Set in a mythical “once upon a time” sort of land, this is the story of a hulking green ogre who, after being mocked and feared his entire life by anything that crosses his path, retreats to an ugly green swamp to exist in happy isolation. Suddenly, a gang of homeless fairy-tale characters (Pinocchio, Cinderella, the Three Pigs, you name it) raid his sanctuary, saying they’ve been evicted by the vertically challenged Lord Farquaad. So Shrek strikes a deal: I’ll get your homes back, if you give me my home back! But when Shrek and Farquaad meet, the Lord strikes a deal of his own: He’ll give the fairy-tale characters their homes back, if Shrek rescues Princess Fiona. Shrek obliges, yet finds something appealing–something strange and different–about this pretty princess. He likes her a lot, but why does she always run off when the sun sets?
We arrive in the Alexander Theatre foyer to see a swamp hut setting the feel of Shrek’s humble abode, a queue in the merch line entices us to buy some support cookies in theme and a spotlighted ‘green’ carpet for pics with our program.
This show is no ordinary version; an ‘inclusical’ by the one and only Stars and The Moon theatre company for all abilities known as “STaM” in Melbourne – with care they pair up kind ‘castmates’ and those having a special need to give them more confidence to perform; though you envisage it might, it does not detract from the show’s appeal or amazingness having two people play the one character. In fact, it definitely adds to the fun!! The sets, costuming and lighting are also nothing short of professional and the packed audience agrees with constant cheering. If you’ve read enough, you actually only have a slim chance to currently secure tickets as most shows are sold out!
We sit down in our ‘green’ tonight to hear firstly a comical introduction over the mic saying no gingerbread men have been harmed in making the show haha and that everyone can get up and dance and wiggle in their seats. Then ‘The Magic Mirror’ above us featuring Paralympic gold medalist Dylan Alcott entertains us with his one-liners and opens the show in Clayton where we are about to see a journey of embracing who you are.
We know this is going to be a good night as ‘Big Bright Beautiful World’ hits us very big and very bright! I’m already a bit emotional at watching the castmates carefully coax some of the performers onto the stage and within seconds they are all quite at home, many excited doing their second or third show with STaM.
Shrek played by Cameron Miller and Zac Parkes is larger than life as always and they have him down true to the Shrek we all know from the movie, even his speaking voice is almost identical.
Princess Fiona played by Chelsea Dawson and Lottie Coombes is just gorgeous, they both smash every song with their vocal ability and certainly a duet to long remember.
Two of my faves were Asher Stanton and Jordan French playing ‘Pinocchio’ and Eitan Meyerowitz and Zac Chester playing Big Bad Wolf, but really, ALL of the fairytale characters are FANTASTIC to watch and they do lots of funny quirky things on the side.
My eldest daughter, an avid musical theatre lover and regular performer in shows herself, came with me to this show and she was saying all the way through ‘he’s good’ ‘she’s good’ ‘they’re good’ in every scene. She was super impressed by the ‘Dragon’ singers but particularly loves to watch the ensemble, so never think you aren’t noticed if that’s you, because you surely are. e.g. the dancing mice feet behind the curtain (how cuuute), the girls with the ‘Awww’ ‘Gasp’ ‘Laugh’ signs (instructions for us viewers), everyone under that enormous red creature (you made us love watching her every move), and the Humpties who picked up the bricks to carry them all off without dropping them – well done!!!
Shout out to Gabe Harari and Evan Lever for their kneeling, knee walking ‘Lord Farquaad’ – both were absolutely hilarious!! Equally hilarious were Guillaume Gentil & Daniel Geng as ‘Donkey’ – I don’t think I have laughed so much from one character in any show I’ve ever enjoyed.
Dance timing in straight lines you might not expect to be exact in a show with limited abilities for some of the performers, but they were fabulous and every smile at each other and movement showed how much they loved being up there together. So many beautiful costumes too brought the whole live energetic picture together. We were so close to the stage as well we could feel the excited enthusiasm and nothing could beat the flag waving by all – even all of us in the audience got that green flag stuck on our seat and flipped it around like crazy!
All in all, a swamp load of serious talent in this show – you all deserved that full standing ovation and I’m sure there were plenty of proud tears from family and friends too, CONGRATULATIONS EVERYONE!
Lauren McKenna – Director
Michaela Raitman – Producer
Campbell Borello – Production Manager
SHREK – Cameron Miller & Zac Parkes
PRINCESS FIONA – Chelsea Dawson & Lottie Coomes (Covers – Jessica Mond, Lizzie Locke)
DONKEY – Guillaume Gentil & Daniel Geng
LORD FARQUAAD – Gabe Harari & Evan Lever
DRAGON – Dylan Don Paul (Dilonce) & Thanh-Tuok Autran
FAIRYTALE ENSEMBLE – Asher Stanton & Jordan French (Pinocchio), Ruth Ben-Danan & Alanna Baschera (Sugarplum Fairy/Gingy), Eitan Meyerowitz & Zac Chester (Big Bad Wolf), Teige Cordiner, Aidyn Patrzalek & Devin Goralsky (three Pigs), Mark J Rintoull, Zoe Better, Mia Decleva (The Bears), Ebony May & Katie McMillan (Fairy Godmother), Georgia Ellen & Danni Miller (Wicked Witch), Sarahbell Turvey & Tahli McLean (Duckling/Teen Fiona), Sayer Delves & Caomhe McCooey (White Rabbit/Baby Fiona), Alexander Gilbert & Jack Taylor (Peter Pan/Pied Piper), Jaimie Chapman & Tamara Stanton (Goldilocks), Jackson Harris & Mark Polonsky (Mad Hatter), Natasha Freiberg & Ellie Goldenberg (Humpty), Dani Filip & Shira Etzion (Hansel & Gretel), Jessica Mond & Jemima Scerri (Little Red)
DULOC ENSEMBLE – Tahlia Mandile, Charli Cantoni-Bud, Amy Tapp, Noah Prendergast, Adrian Salvatore, Lexi Kelsall, Ruby Alford, Alice Johnston, Carly Gauci, Lexie Goldenberg, Michaela Sacho, Kahli Anquetil-Kneale, Nineveh Dewhurst, Noa Godsell, Joshua Yip
GUARDS & DRAGON ENSEMBLE – Benji Kalkopf, Harry Stott, Brendan Saffer, Gilbert Esse, Tarus Fiu, Chris Patrzalek, Daniel Kraus, Sue Lesnjak, Lilly Lawrence, Lyndall Peachman, Jakob Demirel, Dan Don, Sienna Boorer, Savannah Mandile, Hayley Walsh, Raechelle Sibbing.
To find out more how you or someone you know with special needs and perhaps limited abilities can be involved with this very special theatre group see https://www.starsandthemoon.org/
Duration: Approx. 2 hours and 30 minutes including a 20 minute intermission. The show is easy access for all including assisted hearing, seeing-eye-dog friendly and wheelchairs of all sizes welcome. Wheelchairs on stage too with the performers loving every minute acting it up in this inclusical!
Venue: Alexander Theatre, Monash University Clayton Campus, 48 Exhibition Walk, Clayton. Free parking is available on site (more info). Please allow adequate time when planning your visit to find parking and the venue. Sometimes it is a 10minute walk from the car into the theatre.
To book tickets to Shrek: The Musical, please visit https://www.starsandthemoon.org/shrek.
Photographer: Matthew Chen
