SHREK - first preview thoughts- Page 2

[DavidPatrickS82]

Posted: 11/9/08 at 12:44am

WHich makes me sad, cause he'll hate it. I know he will. I want him to love it, but he'll find something to hate and totally blow it out of proportion.


Someone tell me why there was no individual curtain call. I can't stop dwelling on it. It's driving me nuts

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 11/9/08 at 12:47am

That's really odd about the curtain call...hopefully they'll have some kind of individual bows once the show gets going.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 11/9/08 at 12:48am

I was there tonight as well, and I really have to disagree with you. While the show wasn't awful, it def. needs some work. First off, the "Finale" wasn't complete. I heard from someone at the stage door that they literally finished blocking the show out this morning. The curtain call was a quick lights up, lights down with no one singled out. I'm sure that will change. I didn't even see Christopher Sieber at the curtain call. Anyways, as for the show....

I thought Daniel Bleaker played Donkey a little more effeminate than what I'm use to. I thought it worked. He was really funny, but I felt like the charactered needed a little more vocal power. I could see what they were going for with their initial casting, and I thought Bleaker did a good job, but didn't hit it out of the ball park for me.

Sutton Foster was okay. I mean, it's what I expected from her, and nothing more. She was just doing her know shtick. I think it was the sound system, but all of her belt notes seemed to be coming out of speakers or the back of the stage, but didn't sound as they were coming out of her. Like they were precorded (I know they're not). But I expected her to have more vocal power, but she just didn't. She fine was, but she didn't really do anything that made me take notice.

Brian D'arcy James was great. I thought he brought such nuance and subtle to the character. It was a good choice given Donkey's spastic energy. They leveled each other. I loved all of his solo songs especially "When Words Fail." That was a beautiful song and beautiful designed and directed.

Of course the ensemble was fantastic. I loved both of the ensemble numbers "The Story of My Life" and "Freak flag." I think "Freak flag" needs to end the show. It seems like the right kind of message to end the show on. And let it be known, I'm a Jen Cody fan. If she were in a solo show was the Elf Shoemaker, I would watch it. She was hilarious and just a joy to watch.

The sets were pretty good. I mean, sure, they were technically amazing, but they weren't anything new design wise. I would have liked to see what Eugene Lee did with the set. He tends to do a lot of environmental settings, so I would have liked to see something like that. I'd like to see the swamp spill over into the Broadway theater.

The score was give and take. A lot of the songs I really enjoyed and wanted to hear again (The story of my life, When words fail, Big Bright Beautiful World, Don't Let Me Go). However, the "Travel Song" was strange. I don't know if Daniel Bleaker dropped a line or something, but there was this awkward pause. Other than that, the song wasn't horrible. But "Donkey Pot Pie" was a horrible song. It was just plane bad, and a bore to watch. And Donkey's Act II number about Shrek hitting on Fiona was horrible as well. I'm sure they won't fix those numbers, but they were def. horrible and need to go.

Sieber was brilliant. I'll be surprised if he doesn't win a Tony award. He really brought so much to the role. He was just amazing to watch and a hoot.

The dragon was stupid. I'm sorry, but I hated the idea and the execution. The dragon's eyes just looked vacant and not life like at all. I felt like I was just watching something at Universal Studios or Disney World. It was just poorly done. And the song was horrible, and the idea of the ensemble singing was stupid. It needs to be one, strong voice. The dragon really doesn't do much, and it's hard for the audience to buy that the dragon and donkey are developing a relationship when its the dragon and the rest of the ensemble. They need to change that.

Fiona changing into an orge was done nicely. It wasn't like a "wow" effect like Beauty and the Beast, but I thought it was done nicely. It's easy to tell how it was done, but it still a great effect.

Overall I would have to disagree that the show is ready for critics. There are a lot of things that need to be tightened and worked on. There were a lot of awkward pauses where I didn't know if they were intentional or not. But I think it will get there. I'm sure the show will be a hit, but I don't see it being a critical hit. As of now, Billy Elliot's Tony is safe.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 11/9/08 at 12:51am

Daniel Breaker. :)

[dshnookie]

Posted: 11/9/08 at 12:52am

Well, I was anticipating some kind of announcement prior to it starting other than the usual "turn phones off and no recordings" I really thought someone would come out and say a little something to introduce the show especially with it being the first preview and all, I was more surprised by that than the group curtain call - which I thought was fine, most of the entire cast was already on stage in the final scene anyway, the few that werent just ran out, bowed and that was it.

