If you're a gay parent or uncle and you want to take in a new (or newish) Broadway show that will entertain the kids without boring you to tears, your options are limited. Disney's The Little Mermaid and Mary Poppins are huge disappointments, and the recently opened White Christmas is, as a friend of mine would say, from hunger.
But there's good news! Despite minor flaws, Shrek the Musical is a delight. Based primarily on the first in the series of three animated films that proved to be blockbusters for Dreamworks, this stage version - with book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire, and music by Jeanine Tesori - is so hilarious and warm-hearted that it's pretty much guaranteed to please audience members from 8 to 80, and offers gay audiences plenty to enjoy.
Just in case you missed the flick(s), Shrek is about a big, ugly, green ogre (played on Broadway by Brian d'Arcy James) who's resigned to living alone in a swamp - that is, until his territory is beset by a gaggle of fairy-tale creatures, led by Pinocchio (John Tartaglia), who've been banished from the kingdom of the evil Lord Farquad (Christopher Sieber). Our hero confronts Farquad and earns his promise that the situation will be taken care of if Shrek can retrieve the lovely Princess Fiona (Sutton Foster) from her tower and deliver her to Farquad for marital purposes. With help from the jive-talking Donkey (Daniel Breaker) who becomes his unlikely pal, Shrek completes his task - but the result is far from what he or anyone else involved ever imagined.
Though there is no overt homosexuality in Shrek (natch), this is one of the gayest shows on Broadway. That's partly because three of the show's major players - director Jason Moore and co-stars Sieber and Tartaglia - are so openly and proudly gay that they recently gave a hilarious interview about the show to "The Advocate."
Then too, over and above characters like Breaker's sassy Donkey, Sieber's prissy Farquad, and a cross-dressing wolf from the Red Riding-Hood tale, the whole enterprise has a tremendously gay sensibility. And its chief moral, that we should accept ourselves and expect other people to accept us for what we are, certainly applies to gay people living in a world that still forces many of us into the closet. (One of the show's highlight comes when Pinocchio, who has kept insisting he's a real live boy, finally blurts out "I'm wood! I'm good! Get used to it!")
With fabulous scenic and costume design by Tim Hatley and lighting design by Hugh Vanstone, not to mention great wigs and makeup and some really cool special effects, Shrek is certainly eye-popping. But it also has a lot going on beneath the surface. Though Tesori's tunes are not immediately memorable on first hearing, they're thoroughly enjoyable and accessible. Among the score's highlights are the ballads "I Know It's Today," "Who I'll Be," and "When Words Fail," while the joyous, up-tempo "Freak Flag" may well become a new anthem for gays and others who want to celebrate their otherness.
Lindsay-Abaire's lyrics are far more accomplished than one would expect from a first-time lyricist, and his book is a skillful adaptation of the source material. (That's not a huge surprise; Lindsay-Abaire is the author of several wonderfully whimsical plays in addition to the brilliant, darker, Pulitzer Prize-winning Rabbit Hole.)
Be forewarned: There are lots of fart jokes n Shrek. But they're really, really funny.
All of the leading actors are terrific. James somehow manages to make Shrek ugly and adorable at the same time, which is exactly the point. Breaker admirably offers a Donkey who's much different than Eddie Murphy's character in the movie but is every bit as throw-down funny.
Foster, who has previously starred on Broadway in Thoroughly Modern Millie, Little Women, The Drowsy Chaperone and Young Frankenstein, has never been better than she is as the free-spirited Fiona. Sieber deserves a Tony Award nomination for his hilariously over-the-top Farquad, performed entirely on his knees! And though Tartaglia has very little stage time as Pinocchio, he makes the most of it.
Shrek does have its flaws and disappointments. Josh Prince's choreography is no better or worse than adequate, and the huge dragon puppet that plays a pivotal role in the show doesn't make the proper effect. (Apparently, this dragon proved to be a bear all though the show's out-of-town tryout and Broadway previews.) Also, many of the songs in the show end without clear musical and lighting "buttons," which has the unfortunate result of deadening the applause.
The weirdest flaw in the show comes at the very end - and I do mean the VERY end. A big challenge in crafting a stage musical version of Shrek was the fact that the movie worked a number of pre-existing pop songs into the plot, and this was done so well that Broadway audiences might have been expected to miss those moments. Tesori and Lindsay-Abaire have handily sidestepped the problem by providing original songs that function even better in context. But what do we hear played as the show's exit music, after two and half hours or original material? The old Monkees hit, "I'm a Believer," which (I'm told) was heard over the closing credits of the film.
It's difficult to imagine how anyone, or any group of people, could have made such a decision. Apparently, "I'm a Believer" went into the production at the very last minute, and I can only hope that it will soon be taken out. Shrek and its score are too good to leave the audience with even the slightest, last-minute impression that this show is in any way kin to a jukebox musical.
