Not necessarily a review. More like random thoughts on what worked and didn’t work for me, and what I’d like to see. I’ve been up all night, so it’s a bit disjointed.
“Big Bright Beautiful World” opens the show upon Shrek’s parents booting him out on his seventh birthday. It shows him being rejected by the world en masse until he finally secludes himself in his swamp, where the adult version introduces himself with a grandiose toilet flush. “It’s a big, bright, beautiful world” becomes Shrek’s leitmotif throughout the show - snippets of it pop up here and there. That’s a nice touch.
A bit surprised at how undaunting our hero comes off, especially in the beginning. He’s practically nebbish. Both canned roars (“this is the part where you run”) felt silly and ineffectual. The (“boo”) clawed hands didn’t help. Maybe try ominous leaning? Ominous leaning always works. He also seems to get pushed around by Donkey, the fairytale creatures, Farquaad et all too easily. And while we all know that beneath the (to use the show’s metaphor) hairy, smelly onion lies a sweet, chewy center, but there’s no reason to put it on display this early on. It only serves to lessen the impact of his journey.
Having seen Lippa’s Wild Party, I know Brian D’Arcy James can be scary. So let him be. And let him be surly. Intimidating. The big, brash, farting recluse being dragged kicking and screaming into this adventure. And then let him be surprised when he finally confesses that maybe, just maybe he wants to be that hero after all at the Act 1 finale. That’s the development I want to see.
The Chorus Line parody (sorry, don’t have the playbill in front of me). Enchanted folks in a lineup la “I Hope I Get It” replete with Farquaad’s disembodied voice. I laughed so hard when he commanded the baby bear, “Take a step back…too much…too little…just right.” I am such a nerd.
“I Could Get Used to This.” Pretty much what I expected.
CGI-ish effects for the Magic Mirror are fantastic. Select-a-bride is almost verbatim from the film, as well as the Gingerbread Man torture scene.
“I Know It’s Today.” Huge applause for Sutton’s entrance. We see Fiona’s ridiculously strong several times - when she splits the books in half during “cut chatter…”, and later, while de-horning the deer. Let’s push that idea even further. Let her tear one of those books in half crosswise. Accidentally, of course. You vandal, you. I liked the three Fionas singing on different ends of the tower. I don’t care if it’s not logically possible.
“Things Are Looking Up in Duloc.” Chris Sieber is hysterical. A dance. In Super Mario World (great costumes!). This thing is longer than the Transylvania Mania. And, of course, Farquaad’s “nothing’s gonna bring me down” with accompanying Elphaba yell. Hell yeah.
“Traveling Song.” Feels like it was built around the whole idea of having days (circling sun & moon), various passers-by and Lion King puppets cycling in the background to show the passage of time. Like the concept, but the song’s a dud. Cut it in half, or even drop it completely, and have this scene happen during the onion talk.
The dragon’s lair. Nice bridge. How about making it wobble? Or sway. A lightly swaying bridge would be truly scary, compounding Donkey’s terror. Or is that just worker’s comp waiting to happen?
“Donkey Pot Pie.” I like this song. I couldn’t hear half the lyrics though. Dig the concept of having Kecia Lewis-Evans on stage with the puppet dragon behind her (her voice or “persona” along with her physical form). However, the puppet seems to be bobbing somewhat randomly around, creating a disconnect between the two. I’d like to see them more in sync. When Kecia turns to the left, so should the puppet. I’d like them at least to be facing in the same direction. Ideally, I’d like to see their motions miming each other. Hell, I’d like the dragon to have arms so she can point and groove along with Kecia.
Random skeleton dance. I’m guessing because they had to go put the dragon head away and change scenery.
“I Know It’s Today” reprised. With a tambourine. So cute. Shrek bouncing Fiona on the bed to wake her up. Even cuter. She’s as tall as he is. Huh.
Running away from invisible pseudo-threats is not scary. What’s scary to me? A tail whipping in in from downstage. Fire and smoke as they run stage left, a claw swiping at them from stage right, knocking over a part of the wall. We don’t need to see the whole dragon, just bits and pieces - hints that the danger is everywhere instead of just an ominous voice. And finally the dragon’s head ramming the gate so fiercely, the foundations shake. That’s scary. Fiona was also singing throughout this, but in a weird and disjointed fashion. It felt like two things were happening at the same time that didn’t quite mesh.
Sunset. I was hoping Fiona would have torn the bark off the tree (to continue with the joke).
Pinocchio/Gingerbread Man/Gingerplum Fairy. I…didn’t really pay much attention during this part. Sorry. Nice riff from Haven though.
And finally, we come to the end of the first act. Something about the orchestration sounds anemic, especially when it dovetails back into “Big Bright Beautiful World.” I want a bigger sound. Brassier. A showstopper-worthy conclusion that compares to the absolutely gorgeous tableau of the ogre Fiona’s silhouette against the full moon. I’m not really thrilled with the lyrics either. What bothers me is that Shrek seems a little too self-aware in it as opposed to a discovery about himself. The idea of “maybe this is what I secretly wanted all along,” has far less impact with the former than the latter because with the former, he doesn’t really change or grow. What I’d like to have seen was a progression. Let him start off with his usual “I’m an ogre, rahr!” stuff. Then move it towards, “but this adventure was fun,” eventually moving to the conclusion of “maybe I can/want to be that hero after all.” I want that act closer to hit me and make me go “YEAH! YOU GO!”
Right now, it just sort of makes me think, “that’s a gorgeous background.”
