Cody, Everman, Greer, Hoch, O'Donnell, Simard and More Join SHREK Cast

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 4/21/08 at 4:17pm

From Playbill:

"Additional casting has been announced for Shrek the Musical, which will bound its way into the Broadway Theatre Nov. 8.

As previously reported, Brian d'Arcy James, the singing actor who was recently seen in the Off-Broadway musical Next to Normal, will play the title role of the green ogre in the new musical with Cry-Baby's Chester Gregory II as Donkey, Avenue Q Tony nominee John Tartaglia as Pinocchio, Sutton Foster (Thoroughly Modern Millie, Young Frankenstein) as princess Fiona, Christopher Sieber (Monty Python's Spamalot) as Lord Farquaad and Kecia Lewis-Evans (The Drowsy Chaperone) as the dragon.

They will be joined onstage by Haven Burton (Legally Blonde, Rent), Jennifer Cody (Urinetown, The Pajama Game), Bobby Daye (The Color Purple, The Lion King), Ryan Duncan (Altar Boyz), Sarah Jane Everman (The Apple Tree, Wicked), Aymee Garcia (Avenue Q), Justin Greer (The Producers), Lisa Ho (A Chorus Line), Chris Hoch (Spamalot, Die Mommie Die!), Danette Holden (Jackie Mason's Laughing Room Only), Jacob Ming-Trent (Epic Theatre Center's Widowers' Houses), Carolyn Ockert-Haythe (The Pajama Game, Wonderful Town), Marissa O’Donnell (Annie in 30th Anniversary tour of Annie), Denny Paschall (Chicago, Beauty and the Beast), Greg Reuter (Spamalot), Noah Rivera (Wicked), Heather Jane Rolff (Wanda’s World), Jennifer Simard (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), Rachel Stern (High Fidelity, Tarzan), Dennis Stowe (The Apple Tree, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) and David F.M. Vaughn (Doctor Doolittle National Tour).

The musical based on the DreamWorks Animation film will officially open Dec. 14, making family audiences happy for the holidays. The New York life of the show begins after an August tryout in Seattle..."

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/116990.html

Updated On: 4/21/08 at 04:17 PM

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 4/21/08 at 4:25pm

I really hope this show is good for the cast's sake. This is an incredible cast from the ensemble to the principles.

[InfiniteTheaterFrenzy]

Posted: 4/21/08 at 4:26pm

Yeah Rachel Stern! I hope she'll be covering someone.

[TooDarnHot]

Posted: 4/21/08 at 4:36pm

Denny Paschall and Ryan Duncan!

fabulous male performers. ah, so exciting.

[Kelly2]

Posted: 4/21/08 at 4:39pm

Wow, this is an AMAZING cast. Let's hope the material is just as good.

[pli1018]

Posted: 4/21/08 at 4:59pm

LISA HO IS IN THIS!?! This is the best news ever!

But yeah the cast sounds really great but I still don't like the idea at all. I'll reserve judgment until I see it but I hope it will live up to it's hype.

[theaterkid1015]

Posted: 4/21/08 at 6:24pm

Jacob Trent...OH MY GOD. I did "Miss Saigon" with him 2 years ago. I was a pit singer, but he was John. Every night, we all cired during "Bui Doi". It was beautiful. I hope he's covering Chester or someone. Such a talented performer.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 4/22/08 at 5:17am

Looks like Aymee Garcia will finally be leaving AVENUE Q, making Jennifer Barnhart the final remaining original cast member.

[popular_elphie]

Posted: 4/22/08 at 8:12am

I remember someone telling me that Ben Crawford was in this. Sad not to see his name on the list - he's such an amazing performer and incredible singer.

[MerMaggieGalinda]

Posted: 4/22/08 at 8:35am

Does anyone know who is playing what?

[Roscoe]

Posted: 4/22/08 at 9:34am

I'm really glad that Jennifer Simard is working. She deserves to be a huge star. She's one of the funniest actresses around.

[shh282]

Posted: 4/22/08 at 11:18am

Maggie - Haven said she's playing the GingerBread man at At this Performance last night

[maya5892]

Posted: 4/22/08 at 12:19pm

Yeah, she is; I ran into one of her friends while in NY (he was a waiter at Bubba Gump when we went with my school) and he said, "Yeah, my friend Haven is playing the Ginger Bread man in Shrek..." and I was like "Oh my god, seriously?" Haha. I freaked because I knew who he was talking about.

[RacerX]

Posted: 4/22/08 at 4:56pm

Actually Ben is in the show- he's the Shrek standby.

Sometimes swings and standbys aren't named on first cast lists.

[MungoGypsy8232]

Posted: 4/22/08 at 5:23pm

I can't find the link, but in a recent Playbill.com interview, Jen Cody talks about the Shrek process and how she is playing the Anesthetic (sp?) Elf!

[tgn915]

Posted: 4/22/08 at 5:27pm

I'm so glad it's official about Jennifer!
I agree with you, Roscoe, she is hilarious!

Once while talking to her, she brought up the fact that she was in the workshop for Shrek and I'm so excited to hear that it came through!

She's amazing, as is the rest of this cast.
Even if the show sucks, the cast is phenomenal.
I'm so excited.

[Brandy_Breath]

Posted: 4/22/08 at 5:28pm

I so cannot wait to see Ben go on as Shrek!

[MungoGypsy8232]

Posted: 4/22/08 at 5:33pm

Jennifer better be understudying or standing by for Fiona and/or the Dragon!

[tgn915]

Posted: 4/22/08 at 5:37pm

I always thought she would play the Queen.

I suppose she can play the part of the Queen and understudy that of a lead. I doubt the Queen would be too huge of a part, anyway.

[BroadwayChica]

Posted: 4/22/08 at 5:50pm

I swear to God, when I first read that headline, I thought Rosie O'Donnell had joined the cast. I was even wondering what part she was going to play.

[TooDarnHot]

Posted: 4/22/08 at 7:01pm

Shrek, of course.

[pli1018]

Posted: 4/22/08 at 7:14pm

The Queen and the King are from Shrek 2, so they're probably not in the musical, unless they've combined them a bit. (I doubt it)

[tgn915]

Posted: 4/22/08 at 7:52pm

TooDarnHot, that photo made me want to crawl in a hole and die.

pli, I thought I heard somewhere (could be wrong) that they were going to combine the three somewhat?
I'm probably wrong but I could've sworn I heard something to that affect!

[popular_elphie]

Posted: 4/22/08 at 8:31pm

Thanks for the info, RacerX! I didn't know if they had any standbys on this show.

[balto]

Posted: 4/23/08 at 10:40am

Anyone know when tickets will be available for Shrek?