'Shrek, can we go to the floating market?" Donkey begs.
You probably won't recall the overly-talkative sidekick saying that line anywhere in the very first animation that started it all, but when it sinks in that the cast are treating you to a local spin, it becomes all the more amusing.
For hardcore fans of Shrek (2001), it can be somewhat difficult to adjust to the musical version at first, especially when you half expect iconic sights and sounds of the animation that cling to your mind to spring up, be it the All Star anthem or a large goopy mess at Shrek's home. It throws you off track when a pint-sized green ogre gets the story rolling, so wipe your slate clean and leave expectations of any exact parallels at home. The musical has a life of its own, and a hilarious one too.
The tale does not divert much from the original, where the ogre Shrek must go out to save a princess locked away in a castle, in exchange for removing the horde of fairytale "trash" which got evicted to his swamp by the sassy Lord Farquaad. Although small in size just like in the cartoons, this gaudy villain is clearly one of the funniest characters of the show, thanks to his shameless narcissism and attention-seeking tendencies to interact with the audience. His dumb bell lifts (for show, obviously) while counting "nueng... song... hok roi!" easily sent the crowd into uproar.
The voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz are so intertwined with these legendary characters, but the actors Kyle Timson (Shrek), Jared Howelton (Donkey) and Lindsay Dunn (Fiona) do their parts justice and get all the accents right too. Although they don't sound like their Hollywood counterparts, they definitely can talk like them -- with some extra kooky quirks their musical personas have thrown in. Princess Fiona is something of a bipolar spinster, exploding with spasms that alternate between giddy glee and shrilly desperation. Her 8,423 days sans any man is surely a malady Bangkok's single 30-something females could easily drink to. When the ensemble breaks into simple but catchy songs, they offer a new depth and dimension as to how these well-known and well-loved characters feel during their trials and tribulations.
For an animation that has always been a tad more mischievous, Shrek The Musical's humour includes both Fiona and Shrek bonding over fart jokes and more naughty rhymes only a more mature viewer would cackle at. The younger ones will get restless and start to get twitchy, if not fall asleep altogether, but we're ecstatic that the famously cheeky Duloc welcome song is also part of the musical: "Please keep off of the grass. Shine your shoes, wipe your... face." Considering how there's a ginormous dragon, a human-to-ogre transformation to be done within two minutes and a mountain bursting with flaming lava, the total picture the set manages to conjure up is a marvel to watch. Even the irresistibly cute gingerbread man Gingy seemed to be alive, within the wondrously colourful parade of fairytale characters. If you've missed this show, I hope you're green with envy, because this light-hearted entertainer can be summed up by the line when Lord Farquaad unabashedly sings: "We all have our standards, but I will have perfection."
Shrek The Musical
Princess Fiona getting tired of waiting. BEC Tero