[winter_sky]

Posted: 11/9/08 at 12:52am

DavidPatrickS82,

Well of course the seats aren't going to be prime but the fact that they are so obstructed (according to the previous poster) makes it seem like they are not even worth 26 dollars. Times are tight and if you can't even see what is going on, I would put my money elsewhere.

[DavidPatrickS82]

Posted: 11/9/08 at 12:53am

Rentboy, I am with you 100%...

I loved the show, but it needs some serious tuning before it opens. And I didn't realize it until you just said it, but you are right, Chris Sieber wasn't onstage for the curtain call as well as Sutton.

I think part of the reason Sutton wasn't powerhousing was the fact that the sound guy needed to turn her up a bit. That theatre is HUGE and sound gets lost easily.

And I agree about the score. Some of the songs I loved and then others i felt didn't even fit in the show.

I can't remember the name of it, but the one where they are trying to one up each other... I kind of loved that song. I won't lie. And I love morning person! HAHAHA It's gotten so much better since Seattle

[jordangirl]

Posted: 11/9/08 at 12:58am

It could be because I was on the aisle and the stage seems to slope up on the end, but I didn't find them horrible. Not so bad that I wanted to move anyway. I found front row at Gypsy far worse personally.

Different strokes. :)

[adamgreer]

Posted: 11/9/08 at 1:00am

Regarding the curtain call...

John Tartaglia wrote on his facebook that they didn't have time to stage one yet, but there will be one in by next week.

[DavidPatrickS82]

Posted: 11/9/08 at 1:02am

I know, I saw that, I was the one that said in his status comment that I was wondering where it was, LOL!!! Thanks though

[DavidPatrickS82]

Posted: 11/9/08 at 1:38am

Wait, did the original poster for this say that they left after the first song to see if there were other seats? Isn't that like the biggest no no in theater etiquette!! You don't leave unless there's like an emergency.

Does anyone miss the days when people actually knew how to act in the theater? (this is not towards the original poster) Now-a-days people take pictures and then get MAD when the ushers stop them?? I remember back when no one would even think to take one cause ya just didn't do that! Ugh, Those were the days!

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 11/9/08 at 1:48am

Agreed David, but you also have to look at the state of American commercial theater. I mean, hello, it's "Shrek: the musical." I was sitting in my seat waiting for the show to start, and I thought "It's funny that this will be performed - no doubt - on the Tonys alongside West Side Story and Guys and Dolls. Whatever happened to original composers doing original works?" I just don't see Shrek or Little Mermaid being highly anticipated revivals in years to come. Broadway has sold itself out to greedy people, and that's it.

[KJisgroovy]

Posted: 11/9/08 at 1:54am

"Whatever happened to original composers doing original works?"

You realize that West Side Story and Guys and Dolls are adaptations... right? Are you being post-modern? I don't understand.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 11/9/08 at 2:01am

Well, it's a different idea. I don't think either of those shows are based off something as well known as, say, Shrek is. I understand that something like "Light in the Piazza" isn't "original" in that sense, but it is original. It took something lesser known and turned it into something else. But a show like "Young Frakenstein" just took the movie and plugged in some songs, that's not original. Maybe "original" isn't the right word, maybe it's an artistic integrity or creativeness, I don't know. I mean, look at "Billy Elliot." I'd say the movie wasn't wildly popular, and look what it was turned into. Not "original" no, but still a great piece of theater. Its a fine line I suppose, between art and greed, so it's hard to place which shows falls into what.

[KJisgroovy]

Posted: 11/9/08 at 2:09am

I'm pretty sure Romeo and Juliet is as well known as Shrek.

I get what you're saying... but that argument doesn't really hold for me... one of the most perfect musicals, is basically a play that has had songs plugged into it... with a different ending... certainly... My Fair Lady and Shrek may turn out to be in different ballparks... but you're wrong to think someone can't achieve great art with an adaptation.

[dshnookie]

Posted: 11/9/08 at 2:41am

DavidPatrickS82, I left after the first song, and was able to sneak out by running along the extreme side of the orchestra - not along the center aisles - and as I was the third seat of a four seat row, with the fourth seat empty - I wasnt crawling over anyone to do so. And when I changed seats, I sat in the orch extreme side, last seat on the end so as not to disturb anyone.

Frankly, I've seen much worse behavior in a theater.

[B3TA07]

Posted: 11/9/08 at 2:57am

...did anyone audio..

[uncageg]

Posted: 11/9/08 at 5:48am

plain

[inlovewithjerryherman]

Posted: 11/9/08 at 5:54am

NOTE: MAJOR SPOILERS.

