(seen at the afternoon performance on 30th September 2023)
Ogres must leave home aged 7 and find their own swamp to live in as best they can. Princesses end up in towers until rescued by their forever prince. Add a talking donkey and a tiny Lord who wants to rid his fiefdom of fairytale characters, and it can only be “Shrek.”
The monkey loved the revised version of the Broadway musical which arrived at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in 2011. Packed with similar energy and plenty of one-liners from the animated feature film, the tunes added to the fun.
This tour tries hard, but has sadly been revised again; a major song for the Dragon is extinguished and replaced by a sad puff. Great lines have gone (along with the odd questionable one - the Tijuana joke has a clumsy ‘string pulling’ line in its place) and the result is now a book which functions far less subversively, making it a considerably less exciting experience for adults and frankly a slightly duller one for their offspring too.
The lead performances are well cast. Antony Lawrence is on the hefty side as Shrek, and soon warms to his task with a developing warmth for the Princess he rescues on somebody else’s behalf.
Joanne Clifton makes the very most of Princess Fiona. Not as cutting as Amanda Holden, and saddled with lesser staging and choreography (the “Rat Ballet” is disappointing here), her singing voice is as notable as her comedy timing.
Donkey is a success from Brandon Lee Sears. Clearly from the Southern States by accent, he curbs the usual tendency to irritate and instead is often reasoning and clearly offended by the rejection of his simple offer of friendship.
There is no walking on knees from James Gillan as Lord Farquaad. They settle for casting a shorter actor, but lacking real height difference Gillian has trouble asserting and sustaining the hilarious ironic situation on which his role depends. We do not know where he gets his inferiority complex from, and frankly, Gillan is simply a rather decent chap by the look of it.
Vocally unforgettable, Cherece Richards as Dragon fills the stage and auditorium with a serious blues voice. A real shame the original song is lost, but she can no doubt find it for her first album when she records one.
Of note in smaller roles, Bethany Kate as Teen Fiona is another young singing talent, while Georgie Buckland as Gingy makes an amusing puppeteer bringing the Gingerbread Man to cowardly life.
Surprisingly for a show that has already toured extensively and played several performances at this venue during the previous week, the technical side was struggling.
Projections, on which the show relies, were blurred and the screen appeared to have difficulties with weights to stop it shimmering.
Sound for some characters was also far better balanced than others, making some lyrics indistinct, and it was not entirely clear if they were singing live during the finale "I'm A Believer".
Samuel Holmes and Nick Winston as co-directors may also account for the rather odd pace. Rather than hitting the cinematic stride of the original stage version, this was rather episodic. Several scenes carried a slight tinge of lead actors almost in different productions rather than interacting on a deeper level.
It is colourful, fairly well told with many strong songs remaining, and the chorus dancers are impressive. If it is all just not quite up to the standard of the original monkey memory, things are still pretty good in Duloc on the whole.
3 stars.
Photo credit: Used by kind permission of the New Wimbledon Theatre press office.