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Shrek the Musical
DreamWorks’ first foray into the animation-to-musical genre on which its Hollywood rival Disney has planted its flag kicks off its first national tour here after a year-plus Broadway run that closed in January. The stage edition of the 2001 film Shrek is an affable and family-friendly, if somewhat forgettable, effort.
The animated film was heavy on then-current pop-culture references; the musical is no less weighted, but perhaps in an effort to un-date it (and to appeal to musical-theater aficionados), Lindsay-Abaire and Tesori—the arguably slumming authors of Rabbit Hole and composer of Caroline, or Change, respectively—make satiric nods to their Broadway brethren, with references to Wicked, Les Miz and Dreamgirls, among others. Those jokes likely will fly above the heads of the young’uns who’ve worn out their DVDs.
Even if the authors don’t aim terribly high (and if Moore’s scaled-down tour staging can feel static), there’s enough to enjoy in this telling of the grumpy green giant’s journey of self-discovery, rescuing a flawed princess and teaching his fractured-fairy-tale mates that inner beauty is preferable to outer. Petersen does an admirable job of emoting through layers of latex, while Mingo has what ought to be a star-making sidekick turn as comic-relief Donkey. As the ten-year-old next to me said following curtain call, “That was the best Broadway show I’ve ever seen!” At his age, that’s perfectly acceptable.
