On August 16th I took my 8 year old daughter to the
5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle Washington to see the
world premier of
Shrek the Musical. My general impression
was this: These are 3 words in the english language that should NOT have been put together.
Let me step back a moment and say that myself and my daughter are big fans of the
Shrek movies. We love the big green lug and his cast of goofy characters like
Donkey and puss n' boots...but honestly...a Broadway play?
Personally, growing up when I heard the word "
Broadway" I thought that was the best of the best. If this is in fact Broadway material, then my
take on Broadway was seriously wrong. Sad.
My daughter gives it 1 out of 4 stars. Perhaps the most telling was the fact she asked to leave after the first act because it was "lame". We did in fact leave so
take our review with the knowledge we only stayed for the first half. Perhaps it got better? We will never know...
Highlights:
Donkey, played by Chester Gregory. This guy can SING!
Set design. There was about 2 sets that made me say "wow" outloud.
The Pinocchio nose thing and the dropping of Donkey from the ceiling near the start.
Lowlights:
Timing way off
Could see upcoming actors moving around...this distracted from the people on stage at that moment
"Lame"...direct quote from my 8 year old daughter.
Suggestions:
Put a life size "Shrek" statue in the lobby for kids/parents to take picture next too
Fix timing: I lost count of the number of times where everything seemed to "stop" because I think they had anticipated the audience might laugh...but never did. Scary!
Too long: After 1st act was over the first reaction from people on all sides of us was "wow, that first act was really long...". Shorten it up...
- Scott
Posted August 24, 3:10pm
Online Radio: Currently listening to:
A Fistfull of Soundtracks