I also saw the preview performance tonight at 8:00 and can say that I was not at all as pleased as the original poster, and neither were the GRAND majority of people leaving the theatre. It was really just ok, but has AMAZING potential and can be fixed in time, hopefully. The show still has problems, although I expect that a grand deal of them have been fixed from Seattle and more will be fixed before opening.

The Score:
Eh...some songs RULE, others flat out S-U-C-K ("Travel Song", "Don't Let Me Go", I'm looking at you.)

The biggest problem with the score is never that not that songs don't work - they always WORK, essentially, but they don't always flow properly with the action of the moment. Some songs just don't have the energy to uphold the excitment of certain . For example, Fiona sings a solo when she, Shrek, and DOnkey escape from the toer and run from the dragon, but it feels more like a frentically staged ballad rather than a chase song. Sometime's Tesori's melodies don't reach the frenetic levels of fun they need to.(more on those moments like these later).

the Design:
The greenest thing I have EVER seen. But in a pretty way - the show is AWASH in color and looks great. The three turntable design is the coolest thing, and allows for a great deal of fluidity and awesome pictures.

The Actors:

D'Arcy James is a great Shrek. But with him therein lies the biggest problem of the show - in Act I, he does little to NOTHING. He sings TWO songs in Act I, the opening number, and the Act I Finale (two songs out of nine or ten)- that's it. In Act I, Shrek is just really a character that is sort of idle and along for the ride. In Act II, he's fully fleshed out and sings over a third of the songs in the second half. He's a much more sensitive character than in the movie, and James portrayal is belivable and likable. in Act II, se has a beautiful song about trying to confess his love to Fiona ("When Words Fail") and his 11 O'clock number, "The Wall", is the best part of the show. When he gets the chance to act and sing (the aforementioned songs, the finale, and the Act I Finale, "Who I'd Be") the show always works. I think instead of the lame "Travel Song" that he and Donkey have, if Shrek just had a solo that showed some depth in the middle of Act I, it would help the show tremendously.

Foster is fine. Fiona is well written in the show. "I Know it's Today" and "Morning Person" are her big moments and are highly entertaning and pretty awesome. ("Morning Person", especially, is very inspired, with a fun "other show" reference which hadn't been spoiled for me yet before I saw it, so I won't spoil it for you.) Her second solo in Act I, which happens as Fiona, Donkey, and Shrek run from the Dragon, is one of the most flawed moments of the show, where the action is consistently slowed down by the song, which is boring and feels more like a ballad than an uptempo chase song. The whole things should be cut and turned into a skeleton dance sequence (you'll understand what I mean if you see it) "More the the Story" has been cut (which is a shame, because I loved the song, but at the same time is a wise choice because it allowed Shrek to sing "The Wall" and be fleshed out and actually be the center of the story.) Foster and D'Arcy's farting duet 'I Think I Got You Beat", is awesome.

Daniel Breaker does NOT play Donkey as Eddie Murphy did and is one of the best parts of the show. He actually plays Donkey as sort of a "little miss thang", and doesn't overplay big moments. He's really cute and lots of fun. His first song, "Don't Let Me Go", is terrible and the old song ("I Could Get Used to This") NEEDS to be put back in because the new one is, as before with Foster's "escape song", too low energy for the action of the moment. The song with the three blind mice is wonderful and lots of fun.

Christopher Sieber is a brilliant comic actor, with an incredible voice. Both of his songs are real showstoppers. With all the Seattle buzz on his performance, I expected his "Duloc" number to be an extravaganza, but it's simpler staging actually lets him use his costume and choices to greater effect. Wonderful work. Expect a Tony nom.

Tartaglia does nothing more than the rest of the ensemble and shouldn't even be billed in a star capacity. He's funny in his bits, but no funnier or more memorable than all of the highly memorable ensemble (especially Haven Burton's mega-riffing Gingy). "Freak Flag" was awesome and "Story of My Life" was cute with the Chorus Line references.

The dragon is still an issue, because without Kecia, it now lacks a uniform voice, and it's such a shame because the idea and the song ("Donkey Pot Pie") are both REALLY great. The dragon is played by a giant puppet with six belting girls playing its tail. It's a very specatcle-laden scene and could be quite exciting, but sometimes when the girls face out, the six of them interact with Donkey in a way, and pull focus from the dragon head, therefore upstaging the giant dragon face, and it's hard to tell that Donkey is talking to the dragon. Really, as awful as this is, they just needs someone to sing the dragon offstage, and have the tail be its backup voices. There will be less incentive for the girls to draw focus from the giant piece because with that change, they would have to face out less. Hopefully someone will figure that out.

