Seton and Elder Performing Arts students took their final bows on stage for Shrek the Musical in early April this year marking yet another great performance by the Elder and Seton Performing Arts ensemble. The show was wildly successful, packing the house every night even to a total sold out crowd for the last show on April 14th. The wacky and hilarious show was first introduced to the world on Broadway seventeen years ago. The show debuted September 10th, 2008 on Broadway and became a very popular show, and Elder and Seton actually ran the production in 2014 to a resounding success. Ten years later the show is similar and different. I, myself was in the show and while it was bittersweet to see the end of my musical career at Elder/Seton it was such a fun and worthwhile experience. In this article I will tell you about the secrets of the show and some of the most fun parts of the musical. So let’s dive into this ogre sized production!

Some of the stage effects used in this musical are pretty practical but still useful. For starters bringing the short but tyrannical Lord Farquaad to life was Nick Liderbach 25’, who had to become small in height, about four feet or so. Nick had to walk around on his knees with pads the whole time, as fake legs covered up his real legs. It is a simple effect that makes a huge difference, well actually a “short” one. Okay, enough with the Farquaad puns. Another easy effect is makeup, which almost everyone on stage had a lot of. The man with the most prosthetics was the star of the show himself, Jacob Eddingfield 24’. Jacob played shrek, and had to go through a near two hour long makeup process. This included a headpiece with a cowl, restricting neck movement, meaning he had to act with body language a lot of the time not being able to turn his head much. Another aspect of good storytelling through effects is with costumes. Once again this production was full of some of the most elaborate and amazing costumes I’ve ever seen. By far one of the best was Donkey’s, portrayed by Noah Collins 24’. Wearing a full fursuit on stage for a majority of the show, Noah fought through blazing heat every show and did it without issue. Being one of the most mobile characters in the show added an extra amount of exhaustion to the character though, but with a great crew each character was fanned and hydrated, especially Donkey. By far my favorite effect though in the whole show was the giant dragon puppet. When I say big, I mean it, as this Dragon took up almost half the stage flying around two different singing numbers. The dragon was made mobile by two stage crew members and they were hidden under the giant puppet that could move its mouth and flap its wings all while its green eyes glared at the audience. The Dragon also shined at the end of the musical bursting through a stained glass window to “eat” farquaad in the finale. This effect was something pretty crazy for audiences to witness as the show wraps up. A Lot of these effects were made possible by the stage crew for Shrek led by Mr. Rodgers, the Makeup team led by Mrs. Samoya, and the costume team lead by Mrs. Mazuk. Without these teams and people this show could not be done to the level that it was and they deserve their flowers definitely. 

Another unforgettable aspect of the shows is the singing and acting, and with such an elaborate show it is hard to choose the best, but I will try to highlight my favorites. Some of the best musical numbers from Shrek the Musical are high paced poppy sounding ones, and then others are ballads. I will put my favorites in order. I think the first song that is very good is “Story of my Life”. “Story of my Life” is a song sung by all of the fairytale creatures that get banished from the Kingdom of Duloc. This song was personally one of my favorites to sing in the whole show. It is a fun ensemble number that showcases how fun the rest of the show is going to be. The next song that really shines is “What’s up Duloc?” This song is Farquaad’s musical entrance to the audience and it has a very cheery upbeat feeling, but if you listen to the lyrics it shows how brilliantly well put together Farquaad is as a villain. He is a truly psychotic man with the biggest Napoleon complex, but he is charming on the outside so nobody really notices it. The dancing makes the singing so much better too, really making this one amazing. Another great one in act one is “I know it’s Today”. “I know it’s Today” is performed by three Fionas, Megean Eisenmann 26’, Caroline Bill 27’, and Ruthie Darnell 24’. This number showcases Fiona through her childhood into adulthood wishing her fairytale will come true. It is just so cool to see the different versions of the same character, especially when the three Fionas all sing in unison at the end, each one did a spectacular job on this song that brought it to the next level.   Next is “Forever”, the song in which the Dragon, played by Nora Darnell 25’, sings about forcing Donkey to stay with her. This song is a rousing gospel/funk song that is brimming with amazing notes, funny lines, and great choreography. Not to mention the aforementioned giant dragon flying around on stage. This  one has to be my favorite, because it was so fun to watch even though I wasn’t there, the 2024 cast just did this song to perfection. There are so many more songs I could highlight, “Morning Person”, “Who I’d Be”, “Don’t Let Me Go”, and “Freak Flag”. All of the cast members did an amazing job performing these songs absolutely crushing them to perfection.

The last thing I want to highlight is the coolest scenes in the whole show. Being on stage is always special in the musical, and hearing the applause from the crowd is something that feels beyond rewarding when you finish a show. There were certain musical numbers as I mentioned before that made the crowd ignite, but there were also just some amazing scenes in this show that brought a lot of laughs. I chose to highlight a few of my favorites that I thought were the most funny and most memorable. One of my favorite scenes that I was in is the scene right after “Story of my Life” is sung. This scene has the iconic “what are you doing in my swamp” line. It also has a lot of funny interactions between Shrek and the fairytale creatures. The three pigs, played by Carson Telger24’, Nick Berger 26’, and Brady Telger 26’ have some of the funniest interactions in this scene too. Another great scene is when we first meet Farquaad a few scenes later. He is interrogating Gingy, played by Ameila Andriacco 24’, by torturing the cookie. There is the famous “do you know the muffin man” dialogue here, and the interactions are just hilarious. The most heartwarming scene in shrek is before they get to the castle, Shrek and Donkey have to cross the fiery bridge, which Donkey is too scared to do. Shrek promises to not let Donkey go, a callback to an earlier song, and they cross the bridge together. The scene ends with one of my favorite lines, “that’ll do Donkey, that’ll do.” The last scene that I want to point out as being amazing is the wedding finale. This scene has a little bit of everything. It has a few great musical numbers sprinkled in, but its dialogue makes it so much better. First shrek crashes the wedding, and then the fairytale creatures crash the wedding which makes farquaad really angry. Soon Fiona also turns into an ogre and before you know it Farquaad is eaten by the Dragon! The story wraps up nicely from there, with the theme that we are multiple things at once, we may not be the all around best, but we are still beautiful inside and out. 

This musical has really equipped me with some of the most unforgettable experiences my senior year. It was a long four months or so to get this production out to the public, but I am glad all of the hard work paid off and the audiences loved it. A great show is not decided by its story, its songs, costumes, jokes, or sets though. What makes a production truly great is the people that are involved in it. This cast and crew for Shrek was chalked full of amazing performers and people. Without each individual this production would have never been as wildly successful as it was. So bravo cast and crew for Shrek, and as the seniors take their last bow on their high school careers, we close the curtain on yet another fabulous performance from Seton and Elder Performing Arts.