Shrek- 11/11/08 Review

[jagfkb]

Posted: 11/12/08 at 11:18am

Ok, I've debated how I should go about reviewing this show. I admit to having watched a few of those bootlegs of the first Seattle preview (SPECIFICALLY of Donkey Pot Pie, more on that later). Last night, I forgot any of those videos and, well, it's almost there. There are parts ("Morning Person", "Things are looking up in Duloc", "Who I'd Be", even the traveling song) which are genius, and are excellently presented. There are others ("Donkey Pot Pie") which made you cringe. Everything else, in between. Needless to say, it needs some work. The performers were all excellent, and I especially loved Daniel Breaker's Donkey, who made me forget Eddie Murphy COMPLETELY. The sets and costumes, aside from a few minor problems I had with Donkey's costume and Dragon's scales, were excellent. Also, interesting note, this is one of the largest shows I've ever seen, but for some reason, every single scene seems too bright. Every single one! I'm not sure whether it's a mistake on the lighting or something, but thought I might throw that out there. Very colorful though.

Most scenes/ songs need a little tightening, like dropping a few extra lines or so, but my major problem with the show came with Donkey Pot Pie and pretty much the Dragon in general. Now, I LOVED how they did dragon before, and the Donkey Pot Pie number was my favorite with Kecia. Also, the entire concept of the dragon not moving her mouth in the song really tightened the effect of the character. Skeletons? A little unnecessary, but no major problem before.

NOW? The number is like a junior version of the great song from Seattle. The costumes for the tail turned scales are downright atrocious, and the dragon puppet, who now moves it's mouth, doesn't even look like a girl. The skeletons, which before slightly completed the number as an ensemble piece, now don't appear until the end, and make no sense what soever! I like that the dragon now appears in the chase sequence, but then, she's no seen again until the wedding, where she briefly appears through the stained glass window. Plus, the connection between her and Donkey is almost nowhere to be seen. Also, I'm no sure whether they had technical problems or something, but the dragon's head was literally just above the edge of the window! It looked like a big dead animal onstage! As bad as I'm making this sound, I do have a solution:

Attatch the old dragon head onto the new body, get the old costumes, put the old number back it, save a few cuts, and make Aymee Garcia the new dragon soloist. During the wedding sequence, use the back tower to position the dragon above the window, and have Aymee Garcia as the dragon with Donkey. Problems solved!

Overall, I rate the evening 3.5 out of 5 stars. Make the changes above? My review would probably be a 4.5 out of 5. It could be the next big success, if they tighten it just a little.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 11/12/08 at 11:34am

Agree, when the dragon broke through the window at the end it was just sort of left hanging on the window. Lifeless and limp. It was weird.

[Insider2]

Posted: 11/12/08 at 2:48pm

I was there last night. I finally bit the bullet and bought a ticket. I was so on the fence about going to this, and I was afraid it was going to be a big pile of dreck. It is not. It is pretty fantastic. It is big and spectacular and just plain fun.

I will agree with what everyone on here has said about the dragon and that ridiculous Donkey Pot Pie song. That should be cut. This song is embarassing and to say that it is not Tesori's shining moment is a huge understatement. I hope the people involved have been reading all these posts and are actually considering doing something about that, and about the dragon, which is just as stupid. I'm not sure what the solution would be, but having a line of women sing in unison as the dragon's voice is not it. I know they were just trying to by artsy, but it flies in the face of the rest of the show, which is just literal spectacle.


Aside from this, I really cannot think of much to complain about, which is highly unusual for me. Brian d'Arcy James is fantastic. Sutton Foster is fine. I'll admit that I think she is completely over-rated, but her role here is not demanding, and at least she doesn't trip on the curtain. She's just fine. Chris Sieber is simply amazing. And Tim Hatley, costume designere, deserves huge awards recognition for this costume alone. It's brilliant. Daniel Breaker is very good as Donkey. That character has the potential to become very annoying, but he plays it just right. John Tartaglia is very funny in his tiny role. I would hardly consider him a lead. What does he have, two short scenes?

And is it just me, or does Freak Flag really freel like an anthem for gay rights? Maybe its just because of what has happened with Prop 8 recently, and that was in my mind, but that song seems very timely, and very smart.

Finally, I would just like to say that there were tons of children in the audience. Tons. However, unlike other experiences I have had at family friendly shows, this audience was, at least from where I was sitting, completely behaved. No screaming little hags in princess dresses tossing candy all over the place. No taking loudly during the show. Everyone seemd engrossed and seemed to really enjoy the production.

All in all, an excellent show. I have hopes that it will only continue to improve during previews.

[LimelightMike]

Posted: 11/12/08 at 3:17pm

Is the orchestra in the pit, or onstage, or what? I keep hearing different things from different people.

[Chris3]

Posted: 11/12/08 at 3:27pm

Saw the show last night and in Seattle. It was a BIG mistake letting Kecia go. Her presence and voice made the scene.

[LotteTBS138]

Posted: 11/12/08 at 5:28pm

>>Is the orchestra in the pit, or onstage, or what? I keep hearing different things from different people. <<
The orchestra PIT is on stage but below the floor. But the stage comes out in a mini thrust type and there are holes and the actors walk around it.

I didn't care for the multi-voice dragon either, they should have it be one voice. And I was glad that the 100 kids in the upper mezzanine were pretty well behaved last night.

WD-40 needs to be added to the sets because there was some friction and squeeky going on but it was early performance.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 11/12/08 at 5:39pm

Yeah, I think Kecia would be great in the role. That role needs a big strong sassy belt. And a better song. The idea is right, the song is just boring.

[Dancin Thru Life]

Posted: 11/12/08 at 8:43pm

Well....Darlene Love is probably available now! HAHA!


Just sayin'.............

[B3TA07]

Posted: 11/15/08 at 6:54pm

I just wish they'd replace Donkey Pot Pie with this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFscAV6X-OM) and give O'Keefe additional credit Hahaha. And the dragon chorus could do the fierce back up!

[umbawumba]

Posted: 11/15/08 at 8:43pm

I saw the show in Seattle and I'm disappointed to read that some of the same flaws are still there in the show. The Donkey Pot Pie song is and always has been stupid. I love this last post's suggestion about using this song instead: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFscAV6X-OM.

This song is perfect for Donkey to sing to the Dragon.
They really need to fix it and I think they're afraid to. Maybe the dragon never speaks or sings and is simply just a giant puppet without any human scales. They should really consider that. Anyone know of an email address to the creative team that you could email this suggestion to? They had such an email address set up during the run in Seattle. Is there such an email address during the previews in NY? Also, if anyone has any pics of the new donkey, I'd like to see if they changed his costume at all.

[KathyGriffinLovesYou]

Posted: 11/15/08 at 10:42pm

I literally screamed when I found out they were turning this into a musical.

[B3TA07]

Posted: 11/16/08 at 2:08am

Well you could write Jeanine Tesori a letter, she has an address listed for vocal coaching.