Direction/Choreography:
When intermission came up, I scoffed. "Jason Moore clearly is not ready to stage a musical this huge," I said. However, Act II completely proved me wrong. The big moments were inspired and fun, and most of the second act took on a more personal tone (a la' Avenue Q) and worked really, really, really well. Act II of "Shrek" is really good, y'all, and it's because Moore understands the heartof the material and can bring it out in his actors in the more intimate, personal moments.

But Act I, with its huge production numbers ("Donkey Pot Pie", the chase from the dragon's tower) just isn't staged or paced as well. And for most of them, you don't have Chrisopher Sieber's brilliance making pedantic staging and choreography seem intentional. REally though, in dumping the chase and travel songs, adding a good uptempo song for SHrek in Act I, and putting Donkey's old song back, it could work much much much better.

Shrek has major potential, y'all. Right now, it won't survive a critical barrage and like "The Wedding Singer" before it, has heart and potential but isn't tight enough to survive more than a year. If the big problems with Act I can be fixed, however, we could have amajor, super long-running hit.
Updated On: 11/9/08 at 05:54 AM

[wickedfan11]

Posted: 11/9/08 at 6:33am

are King Harold and Queen Lillian in it( like it said on the 1st page)?

[Weez]

Posted: 11/9/08 at 8:03am

"Whatever happened to original composers doing original works?"

You realize that West Side Story and Guys and Dolls are adaptations... right? Are you being post-modern? I don't understand.

I thought the point of the post was either "damn, look at how sad the new 'original' musical is compared with these two revivals" or, as later clarified, "look at how the older musicals stand for revivals time and time again while the newer ones will surely only exist at this time and never come back". Either way, it wasn't the most nonsensical thing anyone's ever said on here, and I find your bafflement... well, baffling. O_o

[singer73192]

Posted: 11/9/08 at 8:29am

Are there two young shreks or is adam the only one? (The kid who plays young shrek was Cubby Bernstein)

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 11/9/08 at 9:33am

I was also there last night, and definitely find myself in the not so impressed camp. For all the money poured into the show (sets and costumes) the end result is rather bland and boring. THERE IS NO PLOT!!

There is nothing, be it plot or character development, to keep the story moving. The first act is a nothing more than a series of vinettes to introduce all the characters. As another poster stated, Shrek is barely in the first act, at least musically. He is the central character, and it would be helpful if he played a more central role in the story.

Sutton is turning in good work, but she shouldn't expect a Tony nomination from this. Her act two opener, Morning Person, is fun but has NOTHING to do with anything. Her song while running away from the dragon didn't work. The staging and tone were all wrong.

The dragon was boring, and really needs a single voice. Donkey Pot Pie may have been the weakest song in the show. It was neither funny nor scary. The whole rescue episode suffered from poor direction and poor book writing.

I will fully admit I have a bias and affection for Daniel Breaker. I thought has performance in Passing Strange last season was one of the best I've ever witnessed in a theater. Unfortunately his new role doesn't quite measure up to The Youth!

I don't think Daniel is giving an Eddie Murphy impersonation at all. He got some decent laughs from the audience. I'm sure his scenes with Brian will only tighten over time.

As others have stated Christopher is stealing the showing, at least with Things Are Looking Up in Dulac. His second act song isn't as good, but he still manages to milk it for what it's worth.

Jon Tartaglia is in it so little I don't even think I can review his performance. The ensemble is fine, but their songs are so seperated from the rest of the show that they could be cut and be missed.

The score is ok, but nowhere near the brilliance that was Caroline, Or Change. The book needs a lot of work. It isn't that funny, but more importantly it needs to move the story along. Well rather it needs to have a story. There is not a moment of tension or conflict the entire show. Christopher isn't a villian and ***I guess spoiler*** there is NO DOUBT that Fiona and Shrek will end up together ***end "spoiler"***

I really hope with all the talent on the stage that the show can come together and be entertaining. At intermission I said to WAT "Things are looking up for Billy Elliot!", and truly this show doesn't even compare.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 11/9/08 at 12:06pm

I think the problem with "Don't Let Me Go" and a lot of the other songs, is that the tempos are just too slow. I really enjoyed "Don't Let Me Go" it had a good melody and I loved the orchestrations because they kept changing and having a different sound. They just need to pick up the pace on the song and Breaker needs to bring more vocal power to the song to make it work.

The "chase" scene was rather lame. It had moments that were okay, but then the whole show would just stop for some skeletons to dance? That was lame. It was a cool idea though to do the "skeleton" versions of the leads.

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 11/9/08 at 12:55pm

There is only one Young Shrek. He doesn't really do anything, just stands there during the opening number.

Can anyone tell us what the deal is with Queen Lillian and King Harold?