Clio Cast and Crew, Inc. present Shrek: The Musical (TYA)

 Shrek: The Musical Theater for Young Audiences Edition

By: Marshall Summers

Take a trip to magical Duloc with Clio Cast and Crew and their production of Shrek: The Musical (Theatre for Young Audiences) production. 

The story opens with the origin story for Shrek. Young Shrek (Tristan Jones) is celebrating his birthday, except there is no party, just Mama Ogre (Jennifer Taylor-Perry) and Papa Ogre (Alex Vokoun) kicking Young Shrek out of their swamp because it is time he was out on his own. He is seven years old after all. The scene is driven by beautiful vocals from Jennifer Taylor-Perry and Alex Vokoun as well as Tristan Jones.  Eventually, we meet Adult Shrek (Kiel Fauske). Fauske plays an amazing Shrek, with powerful vocals  and with his own version of the “Shrek Voice” (and The Roar) that the audience will recognize from the movie. Truly, Fauske nailed the lead role. 

Shrek’s peaceful swamp is interrupted by various fairytale creatures being led into the woods by guards because Baby Bear, Mama Bear, Peter Pan, Pinocchio, Wolf, Three Pigs, Wicked Witch, and Ugly Duckling have been relocated from their homes in Duloc for being “freaks” (Sophia Hopper, Sonya McKerchie, Alex Callender, Alia Dunning, Jay Waliczek, Penelope Hoolihan, Ryan Brown, Alicia Hopper, Percy Crane, Mason Gilliam). In order to get them to go away, Shrek promises to help them get their homes back. As with any good epic, the unwitting hero heads off to have a word with this… Lord Farquaad character.

Enter Donkey.

Shrek rescues Donkey (Nikolas Conrad) from the pursuing guards (Levi Kies, Savannah Fous, Mia Thomas, Savannah Perry) and gains a sidekick, much to his chagrin. Donkey was perhaps one of the most stand out characters from the entire production. Not only did the actor portray the character incredibly well, but the costume was gorgeous. It was very well done from the shoes made to resemble hooves to the way the actor held his hands to make them look like hooves. Donkey provided wisdom as well as wit and sass. Donkey was probably one of the stand out characters from this show. Donkey and Shrek definitely had a good rapport on stage.

Meanwhile, we are introduced to Lord Farquaad (Jeremy Love) and the beautiful land of Duloc. Anyone familiar with the Shrek movies knows about the short stature of the character. This Lord Farquaad starts off on a tower balcony and appears to be normal…until he walks onto the stage to question Gingy (Matt Micoff) as to the whereabouts of Princess Fiona.

Gingy is on a baking sheet led in by Thelonious (Jennifer Taylor-Perry) and portrayed by Matt Micoff. Micoff had the perfect “Gingy” voice that viewers would expect. Micoff is a fantastic Gingy. Not the gumdrop BUTTONS!!

The wig, the hat, the accent, the little legs, all of it compiled to make a perfect Lord Farquaad. Love definitely embodied the pompous and showy little lord right down to the tone of voice. He made the character one you love to hate while also slightly feeling sorry for him. Especially at the end where a major secret is revealed by the Dwarf (Alphonse Buclay)

Our introduction to Princess Fiona comes in three parts. First, as a young girl (Sophia Hopper) talking to her dolls with mild frustration about being locked in the tower, waiting for her prince to appear, knowing it will be today. Teen Fiona (Sydney Boughton) shows more frustration that she is still in the tower, but she is still holding out hope and knows her prince will come today. Adult Princess Fiona (Selah Rice) appears, more frustrated, having been in the tower for 20 years, but still no prince. She sings about how she is still hopeful that today will be the day the prince comes to rescue her. While all three girls sounded amazing, Selah Rice definitely can bring down the house with her incredible vocals. Rice spent the most time as Fiona and really brought that character to life from her excitement that her prince is FINALLY here to lamenting that she, too, is an ogre, to falling in love and living happily ever after. Definitely a stand out role. 

The three Fionas have a beautiful, meaningful moment in a song where they all lament about waiting, but still hold out hope the prince will be there today. It was a truly moving moment, as we all have something we are waiting for, perhaps getting more and more frustrated that it has yet to appear. 

And then it IS today! Donkey and Shrek arrive at Fiona’s tower.  The Dragon (Sonya McKercie) emerges onto the stage in a beautifully done costume. The costume is a bit unorthodox and not what one may expect, but definitely not in a bad way. It is incredibly creative and the costume team did an amazing job with this character. 

