The big green ogre made famous by Dreamworks Animation is back on stage as 3-D Theatricals revives its 2013 smash, the irresistibly crowd-pleasing Shrek The Musical.

Far from being just another animated movie-turned-Broadway hit or a show designed only for tiny tots, the multiple Tony-nominated Shrek turns out to be a smart, funny, tuneful, unexpectedly moving musical treat with book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire and music by Jeanine Tesori.

Fans of the 2001 DreamWorks Animation smash will recall how seven-year-old Shrek (Jude Dawson) found himself sent per ogre tradition to live life alone in the swamp, that is until the fairytale-loathing three-foot-tall Lord Farquaad (Daniel Dawson) boots Pinocchio, Peter Pan, the Three Bears, the Big Bad Wolf, and other storybook creatures from their homes, giving them no other choice than to crash chez Shrek (a now fully-grown T.J. Dawson) until a friendly if overly loquacious Donkey (Cornelius Jones, Jr.) persuades him to join in on a mission to change Lord Farquaad’s mind.

Meanwhile, the lovely/daffy Princess Fiona (Jeanette Dawson) awaits (and awaits and awaits) Prince Charming’s arrival, the better to make her escape both from a dragon-guarded tower and the clutches of a Fiona-obsessed Farquaad.

Adventures quickly ensue in a show that not only children will love, its scads of clever one-liners will whoosh right over their heads and into grownup ears, and if those grownups have any familiarity with musical theater, then Shrek The Musical’s many hat-tips to Broadway classics will prove even more of a delight.

Romcom lovers, too, will respond to this tale as old as time, one whose bullied, despised “freaks” will strike a chord with anyone who’s ever felt victimized and even more so today than when 3-D first staged the show. (The writers could scarcely have imagined how Farquaad’s relocation camp for undesirable fairytale characters would play in 2019.)

Tesori’s infectious music and Lindsay-Abaire’s craftily constructed lyrics run the gamut of musical genres as they sneak in references to Wicked, Dreamgirls, and Gypsy (to name just three) while Lindsay-Abaire’s dialog sticks close to the movie’s, a particularly savvy choice where Donkey (voiced in the film by the one-and-only Eddie Murphy) is concerned.

As was true a half-dozen years back, original Broadway cast member David F.M. Vaughn’s direction reveals invaluable expertise and insights with his returning leading ogre once again capturing Shrek’s deep burr of a voice, his warmth, his heart, and his good humor, while showing off powerhouse vocals to match.

T.J.’s real-life leading lady Jeanette gives daffy redheaded Fiona equal parts fire and sass, revealing comedic gifts as well as dance chops when tap-tap-tapping away with a stageful of human-sized Rodent Rockettes.

Jones takes the proverbial role of a lifetime in Donkey and gallops with it, part sassy donkey drag queen, part rafters-reaching R&B idol.

Dawson brother Daniel, never more fabulous, steals scenes right and left as Shrek’s height-challenged Lord Farquaad, with Tim Hatley’s original Broadway costuming making us believe in the villainous but adorable Farquaad’s itty-bitty legs.

Alternating as fairytale characters, townsfolk, royals, and more, Keith A. Bearden (King Harold, Captain of the Guard), McKenna Bisaha (Baby Bear, Blind Mouse), Natalli Dorn (Lady Gnome), Madeline Ellingson (Ugly Duckling, Blind Mouse), Kyle Frattini (Mad Hatter, Knight), Kenny Gary (Sticks Pig, Guard), Chris Hunter (Papa Ogre, Papa Bear, Thelonius, Knight), Rachael Johnson (Shoemaker’s Elf, Blind Mouse), Mia L. Jones (Wicked Witch), Colden Lamb (Straw Pig, Knight, Pied Piper, Bishop), Timothy H. Lee (Wizard, Guard), Noelle Lidyoff (Teen Fiona, Little Bo Peep), Adam Mantell (a squeaky-voiced standout as Pinocchio), Robert Ramirez (Peter Pan, Guard, Big Head), Dayna Sauble (Queen Lillian and a big-belting Ginger and Sugar Plum Fairy), Allison Sheppard (Fairy Godmother, Bluebird), Alyssa M. Simmons (Tweedle Dum), Amber J. Snead (Mama Ogre, Mama Bear, and a power-piped Dragon to do Effie White proud), Landen Starkman (Bricks Pig, Guard), and Rodrigo Verandas (Big Bad Wolf, Guard) could not be more triple-threat-tastic, with extra snaps to Bisaha, Ellingson, and Johnson for providing Shrek The Musical with some Dreamgirls magic.

Last but not least, Sloane Adams (Young Fiona) and T.J. and Jeanette’s son Jude (who doubles as Dwarf) prove that talent comes in small packages.

Choreographer Vaughn delivers one showstopper after another, from the tap-dancing mice of “Morning Person” to the Broadway pizzazz of “Freak Flag” (the best LGBTQ anthem in years) to the surprise get-up-and-boogie “Finale” that Monkees fans will recognize from its opening chords. (Leslie Stevens is associate director/choreographer and Bearden is dance captain.)

Enhanced by Jonathan Infante’s fairytale projections, Tom Buderwitz’s three-dimensional Shrek sets, Terry Hanrahan, Gretchen Morales, and Melanie Cavaness’s properties, Denice Paxton’s character-establishing makeup, and Peter Herman’s fanciful wigs are as splendiferous as the best Disney or Pixar pic and lit to saturated-color perfection by Jean-Yves Tessier.

Sound designer Julie Ferrin not only mixes orchestra and vocals, she also gives audiences so many perfectly timed farts and burps, I dare you to count them all.

Musical director extraordinaire Julie Lamoureux conducts an orchestra every bit the equal of their Broadway counterparts (provided by Los Angeles Musicians Collective).

Jack Boyle is assistant director. Nicole Wessel is production stage manager, David Jordan Nestor is assistant stage manager, and Jim Mora is technical director.

I fell for Shrek when I first saw it on tour, and when 3-D Theatricals gave it its first L.A. regional production, I correctly predicted it would be one of the company’s biggest hits ever. A show that adults will love perhaps even more than the kiddies who’ll eat it up as voraciously as Shrek gobbles down rats and toads, Shrek The Musical makes the year’s most Shreksational return.

Cerritos Center For The Performing Arts, 12700 Center Ct Dr S, Cerritos.
www.3dtshows.org

–Steven Stanley
August 10, 2019
Photos: Caught In The Moment

Tags: 3-D Theatricals, Cerritos Center For The Performing Arts, David Lindsay-Abaire, Jeanine Tesori, Los Angeles Theater Review