Shrek the Broadway Musical

I have always loved the premise of Shrek, even as a kid. It is the one fairytale that isn’t perfectly picturesque. All of the characters are weird, quirky and flawed, but it adds an element of realism to the story. Princess Fiona doesn’t fall in love with a handsome prince, she falls in love with an ogre. Love’s true kiss is supposed to stop her curse: “By day one way, by night another- this shall be the norm, until you find true love’s first kiss and then take love’s true form.” Everyone assumes when she kisses Shrek that she will permanently become the red headed beautiful princess she was in the tower, but instead she remains an ogre. It’s so deep for a children’s story, but it teaches the viewer that beauty is in everything and society’s version of perfection isn’t in fact the only form of beauty. 

I love Fiona’s character. Sutton Foster does an amazing job capturing her strength and even her mood swings throughout the musical. Honestly, I could tell you why I am in love with each individual character, even the background characters because they are all so unique and huge and it adds a lot of depth to the musical. The set is amazing (as to be expected with a Broadway musical), but I especially love the cathedral scene. There is a huge stained glass window that the dragon breaks through to eat Lord Farquaad and it is beautiful. 

I genuinely only have one complaint about the broadway musical version of Shrek; in the castle during the dragon song they sing a song called Donkey Pot Pie, and in other versions of the musical they sing a song called Forever. Personally, I like Forever a lot more than I like Donkey Pot Pie. Shrek’s makeup also makes me feel weird, but I guess that’s kind of the point, so I don’t really know what I would have done differently there. 

The Broadway version of Shrek The Musical is available to stream on Netflix.