First Impressions are everything right? Well, the set and scenery for this show was amazing and it gave off the best first impression and did not disappoint throughout the whole show, with the amount of scene changes this show had it was a wonder where the managed to fit it all in. Well done to the stage crew!
The show began and worked us in gently with the opening number Big Bright Beautiful World which was well performed and well sung between Mama Ogre (Laura Burrell), Papa Ogre (Adrien Nortier), Queen Lillian (Jade Williams), King Harold (Martin Boniface-Jones) the voices were well matched and made a great sound.
On came the main man himself, Shrek (Reece Fitzgerald) and I must say that I was pleasantly surprised with everything this character threw at us from the accent, to the singing, the way he held himself, all the way to how he was making us feel towards him, it was a joy to watch, I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. (Not just because of his large green stature).
Then on came the ensemble and OH MY GOODNESS! They looked incredible in their costumes, well done to Molly Limpets and the wardrobe team because everyone looked amazing. The characterization of everyone was obviously well explained and explored because there were little gestures and nuances from the cast that did not go unnoticed. The song Story of My Life which is started by Pinocchio (James Young) was like it was a voice match, I closed my eyes at one point, and it sounded so much like the professional soundtrack, well done.
We then go on to meet the comedy value of the show Donkey (Richard Bond) who was as close to the real thing as you can get in his wonderfully thought-out costume, however the face makeup was questionable. His performance was everything you expected it to be, cool, annoying (for Shrek) and funny, I take my hat off to him because he couldn’t use his hands the whole show, this did not stop his expression, however.
Going on through the story and through the wonderful scene changes by cast and crew we arrive in Duloc, greeted by the Duloc Dolls, who despite the minor wardrobe malfunctions due to the clunky costumes they were amazing to watch and very much in sync with each other, I did feel that a bit more of the “face” joke within the welcoming song to Duloc could have been played more on but that is a personal preference as that bit is so well known within the film, I just felt the pause was a little brief that is all. Anyway on we go to meeting Lard Farquaad (Ben Kennedy) who had a great voice for the role, both within the acting and singing, I felt it had a bit of a Rik Mayall vibe to it which I loved as this developed the character even further. One thing I must say is that I felt the illusion was lost a little bit due to the costume not being quite right on the thigh area as not enough was covered and felt this spoiled a ‘little’ bit. He did not come up ‘short’ when it came to his performance.
When in the presence of royalty, one must congratulate one on one’s performance, Princess Fiona (Louise Travis) sang her way into the audiences hearts and made them laugh it all the way out again, a very comedic actress and the facial expressions anyone would die for. How you did the quick change at the end was incredible and looked very well-rehearsed I must say, because you know what they say “It’s not easy being green”.
Now I must talk about the Dragon, which was just before the end of act 1, IT WAS MASSIVE! It really was astounding, however, there were a few things that I think could have been improved. I could see that it took many people to operate this contraption, and this did spoil the illusion a little, the dragon sings a song and the mouth was not able to move in time with the lyrics, I’m not sure if this was because of the size? How it was operated? Or due to lack of time spent with the dragon on stage as I would assume that this was not used in the rehearsal room (I could be wrong) but I think I would have enjoyed it just as much if there was someone in a “Dragon type” costume perform the song. The Dragon voice (Laura Newborough) was awesome and I thoroughly enjoyed the vocals, just a shame the visuals weren’t to match.
A few honorable mentions are the skeletons which must have found it no small task to perform with their faces fully covered. One thing was I felt was a little off putting within the show was the stuffing and stitching within Thelonius (Adrien Nortier) trousers, an interesting choice and didn’t feel this was appropriate for a family friendly show, an interesting directorial decision made there. The three blind mice were awesome and this song was well rehearsed and I was also very surprised to see a tap number featured in the show which was lovely and very cleverly done with use of the curtains. All the children (Isla Clarke, Sophia Newborough and Ayla Tipp) within the production that I saw (as it was a split child cast) were great and looked like they were thoroughly enjoying within this production and were very well rehearsed, well done.
Well done to all involved in this production, it was well staged, well sung, well lit, well performed and sounded great. This was a very professional looking production, thoroughly enjoyed the evening and had to rest my cheeks (face ones) from laughing all of the way through.
Jaz Wilson
It’s All An Act