Any SHREK news from last night? — Page 8

Saw Shrek last night and had a lot of fun.I loved how colorful the stage was before the show even started. There are lights that look like fireflies and bugs that move around inside a tree.

Anyway there were only a few things that bothered me. I didn't like how the Dragon's mouth didn't move at all as she sang. Everything else moved so why not the mouth? It was weird seeing the Dragon Lady walk around away from the puppet too. It was a little distracting. I didn't feel like the Lady and the Puppet were one character. Also, the first act lasted an hour and 20 minutes. It was still fun but I really needed to stretch my legs.

In act two Shrek and Fiona's burp/fart duet was a bit much. Later Fiona's transformation from an ogre to a human was strange since they had the double walk behind one tree and then Sutton came out from behind a different tree...

Great performances by all the actors. Christopher Sieber as Lord Farquad was my favorite part. I thought it must be so tough to have to do the entire show on his knees but afterward he said that his knees were actually the only thing that didn't hurt.

Overall it was a very enjoyable show.

My wife and I traveled from Salt Lake City to Seattle last weekend to see Shrek the Musical with my sister and her husband. All four of us absolutely loved it. We all agreed that it was one of the best shows we have seen. The design elements were stunning, especially the sets. We really enjoyed the comedy numbers, especially “Morning Person,” “Things Are Looking Up in Duloc,” and “The Ballad of Farquaad.” Everything involving Lord Farquaad and Princess Fiona was very entertaining and enjoyable. Fiona tap dancing with the rats was priceless. I would pay to see the show again just for that. Although, we are big fans of Chester Gregory’s singing voice, there seemed to be something missing in his portrayal of Donkey. We don’t know if it was the material or the performance, but he just wasn’t as funny as we expected him to be. With this exception, we felt that the leads were perfectly cast. The performances of Sutton Foster, Brian D’arcy James, and Christopher Sieber were nuanced and a joy to watch. Everyone’s voices were incredible.

The book and music were wonderful. I cannot express how pleased I was with the overall tone of the show. It wasn’t just crass comedy but was often bittersweet. Songs like “I Think I Got You Beat,” “Big Bright Beautiful World,” and “When Words Fail” had an incredible ability to be funny at one moment and heartbreaking the next. In addition, “Who I’d Be” and “More to the Story” were breathtaking in their beauty. They were without a doubt my favorite part of the show. They truly allowed us to get inside the hearts of Shrek and Fiona and feel what they were feeling. For me, they really took the entire show to another artistic and emotional level.

There were a few things all four of us agreed should be changed for the show to be better. First, the plastic elk in “Morning Person” should be removed. It didn’t look realistic or fit with the rest of the design, and we didn’t feel it was very funny. We think that the bird blowing up and the dancing rats are enough visual gags for the song. Second, Dragon singing after Shrek hears Fiona talking to Donkey seemed very odd. We didn’t understand why she was there and why she was commenting on the relationship between Shrek and Fiona. Kecia Lewis-Evans sang it very well, but it just seemed out of place. It would have been better to add a brief reprise of “When Words Fail” so Shrek could express what he was feeling after being turned away (in his eyes). Third, when Dragon broke through the stained glass window at the wedding, the puppet Dragon head needed to be there. It looked very empty with just Kecia and Chester looking through.

After the show, we went to the stage door. John, Christopher, Chester, and Sutton all came out and were very nice. David Lindsay-Abaire and Jeanine Tesori also came out, which was pretty cool. The next day we saw John Tartaglia walking down Fifth Avenue with some sunflowers he'd bought at Pike Place Market. We thought it was cute since sunflowers are a motif in the show.

In direct response to this last person's post about the portrayal of Donkey, you'll need to go back and watch the show again as the Donkey character/lines/songs have really done a 180 in a new (and better) direction.

Shrek is going to be huge on Broadway--even you Disney haters will love it. :) I'm not a fan of the movie to musical genre we've got going on right now, but I'm a huge fan of Shrek (and Hairspray I might add!). The creative team has really been doing wonders at editing this show during the preview run in Seattle. If you saw any preview performance at all, you really need to go back and see the show again as they've had many many changes--too many to list or even attempt to list (scene reordering, line ditching and rewriting, song additions, song deletions, etc.) The show is at a very solid state for Broadway and I think this one is going to be around for a long long time. The acting, set, costumes, songs, lighting, dancing, etc. will really impress you.