Shrek The Musical. Based on the Dreamworks Animation Motion Picture and the book by William Steig. Music by Jeanine Tesori. Book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire. Directed by Ylaria Rogers. Musical direction: Katrina Tang and Ian McLean. Choreography: Michelle Heine. Free Rain Theatre Company. The Q. Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre.Until October 14. theq.net.au.
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From the moment the cast of Shrek the Musical burst onto the stage for the opening company number of Big Bright Beautiful World, it is apparent that the Free Rain team has again scored another winner of a musical production.
Young and old fans of the Dreamworks movie will be all too familiar with the tale of Shrek the ogre (Max Gambale), his jabbering donkey friend (Joel Hutchings), Princess Fiona (Laura Murphy) and the diminutive, evil Lord Farquaad (Martin Searles). What is exceptional about the stage musical is the purposeful challenge it poses to conventional fairy tale characters and plots.
This is a quirky, hilarious, fabulously imaginative and fun-filled swipe at the stereotypes. Lyrics abound with tongue-in-cheek quick-lipped quips and gags. The outer personae are peeled back to reveal an ogre with a tender heart, capable of love, a beautiful princess by day with a dark secret at night, a donkey who is no ass and a villain who is a figure of fun. After all, there is much more to anyone than meets the eye.
Free Rain producer Anne Somes, director Ylaria Rogers, musical directors Katrina Tang and Ian McLean and choreographer Michelle Heine have assembled an outstanding principal cast and ensemble for a show that explodes with vivacity and talent.
Gambale is brilliant as the ogre, capable of a powerful vocal presence as well as tender moments of pathos. Hutchings’ performance is mercurial with an expert sense of comic timing and physicality. Murphy’s Fiona is multifaceted in her vulnerability and spontaneous feistiness while Searles is ideally cast as the knee-high Farquaad with lofty, power-hungry ambitions. As the singing voice of the impressively constructed dragon, Tegan Braithwaite’s rendition of Forever is a showstopper.
Free Rain’s production values lend the company’s show a satisfying professional gloss. Some sound operation hiccups on opening night did little to detract from the overall professionalism of Searles’ simple but effective set design, Fiona Leach’s wonderful costume designs and Linda Buck’s atmospheric lighting design. McLean and Tang again conduct an excellent orchestra, and my only quibble would be for a more careful check of sound levels and balance before the show.
Like all good fairy tales, conventional or not, there is always a moral at the end, delivered in Rogers’s full throttle production by the company’s rousing rendition of the Neil Diamond '60s version of I’m a Believer. It is a fitting choice for a show for all the family.
Free Rain’s production is an absolute delight, a bright and beautiful production with a delicious sense of zany humour and a very big heart. It is a show too good to miss.
