Gaudy, sometimes slightly bawdy, colorful as Fourth of July fireworks and with a charmingly iconoclastic attitude toward the fairy tales that gave it birth, "Shrek the Musical" opened a two-week run at the Fox Theatre last night, with Eric Petersen, in the title role, following Kermit the Frog in discovering that it isn't easy being green.
Like the movie, the stage rendition is based on the book by William Steig, Jeanine Tesori composed the music, David Lindsay-Abaire contributed book and lyrics and Josh Prince turned out some lovely, luscious choreography that covered the full range, including a nifty tap number led by Holly Ann Butler, as Princess Fiona and the many dancers as mice.
Petersen is excellent as the Ogre, sent off by his parents to find an uncomfortable life, and pairing up with a sarcastic donkey (Alan Mingo Jr., channeling Eddie Murphy, who provided the voice in the animated movie).
Lindsay-Abaire's esoteric sense of humor, which shows in his plays, takes all sorts of liberties as the story tips its hat to a large collection of fairy tales and their characters, including Pinocchio, Tweedledum, three blind mice and an equal number of bears, the Gingerbread Man, the lion king,a representative dwarf, Pied Piper, Peter Pan and others, including Sarah Peak, a fuzzy delight as the Ugly Duckling. David F. M. Vaughn is terrific as Lord Farquaad, who wants to marry the princess so he will become king. He displays an excellent voice, and folds his tall frame like a carpenter's rule so that he can portray a short man and absorb lots of jokes about being vertically challenged, limiting his reading to "short stories" and the like.
All sorts of technical wizardry is on hand, led by a dragon–a giant rod puppet–that practically fills the huge Fox stage and is operated by actors. Denny Paschall is the head, Kevin Boseman, Tyrone Davis Jr. and Kevin Quillon handle his moving parts and Carrie Compere (with electronic aids) is the voice. It's an amazing piece of work, and thrilling to watch.
Tim Hatley designed set and costumes, and they are marvelous, a feast of color and shape, and a swamp that is glorious. Hugh Vanstone's lighting design shows off Hatley's work, and the actors, in perfect style. Jason Moore and Rob Ashford are credited as co-directors, and their results are wonderful.
Thankfully, Lindsay-Abaire inserted some semi-adult comments and punch lines, because it's a long show, and for pre-teeners, there is a scene dedicated to bodily functions, including lots of flatulence, which will keep that set in a cheery mood for the remainder of the evening.
It's a fine opener for the Fox season.
Shrek the Musical runs at the Fox through Sept. 26
–Joe
Photo credit: © 2010 DreamWorks Theatricals (Joan Marcus)