#26
Posted: 12/13/08 at 11:31am
All right, now that I'm fully awake, I'll write a review of last night's truly incredible performance:
NOTE: I'm not going to try and insult WBAF, but some of his facts are inaccurate, including having half of the orchestra/ mezzanine empty. From my seat, the theatre was FILLED.
Since I saw the third preview, I'll tell you about the numerous changes made:
To start the show, Julie Andrews does a preshow announcement about turning off cellphones, unwrapping candy, etc. It was cute. Then, the show began as usual, but the largest change I found was that "Big Bright Beautiful World" cut everything from after Shrek says goodbye to his parents to him emerging from the outhouse. The sets still look incredible, and just scream money. They fill the stage completely and never leave you wanting more. "Story of My Life" while still extremly funny, did have some very minor changes with certain jokes. Then, rather than having it seem that Donkey flew using the pixie dust, you see him being chased by the guards, which actually worked alot better. They also added this cute little thing to his ears which make them perk up or turn. "Don't Let me Go" added two Broadway jokes, one sounding like it was from Rent's "Take Me or Leave Me", and the other from Dreamgirls. In the dungeon scene, the gingerbread man now has his two broken off legs right next to him. The eyebrows also move on their own. Rest is the same up to "Travel Song", which now has (in it's parade of puppets) a dish and a spoon being followed by a duloc police car.
Now, in my last review, my largest concern was that of the dragon puppet AND "Donkey Pot Pie". Now, with three soloists singing the voice of the Dragon, it seems to finally come together for this number. I actually loved the number here just as much as the one in seattle. The puppet now looks ALOT better, even though not much has really changed, it just does. Also, they finally made the skeletons which appear in the number make sense by having the dragon soloists say "That's what that guys said, and him, and him, and him, and him, and him, and him, and..." It just flowed that number.
The rest of the first act was pretty much the save, save for having a Shrek body double beat up the dancing skeletons rather than have the out of place skeleton versions of Shrek, Donkey, and Finoa. During the Act One Finale, rather than having Finoa appear in a silohuete infront of the moon, they showed her in full ogre makeup, which made me think, was it actually Sutton? It was the same amount of time which she had to get orgred up for the finale, and I weouldn't think they'd show a double in full light, like that.
The second act was exactly the same as last time with only two minor changes:
The Ballad of Farquad cut out the entire cowboy dance break, which even my dad agreed with me on was uneccessary in the first place. The second was the finale, which had numerous small changes:
1: Fiona's transformations were both done alot better. In the first, the lights go out completely, and various people in robes bring on lanterns to light the church again. The finoa double used to help Sutton get into makeup then switches with Sutton in the confusion, and the lights come up on Sutton as an ogre. The second one was almost exactly the same, except a different light combo was used, resulting in something which looked truly magical.
2: The dragon, rather than having it's head just sit there, actually comes through the stained glass window and eats Farquad. the dragon then looks at the action and seems to respond quite well to the action (Also, John Tartaglia operates this puppet during "Donkey Pot Pie"). Overall, a great improvement.
3: The new finale song is MUCH better than the old one. My only thing: Is it possible to have the dragon puppet onstage during this finale moment? The stage is for the first time rather empty, and I'd love to see the dragon be there.
Overall, I think this will certainly do well, and I'll be excited to see the show come next January. Maybe it won't win the tony for best Musical, or be popular with critics, but it will certainly, as seen at last night's performance, do well with families and theatregoers alike. I wish it well.
4 out of 5 stars.
NOTE: I'm not going to try and insult WBAF, but some of his facts are inaccurate, including having half of the orchestra/ mezzanine empty. From my seat, the theatre was FILLED.
Since I saw the third preview, I'll tell you about the numerous changes made:
To start the show, Julie Andrews does a preshow announcement about turning off cellphones, unwrapping candy, etc. It was cute. Then, the show began as usual, but the largest change I found was that "Big Bright Beautiful World" cut everything from after Shrek says goodbye to his parents to him emerging from the outhouse. The sets still look incredible, and just scream money. They fill the stage completely and never leave you wanting more. "Story of My Life" while still extremly funny, did have some very minor changes with certain jokes. Then, rather than having it seem that Donkey flew using the pixie dust, you see him being chased by the guards, which actually worked alot better. They also added this cute little thing to his ears which make them perk up or turn. "Don't Let me Go" added two Broadway jokes, one sounding like it was from Rent's "Take Me or Leave Me", and the other from Dreamgirls. In the dungeon scene, the gingerbread man now has his two broken off legs right next to him. The eyebrows also move on their own. Rest is the same up to "Travel Song", which now has (in it's parade of puppets) a dish and a spoon being followed by a duloc police car.
Now, in my last review, my largest concern was that of the dragon puppet AND "Donkey Pot Pie". Now, with three soloists singing the voice of the Dragon, it seems to finally come together for this number. I actually loved the number here just as much as the one in seattle. The puppet now looks ALOT better, even though not much has really changed, it just does. Also, they finally made the skeletons which appear in the number make sense by having the dragon soloists say "That's what that guys said, and him, and him, and him, and him, and him, and him, and..." It just flowed that number.
The rest of the first act was pretty much the save, save for having a Shrek body double beat up the dancing skeletons rather than have the out of place skeleton versions of Shrek, Donkey, and Finoa. During the Act One Finale, rather than having Finoa appear in a silohuete infront of the moon, they showed her in full ogre makeup, which made me think, was it actually Sutton? It was the same amount of time which she had to get orgred up for the finale, and I weouldn't think they'd show a double in full light, like that.
The second act was exactly the same as last time with only two minor changes:
The Ballad of Farquad cut out the entire cowboy dance break, which even my dad agreed with me on was uneccessary in the first place. The second was the finale, which had numerous small changes:
1: Fiona's transformations were both done alot better. In the first, the lights go out completely, and various people in robes bring on lanterns to light the church again. The finoa double used to help Sutton get into makeup then switches with Sutton in the confusion, and the lights come up on Sutton as an ogre. The second one was almost exactly the same, except a different light combo was used, resulting in something which looked truly magical.
2: The dragon, rather than having it's head just sit there, actually comes through the stained glass window and eats Farquad. the dragon then looks at the action and seems to respond quite well to the action (Also, John Tartaglia operates this puppet during "Donkey Pot Pie"). Overall, a great improvement.
3: The new finale song is MUCH better than the old one. My only thing: Is it possible to have the dragon puppet onstage during this finale moment? The stage is for the first time rather empty, and I'd love to see the dragon be there.
Overall, I think this will certainly do well, and I'll be excited to see the show come next January. Maybe it won't win the tony for best Musical, or be popular with critics, but it will certainly, as seen at last night's performance, do well with families and theatregoers alike. I wish it well.
4 out of 5 stars.
