCTION VALUE - 9 - Some really clever set designs, set changes, movement, and at least 7-8 layers of scrims and backdrops to create the forest, woods, swamp and castle. The money used was definitely put up on the stage. This includes hydraulic elevators, turntables and conveyor belts. Cliffs rising out of the ground, a full castle turret which turns 360 degrees, and much more. Great!

COSTUMING - 8 - While most of it worked well, I did feel there wasn't much acknowledgment of an overall design in concept. At times it felt like someone raided a high-end costume shop. I'm sure that a lot of this has to do with the fact that you're dealing with a very wide variety of characters culled from storybooks and fairytales, where the needs are unique to each costume. But there should have been some kind of general tie-in with color choices and quality of fabrics. What stands out as being most out of place is the dragon. While the eyes did move, the dragon looked like a complicated box kite that was hollow and dead.

The lady who was playing the dragon (Kecia Lewis-Evans) would stand in FRONT of the actual dragon and sing, and while the tail was made up of 8 dancers dressed as dragon spikes and serving as backup singers to the dragon lady (which at times was a clever idea), you couldn't help but look up at the giant dragon face hanging there and pulling full focus from the rest of the stage. You kinda felt there must have been a Chinese parade nearby and everyone operating the dragon simply made a wrong turn into the SHREK theater.

Lord Farquaad (Christopher Sieber) is just as short as he is in the films, and the man playing him performed the entire show on his knees with fake legs and shoes jutting out. The costume, though a very old comedic idea, worked very well and he garnered many sincere laughs with his comedic poses and movements.

Honorable mention to Pinocchio (played by John Tartaglia, who was also in Avenue Q) who nose is designed to actually grow by several inches for laughs.

Costumes for the leads: Shrek, Donkey and Fiona really looked great, and I was surprised by how much I actually accepted their characters. Much in part to the actors, but the costumes were spot on.

CHARACTERS: 8 - I wondered how certain characters would translate to the stage and while the Dragon was the worst casualty, the producers were smart enough to avoid other mistakes. Puss In Boots is simply shown as a throw-away bit during a "puppet parade" that Shrek and Donkey walk past on their way to the Castle. There is also a quick send-up of "Lion King" as a 'handmade' giraffe puppet comes whizzing by. Very funny.

We are first introduced to Donkey (Chester Gregory) in a cool but subtle manner. He literally FALLS from the sky and lands in the orchestra pit. This is an EXACT duplicate of the Donkey from the movies, and then when Donkey climbs out of the orchestra pit, it's the actor wearing donkey ears and black hoofs, fur chaps and believe it or not, the whole outfit works. Thanks to the little 'nod' of using the original Donkey, audience immediately accepted him. Nice.

Princess Fiona is perfection. (The wonderful Sutton Foster) Of course this one is hard to screw up since she's the most 'normal' of everyone. A princess. A human princess. GIANT KUDOS though goes to the actress. She nailed it. And although I wouldn't recommend Shrek for any Oscars, I sincerely hope a nod goes to her. Really, really good.

Also, special mention of Chester Gregory who has an outstanding voice and is really likable personality. He was accepted 100% as Donkey by the entire audience.

MUSIC: 2 -- This is where the musical simply falls apart. The songs, while written in earnest, barely work as songs. Nothing is memorable and not one little itty-bitty jingle of a songlet is remembered or hummed as you leave the theater. And that's a shame. Everything sounds like you're about to hear a cool melody only to suddenly expire in the 8th measure into a puddle of slush. The only time the music rises to an acceptable level is when they're trying to parody a certain vaudeville or variety style, like with Lord Farquaaad who is giving the audience a full-fledged song and dance revue.

DANCE - 5 - Mostly pedestrian in nature. Lots of movement and arms up here and there, but nothing remarkable. Anything unique was left to the production staff. Here's an example: Fiona twirls around and sings, but the gimmick of the nearby bird exploding takes center stage for the laugh. Fiona and Bagged Piper play and sing along with a Rockettes-style line-up of RATS, thanks to a slightly lifted curtain showing the dancers' legs wearing tap shoes made to look like giant rats. (kinda like those animal slippers sold at novelty stores) The effect is funny and cool, but by the end of the dance number you quickly realize there was nothing innovative about the choreography itself.

SHREK - 8 - While he can't turn his head due to the giant layers of prosthetics which make him look pretty darn close to the film version of the character, Shrek in person is pretty darn believable and we quickly accept him as the ogre he was always meant to be. Played by Brian D'Arcy James, I have heard that makeup for his role usually takes about an hour and a half to two hours before each performance. Brian is perfect in the role and very believable. At times I felt like he was simply ringmaster to everything else happening around him, requiring him to do little but stand there and watch the proceedings with the rest of the audience. But despite the sometimes poor direction and staging, Brian rose above it all. Top notch!

SET DESIGN AND PROPS - 9 - This is a heavily set and prop driven show. And for most of it, they score a bullseye. Again, the only thing they could have done a better job with is the dragon. But if you're loading up at least 5 semi's to tour this visual juggernaut, I can't imagine where you'd stuff a giant dragon.

STORY - 6 - The problem is we all know the story, so every twist and turn is 'old hat'. Instead of tightening it up, though, it wanders a bit and the 2nd half is much longer than it needs to be. Coming in at 2 hours and 45 minutes, you hope they're smart enough to cut at least 30 minutes out of it, somewhere, anywhere.

HUMOR - 9 - Most, if not all, of the humor is low-brow but that is what Shrek has always been and it works. I laughed out loud at several points especially during visual gags, which there were plenty. Also the actors truly do SELL IT, which is nice.

At the end of the show, there was a standing ovation. People will dismiss the lackluster score and applaud the actors, costumes and production value. And while critics will undoubtedly tear it apart and scream that shows like this are the downfall of American Theater, audiences will turn out in mass and have a good time.

But be warned, once you leave the theater, all 'music' in this 'musical' is quickly forgotten.

Now, as for this review -- This was written off-the-cuff, and I'm sure I've forgotten things here and there and it could use a good once-over, I really just wanted to get all my thoughts down as quickly as possible before forgetting them. So please excuse the cluttered prose thrown into this heap of a review. Sorry and thanks.

All the best!

Chipper : )


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