You may be shocked to hear that the famous, Oscar-winning animation ‘Shrek’ first hit our screens over twenty years ago now but the green, Scottish ogre is heading out on tour around the UK with a new version of the musical which was housed at London’s Drury Lane back in 2011. 

Based on the story and characters from William Steig‘s original book, we follow Shrek’s journey from being sent to a lonely life living in a swamp of a fairytale world to falling hopelessly in love with the headstrong Princess Fiona, whilst meeting all of the classic characters you’d expect from the film along the way. 

Nick Winston & Samuel Holmes direct a sizeable cast in a slick and energetic production, full of big musical numbers and lively, inventive choreography. It’s clearly a high budget, large scale production with modern day animation and video design thrown in. Ben Cracknell’s superb lighting aids the piece beautifully and how wonderful to see and hear a seven piece orchestra in the pit, perfectly led by Musical Director Richard Atkinson. 

The ensemble are practically faultless and all give a tour-de-force of a performance, multi-rolling through all sorts of fairytale characters from alluring mice to kick-lining rats. Antony Lawrence does as much as he can in the prosthetics makeup of Shrek but the real star of the show here is Strictly winner and triple-threat Joanne Clifton as the strong-willed Princess Fiona. She belts note after note with precision and ease whilst nailing all of the comedy moments too. Of course her dancing is also a majestic sight to behold. Further notable mentions must go to the stunning voices of Cherece Richards and Georgie Buckland as Dragon and Gingy who almost get a standing ovation for their vocals alone. 

Brandon Lee Sears as Shrek’s foolish companion Donkey is another with a delightful voice but sadly misses lots of the comic moments. Jimmy Grimes simple but effective puppets are wonderfully designed and Philip Witcomb’s admirable set and costumes ensure it’s a bright, colourful treat for all ages.

A shame maybe that the two-and-a-half-hour running time makes the little ones in the audience rather restless and there are a few too many songs which don’t add much. Of course, the famous Monkees’ classic ‘I’m A Believer’ went down very well when we were eventually treated to it as the finale of the show and had most of the audience singing and dancing along.

It’s not up there with the best musicals of all time by any means but it’s a harmless and entertaining night at the theatre that families will find heartwarming and engaging for the most part.

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