The new song is up on the UK website if anyone is interested. I'm not sure when it went up so I apologize if this is old news.
http://www.shrekthemusical.co.uk/music-video/music/
Updated On: 4/16/11 at 08:25 PM
Featured Actor Joined: 9/13/08
Wow, I really love the new song "Forever". Does anyone have an mp3? Or is it available anywhere? Private Message me!
I had never seen Shrek and the storytelling in the musical was a little clunky. My friend had to explain to me what the deal was with Fiona as in the tour it was hard to tell what was actually going on when she turned into an ogre.
Swing Joined: 9/1/21
The repeated “we wanted to go back to the simpler traditions of storytelling” spiel when this is clearly an attempt to produce the show as cheaply as possible (I mean it non-Equity for chrissake) is kind of nauseating. And Shrek with green skin but no prosthetics makes him look like an obese Elphaba. Pass.
Oh lord is this embarassing... you shouldn't be competing with community theatre productions snd yet here we are. stagehands holding set pieces on the stage.
Broadway Star Joined: 6/16/17
Those production photos are embarrassing. This will be a hard pass for me
It’s kind of amazing how big of a deal it is still here in the UK.
Chorus Member Joined: 4/13/21
The Distinctive Baritone said: "The repeated “we wanted to go back to the simpler traditions of storytelling” spiel when this is clearly an attempt to produce the show as cheaply as possible (I mean it non-Equity for chrissake) is kind of nauseating. And Shrek with green skin but no prosthetics makes him look like an obese Elphaba. Pass."
What I love is somehow this "****ty costumes from people telling Shrek's story" is somehow getting "back to the heart" of Shrek's story.
Hunchback of Notre Dame did the "storytelling in a story" gimmick and although I hate the narrative choice, they didn't put people in lazy costumes or have random stage hands/cast holding up horrible looking props.
It’s very clearly a cash grab at the expense of audiences, the crew, and the actors. I mean this has Dreamwork behind it. This is really sad.
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/11/16
It seems like Tesori and Lindsay-Abaire have wanted to revisit the material for a while (and for good reason - the current version has a transphobic slur in the lyric for "Story Of My Life"). I really wish they had done so in a production that didn't look like it cost five dollars. Even in the other mentioned example of Hunchback, while it's an actor-driven, storyteller theatre presentation, there's still money put into the costumes and set. There's minimalist, and then there's cheap.
Wow, it genuinely does look like a high school production. Yikes.
Understudy Joined: 6/2/15
Alex Kulak2 said: "It seems like Tesori and Lindsay-Abaire have wanted to revisit the material for a while (and for good reason - the current versionhas a transphobic slur in the lyric for "Story Of My Life")"
That slur has been out of the licensed version of the show for at least 4 years. When I directed the show in 2020, the line was "They said I was a fashion mess because I wore a granny dress." So I presume there are other things they're wanting to fix.
They’ve never set the opening prologue in stone. They rewrote it so many times; when the show went into licensing, the first few years you’d never get the same prologue twice.
For a while they’d settled on “Shrek and Fiona telling dueling versions of their origin stories.” But I don’t know if that’s still the one.
Understudy Joined: 6/2/15
darquegk said: "For a while they’d settled on “Shrek and Fiona telling dueling versions of their origin stories.” But I don’t know if that’s still the one."
The version I saw this past December had this opening, so I'm guessing so.
I think it would look better if they gave Shrek just the ears and an orange wig as a nod to the original illustrations. There’s no point in painting him green if they’re going for a minimalist look. It looks bad. Seussical and SpongeBob didn’t do make up like that and there’s a reason why. Ethan Slater would have looked ridiculous if they put him in yellow SpongeBob make up.
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/11/16
The Rural Juror said: "Alex Kulak2 said: "It seems like Tesori and Lindsay-Abaire have wanted to revisit the material for a while (and for good reason - the current versionhas a transphobic slur in the lyric for "Story Of My Life")"
That slur has been out of the licensed version of the show for at least 4years. When I directed the show in 2020, the line was "They said I was a fashion mess because I wore a granny dress."So I presume there are other things they're wantingto fix.
"
Did you direct the full version of the show or the Jr. Version? The Jr. Version has that line changed, but every copy of the full version's libretto that I've been able to find has the original line (unless the PDFs I found are from a pre-2020 version of the script.
As of 2019, they sent the libretto with the original line, but had a little paper printout like an "at this performance" stating that the line had been revised.
Understudy Joined: 6/2/15
Alex Kulak2 said: "Did you direct the full version of the show or the Jr. Version? The Jr. Version has that line changed, but every copy of the full version's libretto that I've been able to find has the original line (unless the PDFs I found are from a pre-2020 version of the script."
It was the full version. PDFs online must be pre-that version.
I also hate how this is being advertised as “The Broadway Tour.” First, if a tour is non-Equity, it is automatically not a “Broadway” show (and maybe it’s a great production, but Broadway is union by definition). Second, this production never appeared on Broadway, so this is doubly false advertising.
Chorus Member Joined: 11/6/18
Surprised no one has mentioned that they've done away with the Farquaad "actors on their knees" bit. Based on one of the pictures, he's in full costume and not played as a little person. Just another example of laziness in this production.
It’s not laziness. The UK tour did that as well. They cut all the short jokes.
Yeah I'm pretty sure the Farquaad change is an attempt to not offend people a la the new Snow White movie. The actor playing him is 5'7" so I guess he's now a little bit short instead of really short? < eye roll >
Chorus Member Joined: 11/6/18
The Distinctive Baritone said: "Yeah I'm pretty sure the Farquaad change is an attempt to not offend people a la the new Snow White movie. The actor playing him is 5'7" so I guess he's now a little bit short instead ofreallyshort? < eye roll >"
Does this mean that The Ballad of Farquaad is cut? And is this also the case of the current licensed version?
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