All the costumes were incredible. They were very well done and really fit the characters. As with the Dragon, some costumes were not quite what one would expect, but not in a bad way. The creativity and time that went into these costumes was beyond belief. Most characters have a mask or face paint and all were very well done. It is easy to tell that a LOT of time, thought, and effort went into each character. The Ugly Duckling (Mason Gilliam) was so adorable. Bravo, costume team! (Robin Noah, Sarah Campbell, Jennifer Kittel, Rochelle Dula, Dennis Swedorski. Makeup: Tiffany Nottingham)

When Donkey meets Dragon, the lighting is incredible. The whole stage is lit red and there is smoke. It definitely adds to the feeling of being in a dungeon. The lighting (Patrick Hubbard) was incredible for the whole show. At one point, one character is behind what is supposed to be a barn door. The set piece is back lit so you can see the outline of the character and makes it a really cool special effect. The only problem with the lighting is that at a few points, some characters go up to a higher part of the set, but that part wasn’t fully lit. It was a little hard to see at least the actors’ faces as they were moving across that part of the stage. Overall though, the lighting was really unique and really helped make the show. 

As with any good musical, this show also had a few ensemble musical numbers. The choreography was very well done, for the most part. There were a few times an actor was a little off from the rest of the group, but that happens in most productions, no matter the theater and did not take away from the show overall. Choreographers did amazing, especially with such an age diverse cast (Cindy Jackson, assistant Pennelope Hoolihan). 

The set was very cool, with a large tree off to one side and a “bridge” that added height to the set and gave the actors more space to tell the story (Set builder Eric Johnson). There were hidden doors where people would suddenly appear onstage. The “barn door” was an interesting element of the set that was brought on the stage and removed. 

Perhaps the biggest focal point was the large “storybook” in the center of the stage. At first, it is closed and is a title card for the show. As the show progresses and the scenes change, someone comes on stage and flips a “page” of the book to indicate where the scene is taking place (painted by Madyson Green). As a whole, the set appeared to be a forest, or Shrek’s swamp. The storybook added a level of detail instead of changing sets several times. Pieces were added or taken away as well. To one side, there is a tower for Fiona and to the other was a balcony. This was a great use of stage space, as Clio Cast and Crew has a relatively small stage. 

Some other details to be aware of for sensitive groups: there is a confetti popper used in one of the songs. During this show, it seemed as though the popper went off a little late. It was a little startling because it was unexpected. Just be aware if you have little ones or are sensitive to loud popping sounds. 

Speaking of sound effects, this show had tons including burps, farts, bird noises, and more. All the sound effect cues seemed to be very well rehearsed and did not appear awkward or delayed (Patrick Hubbard, Frederick Rynbrandt). 

Music director Dave Ryan definitely had his work cut out for him with all the various ranges and abilities. He was assisted by Michelle Schipper. The actors all sounded amazing. The music was very well done for this production. Some of the cast members, especially the younger ones, appeared to have microphones on, which definitely helped the audience to hear them. 

The director, Frank Conrad, did a phenomenal job casting and directing this production. It was nearly flawless, which is very hard to accomplish. The casting was well done and the actors definitely fit their roles. While the set was simple in that it did not change scene to scene, it was by no means plain or boring. It was very well thought out and the use of the storybook to change the scenes was a wonderful and unique idea on the director’s part. 

Do not let the Theatre for Young Audiences title fool you; this show is meant to be enjoyed by all audience members, but has elements meant to keep younger viewers engaged. There are puppets, singing and dancing numbers, and a slightly shorter run time. This production also has a fifteen minute intermission. These are all elements meant to keep the interest and appeal to the attention span of younger people while also entertaining everyone in the room. 

Is Shrek: The Musical TYA worth seeing? Absolutely. It is a phenomenal show, very well done and definitely worth going to see. This performance was like a well oiled machine, which is extremely rare, especially for an opening night performance. It is a great show for everyone in the family to see. Fans of Shrek will appreciate how this production kept true to the original movie and those who are not as big of fans will definitely appreciate this touching show. 

Tickets are selling FAST. Go online to https://www.cliocastandcrew.com/buy-tickets or call the box office at 810-687-2588. First responder, military, student discounts or discounts for groups of 10 are available only by calling the box office. Do NOT miss this show!