Okay, I lied about the nap. Just got back into town, on my 48th hour up.
Caught the second show on Friday to see if I could crystallize some of the nagging concerns I had about the show, and you know what?
I really enjoyed it the second time around. Seriously. The show last night was nearly 180 from the hot mess I saw on Thursday. It seemed tighter, more focused. The cast was ON, and the audience gobbled it all up with enthusiasm.
The Shrek "roar" still makes me grimace.
I'm still meh on "Travel Song," though I appreciate its use as the transition to the dragon's lair and the slow camaderie between Shrek and Donkey. "Now YOU go." Heh.
Dragon is still a bobbing puppet.
"This is How a Dream Comes True" is...still bland. I don't think it contrasts enough with the whole escaping the dragon sequence and gets lost in all the running around.
Pinocchio & Gingy's scene was cut. Now it goes from Fiona's sunset exit straight to Shrek & Donkey stargazing.
Something about "Who I'd Be" (the Act One closer). I don't know if anything's changed or if it just finally clicked for me, but where the music builds up to "I'd have a hero's ending. A perfect happy ending. That's how it could be. A big bright beautiful world!" Paused on a single horn. Followed by the subdued, almost melancholy, "...but not for me." The accompanying wistful strains, and then the slow crescendo and fade in on Fiona outlined by the moon. An ogre of no importance. Damn it. I am now officially in love with this scene.
Act Two.
"Morning Person" is the Fiona show. She makes birds asplode. Discus hurls deer. Can play the pipe, and tap dances! Is it a big, silly sketch? Yes (though the tap dancing rats seem to have been trimmed a bit. Or at least feels shorter.) Moves the plot forward? No. Absolutely necessary? No.
But you know what? I like it. So there.
"I Think I Got You Beat" is the "my life is suckier than yours" duet that turns into bonding over mutual abandonment issues and eventually degenerates into a belching and farting contest. Ah, young love.
"Ballad of Farquaad" (or, Daddy Was Grumpy). Spaghetti Western music! I did mention Christopher Sieber was hysterical, yes? Yes. And tiny, tiny feet.
"Let Her In" is a riff on Dreamgirls a la the three blind mice. I do like that the dragon also intrudes upon Donkey's dream sequence as well - makes their eventual hookup less of a plot contrivance.
Adore "Gonna Build a Wall," but I think it's in the wrong place. Having Shrek's 11 o'clock number right after Fiona's conversation with Donkey (where Shrek overhears only part of the conversation regarding herself, and makes all the wrong assumptions) makes the scenes following it anticlimactic. Wouldn't it make more sense in the following scene, to keep the reprise of "Who I'd Be" then fade out? That layer of tension would sustain into the next scenes, where he drives everyone away. He's lost Fiona and his best (only) friend. He's angry, hurt and "Gonna Build a Wall" becomes the culmination of his despair. I think the song would explode right here.
"Freak Flag." The first time I saw this, I thought "Legally Blonde Remix."
Fiona in a wedding dress. Her big number, in counterpoint to Shrek's. They've both been forced back to where they were at the start, but in contrast to "I Know it's Today," where she wanted to skip through all the preliminaries and get to the happy ending. Like Shrek, she's had a journey as well - thrown away all her old preconceived notions of love, and this Fiona keeps hoping there's "More to the Story" because if there isn't - well, then that's it for her. This song just kills me.
"It's a big bright beautiful world" again. But this time, Shrek wants to change the ending.
Fiona runs offstage and comes back five minutes later (during La Revolucion) all greenified. And the people at Wicked are instantly jealous.
Farquaad's comeuppance. With the stained-glass window broken, I expected the dragon puppet to make an appearance. Kecia and Chester looked small, practically hidden behind the smoke & broken glass.
The hugging scene in the finale. If it's a piss-take on the Beauty & the Beast ending, it doesn't work. If it isn't, it REALLY doesn't work.
The very end itself is...weak. Shrek concluding the story to bookend the narration at the beginning isn't really enough. I guess I was expecting a more orchestral ending, something that goes back to the main themes set in the beginning. Without it, it just sort of feels like "ah, we didn't know how to really end this, so here's Fairytale land's version of Dancing Queen."
ETA: Somebody wanted the songlist, right?
Updated On: 8/16/08 at 11:51 AM
