Shrek "First Look" Today in Seattle (a few SPOILERS

While it was nice to hear some of the music they were very clear that they were not going to talke about any of the design, obviously a big deal to many. The creators and producers did say that they weren't looking to put the movie on stage, were going for backstory and the feel of the book, etc. Moore was very clearly that this would be enjoyable for adults as well, so it may not be the 3 year old fare we all though. Christopher Sieber sand 2 of his songs from the show, Sutton Foster introduced Tesori and Lindsay-Abaire via video and D'Arcy James and Gregory introduced Sieber via video. Tesori's music was beautiful and funny, especially her song for Donkey. I did find Lindsay-Abaire's lyrics a tad bland with him avoided rhyme at all costs (something I assumed a fairy tale musical would embrace). Shrek does have a scottish accent (at least Abaire spoke in one during the Donkey song). Sieber brought down the house with his two songs (one about his father being grumpy of 7 dwarfs fame and the other a fun number about how great he (and his country) are) and was charming, performing his first number on his knees on top of his shoes. This was the only design element revealed (that he'd be in a contraption) but this was already leaked in The Post many months ago.

If you have any questions about what was said about the show, I'd be happy to try an answer them. Keep in mind, again, they said nothing of the design other than it would be innovative, that the characters would look "familiar to us, and we'd be happy with it. So, not really anything. And anyone doubting Tesori isn't the right composer for the piece should be assured, her work is great. She's quite a funny lady too, several times saying very dark jokes that most of the audience didn't get. I'm more worried about Abare's lyrics. They even admitted he was just hired to write the book and Tesori wanted to have him write the lyrics because she enjoyed working with first time lyric writer Tony Kushner. While I'm a huge fan of Caroline, or Change and adore what Kushner brought to his lyrics, I don't know if Shrek is the best show for a first time book and lyric writer to takele doubly. And I'm not saying his lyrics were terrible, just not superb. They seemed very tentative to me. Still, his ideas about the show were spot on so perhaps it will all work when the great cast performs the show.

Thanks! I'm really looking forward to seeing this in August. Could you give us a rundown of all the songs they mentioned and/or performed? Who sings them, what they are about, what their style of music is, etc.

Thanks!

Did they explain the "contraption" he'd be in?

FMills, do you happen to remember any of the song titles?

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haha whenever I think of the Dunlop scene is Shrek I think "Shine your shoes wipe your..... face!"
Sorry, back on track.
Before reading this I had no real desire to see this show, but now I am actually curious about this now. It seems to have a beyond fabulous cast and it seem that maybe this might be a really fun show.

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With Christopher Sieber and Sutton Foster already on board, I'm willing to be convinced this could actually work really well, despite tons of initial reservations.

Thanks for reporting back in detail.

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This was a new draft of the song written for Curtis Hollbrook after he entered the show. Very soul inspired song.

Isn't Chester Gregory II playing Donkey, Bobby? I didn't know Curtis Holbrook was involved in this.

"Things are Looking Up (in Dulock)" for Farquaad and Townspeople. Fun little dance number.

Who is choreographing the show, btw?

Thanks for all this info!

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The choreographer is making his Broadway debut.

Josh Prince. He's been in Little Me and Saturday Night Fever.

http://www.ibdb.com/person.asp?ID=70386

They said dance will be a major part of the show. I dont' know why I get those two confused bearing they look nothing like each other.

From what I have now heard, it sounds like Jeanine has really fixed up the score.

I love Ms. Tesori and had no doubts about her writing the music but a couple of her first songs (in the intial development process) were just so odd and extremely dark. Darker than the stuff at today's presentation

I'm extremely excited about this. Dreamworks is clearly dealing with the theatrical process much differently than Disney.... and that's a good thing.

Hehe, that makes a lot of sense re the casting.
I just think the three leads: Foster, D'Arcy James, and Sieber all have great comedy-acting skills. I do hope Foster gets to do some of her fun dancing if this is indeed a dance-heavy piece.

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NO!

Do you know if John Tartaglia is going to be involved in any musical numbers?