#1
Posted: 11/8/08 at 11:19pm
Forgive me, as I never write reviews for anything. I am not sure how rough first previews usually tend to be, but this production seemed frozen and ready for critics. It was an impeccable night of theater, not a single missed cue, flubbed line, nothing. I have never seen a funnier production, and it ranks as a solid contender for one of the most visually appealing productions as well - I'm fairly new to theater, but in the few months that Ive been here (since July) I've seen well over 40 different productions and this ranks pretty high. I will say its far better than any of the Disney productions.
Brian d'Arcy James plays Shrek very much like Mike Myers does, and the same can be said for Daniel Breaker as Donkey. At first this kind of bugged me but I realize that this is a major brand backed by Dreamworks and we're here to see Shrek and Donkey not Brian and Daniel - does that make any sense? It doesnt make sense to overhaul characters that families already love so in that respect, Brian and Daniel played their roles amazingly well and I heard from audience members that they resembled Mike and Eddie from the film very very well. Sutton was great as Fiona, didnt see much of her in the first act. I felt like she played Fiona a little too sweet for me in the beginning, and lacked a bit of sass that we're used to from Fiona but she really sassed it up in the second act and she was just as great as Brian and Daniel. Many may say that Daniel is the show stealer, but it really goes to Christopher Sieber as Lord Farquad - this man had the audience in stitches, and by the audience I mean the adults. They were uncontrollable - even in his little nuances (like pulling down his shirt as if it were a skirt) were not missed by the audience. Although one of the shortest characters, certainly one of the most entertaining to watch.
The songs were all really strong, I couldnt pick out a throwaway if you ask me (maybe the number with Fiona and the mice - although it made for a very nice tap number), nor could I pick out one that really stood out. I guess that might sound like a complaint, but really it was all just pretty seamless. I think the decision to make Dragon an ensemble piece was an excellent idea SPOILER Dragon is now this large dragon head and neck that moves its mouth and blinks its eyes, while its scales comprise the ensemble. Think of the scale coming out of the stage and in those scales were the ensemble, so each represented one of the scales and they would sing and move about. It really worked and I felt it was very well done. Sets were very nice, Lord F's castle stood out, the scene with Shrek and Fiona at the campfire if you will was very nice.
My ONLY complaint was the seat. If you do lotto BEWARE. I got ROW B seat 6 and it was terrible. I couldnt see anything over the stage, it was very very high and a lot occurs upstage. Think Hairspray if you will, and there's the orchestra pit in the stage, so a lot happened behind that and it made for a lot to be missed if you sit there. Rarely, did characters come forward and walked in front of the pit. Worse than Gypsy - and at least Gypsy is played toward the front with the orch in the back. After the first song, I walked out talked to the manager who informed me it was completely sold out so there were no more seats, but as I walked out there were a good handful on the extreme sides of the orch so I moved from ORCH B to ORCH J extreme side and saw the show completely well from there. With lotto giving out 16 seats, and only 8 seats comprise the front row sides - you may want to pick up your tickets as late as possible if you want to do lotto to snag one of the box seats (assuming that those are the ones they give out if you go towards the end of the pick up time).
There was a moment where Shrek pulls out this skeleton with a helmet and the helmet falls right into the seat that I moved from, and Brian instructs Jordangirl! who was next to me to "Give it to me" and she does, and the audience eats it up and Daniel looks at her like who are you? and Brian says "who the hell was that?" It was priceless - and I saw Brian give both Jordangirl and her friend high fives after curtain call.
All I can say is feel free to catch the show now, it is in excellent excellent shape as is, doubt there'll be many changes but if there are I hope they're for the better and it's definitely a show not just for kids, or families but really everyone. It's got a lot of the humor that is Shrek which is a little crude and inappropriate but it's fun.
Gingerbread cookie was really great too, and the girl who does its voice can definitely give Riff-Tina a run for her money!
Brian d'Arcy James plays Shrek very much like Mike Myers does, and the same can be said for Daniel Breaker as Donkey. At first this kind of bugged me but I realize that this is a major brand backed by Dreamworks and we're here to see Shrek and Donkey not Brian and Daniel - does that make any sense? It doesnt make sense to overhaul characters that families already love so in that respect, Brian and Daniel played their roles amazingly well and I heard from audience members that they resembled Mike and Eddie from the film very very well. Sutton was great as Fiona, didnt see much of her in the first act. I felt like she played Fiona a little too sweet for me in the beginning, and lacked a bit of sass that we're used to from Fiona but she really sassed it up in the second act and she was just as great as Brian and Daniel. Many may say that Daniel is the show stealer, but it really goes to Christopher Sieber as Lord Farquad - this man had the audience in stitches, and by the audience I mean the adults. They were uncontrollable - even in his little nuances (like pulling down his shirt as if it were a skirt) were not missed by the audience. Although one of the shortest characters, certainly one of the most entertaining to watch.
The songs were all really strong, I couldnt pick out a throwaway if you ask me (maybe the number with Fiona and the mice - although it made for a very nice tap number), nor could I pick out one that really stood out. I guess that might sound like a complaint, but really it was all just pretty seamless. I think the decision to make Dragon an ensemble piece was an excellent idea SPOILER Dragon is now this large dragon head and neck that moves its mouth and blinks its eyes, while its scales comprise the ensemble. Think of the scale coming out of the stage and in those scales were the ensemble, so each represented one of the scales and they would sing and move about. It really worked and I felt it was very well done. Sets were very nice, Lord F's castle stood out, the scene with Shrek and Fiona at the campfire if you will was very nice.
My ONLY complaint was the seat. If you do lotto BEWARE. I got ROW B seat 6 and it was terrible. I couldnt see anything over the stage, it was very very high and a lot occurs upstage. Think Hairspray if you will, and there's the orchestra pit in the stage, so a lot happened behind that and it made for a lot to be missed if you sit there. Rarely, did characters come forward and walked in front of the pit. Worse than Gypsy - and at least Gypsy is played toward the front with the orch in the back. After the first song, I walked out talked to the manager who informed me it was completely sold out so there were no more seats, but as I walked out there were a good handful on the extreme sides of the orch so I moved from ORCH B to ORCH J extreme side and saw the show completely well from there. With lotto giving out 16 seats, and only 8 seats comprise the front row sides - you may want to pick up your tickets as late as possible if you want to do lotto to snag one of the box seats (assuming that those are the ones they give out if you go towards the end of the pick up time).
There was a moment where Shrek pulls out this skeleton with a helmet and the helmet falls right into the seat that I moved from, and Brian instructs Jordangirl! who was next to me to "Give it to me" and she does, and the audience eats it up and Daniel looks at her like who are you? and Brian says "who the hell was that?" It was priceless - and I saw Brian give both Jordangirl and her friend high fives after curtain call.
All I can say is feel free to catch the show now, it is in excellent excellent shape as is, doubt there'll be many changes but if there are I hope they're for the better and it's definitely a show not just for kids, or families but really everyone. It's got a lot of the humor that is Shrek which is a little crude and inappropriate but it's fun.
Gingerbread cookie was really great too, and the girl who does its voice can definitely give Riff-Tina a run for her money!
Updated On: 11/9/08 at 11:19 PM
