Shrek The Musical- Chicago- 8.19.10
Shrek The Musical- Chicago- 8.19.10
#1Shrek The Musical- Chicago- 8.19.10
Posted: 8/20/10 at 2:10am
I'm going to keep this pretty short a vague and I'll add more later...
While in Chicago, my family and I at the last minute decided to see Shrek... I'm the only one who had seen it on Broadway.
Quick thoughts:
-Set was extremely under-whleming and disappointing... while I feel the one thing the Broadway production had going for it were the sets... the tour sets seemed like a high school with an extremely generous theatre budget.
-Did not like the fact that the Magic Mirror was cut out... very memorable part of the movie, in my opinion.
-Love the song that replaced "Donkey Pot Pie," it's called "Forever" but...while the new Dragon design looks great in pics... it's very amateurish while on stage.
-LOVED all the new orchestrations and added excerpts to various songs.
-Talent was fantastic...
-Eric Petersen was great as Shrek... played it a lot like Brian D'Arcy James but a little softer with a more youthful soul.
-Haven Burton. Love this woman in anything she does and I'm thrilled she's finally getting a chance to shine. But with that said, I don't know if it's because this is her first lead, but she was playing Princess Fiona very carefully with an extremely conservative way to her performance. And, for fans of Haven, you'll know she usually pushes the limits with what she does. But none the less, she was brilliant.
-David F.M. Vaughn was hilarious as Lord Farquaad... one again, he played it a lot like Chris Seiber, but a lot more youthful.
-Alan Mingo Jr. was great as Donkey and was very funny. Don't know what else to say about his performance.
*Overall, the cast and production had a very youthful feel to it.
My whole family liked it, especially my mother (an elementary school teacher) who loved it.
The theatre itself had at least 100 empty seats throughout the orchestra and mezzanine that I could see, who knows what the balcony was like.... we got our tickets 4 hours before show time at half price.
Any questions, feel free to ask...
Formerly: WishingOnlyWounds2 - Broadway Legend - Joined: 9/25/08
#2Shrek The Musical- Chicago- 8.19.10
Posted: 8/20/10 at 10:20am
I saw the show on the 18th, not having seen it on Broadway, but I agree with most of what you said. I thought the set was underwhelming. I understand its a tour, and things have to be scaled down, but I thought they could have done better on it personally. I thought the acting overall was pretty great, and having listened to the soundtrack before the show, I did prefer "Forever" to "Donkey Pot Pie." I thought the beginning of the show was kind of slow though.
One thing I'm not sure I've seen covered on here as far as the tour goes was the addition of "I'm a Believer" to the end of it. I thought it fit well. Its played as an encore, and I thought it brought a little extra energy and spunk to the end of the show.
Truthfully, I think my favorite part of the whole thing was the parodies of other musicals.
Stand-by Joined: 12/31/69
#2Shrek The Musical- Chicago- 8.19.10
Posted: 8/20/10 at 10:23amThere are tons of deals out there to move unsold tickets- it's even been showing up on Hottx.
#3Shrek The Musical- Chicago- 8.19.10
Posted: 8/20/10 at 11:51am
I did not see the broadway production so I had nothing to compare it to. I did think Eric Peterson was very good and made Shrek a little more sympathetic then he was in the movie. I liked Haven but her singing came off as a little shouty sometimes. The little girls were annoying but I hardly ever like child actors. As for the dragon puppet, it did not bother me so much since I thought it was kind of like Avenue Q, where you just ignore the people and pay attention to the puppet.
I also did love the references to other musicals.
Random question, did they cut down the ensemble a bit for the tour?
#4Shrek The Musical- Chicago- 8.19.10
Posted: 8/20/10 at 11:41pm
"I'm A Believer" was added towards the end of the Broadway run.
byebyebaby, the ensemble roles did not seem cut down...but the number of actors did. It seemed as though the actors were doubling up on roles more.
Formerly: WishingOnlyWounds2 - Broadway Legend - Joined: 9/25/08
rorschach37
Broadway Star Joined: 4/3/10
#5Shrek The Musical- Chicago- 8.19.10
Posted: 8/21/10 at 10:30pmDid they ever re-insert the ensemble bit in "Big Bright Beautiful World"?
#6Shrek The Musical- Chicago- 8.19.10
Posted: 8/21/10 at 11:37pmthe ensemble part I can remember in "Big Bright Beautiful World" is a little part where they welcome young Shrek to their celebration only to try to burn him...very brief moment in the opening
#7Shrek The Musical- Chicago- 8.19.10
Posted: 8/21/10 at 11:38pmIF Ragballad is talking about the right thing, then it was in there.
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