Shrek the Musical Review by Samantha Asplund

This fall, Tech Drama put on the highly anticipated Shrek the Musical. With two weekends of performances, tons of family, students, and staff of Technical High School were able to see the show. While the musical was an obvious favorite among love-blind parents and Shrek-obsessed teens, it will not escape a scathing review by an unbiased musical critic expert.

Only three words can describe how the audience reacted when the show was over.

Stan. Ding. Ovation. The production was incredible; the costumes were above perfection, the acting was unbelievable, and the ripe onion smell brought tears to my eyes. I found myself completely entertained by the almost two-hour production. I was overwhelmed by tragic backstories and swept away by a gorgeous set, which must have also had a lot of sweeping done to it because of its flawlessness. While the costumes, set, and amazing pit orchestra led this musical to a great production, it was the characters who stole our hearts. My heart already belonged to Shrek, a most relatable lifelong bachelor who just wants to own a nice piece of real estate, and Fiona, a forgotten princess sentenced to stay in her room for too darn long.

Not only did I fall in love with these characters again, but with amazing performances, I was also able to fall in love with Donkey, Farquaad, the Dolls of Duloc, the Bearded Men, the Gingerbread Man featuring Gumdrops 1 and 2, and of course, Dragon and her hardworking tail of three people. Donkey shined as a true noble steed and led the audience through a fun comedy of delightful banter and antics. Farquaad absolutely stole the show with his entertaining facial expressions and endless wise cracks that never fell short of hilarious. The Dolls of Duloc brought to life our favorite song about personal hygiene, and the Bearded Men caused a commotion of cackles.

The overqualified cast gave a heartwarming and heart stopping performance. Shrek the Musical receives a totally deserved 10/10 onions on the “What are ya doin’ in ma swamp?” scale. I would not be surprised if this show was headed to Broadway.