Today's Broadway Blogs - Monday, December 15, 2008

The most beloved swamp-dwelling ogre of all time makes his Broadway debut in Shrek the Musical. This all-new production is based on Shrek's adventures in the classic William Steig book and Oscar-winning film. Joining Shrek on his journey from the swamp to the stage will be his wisecracking sidekick Donkey, Princess Fiona, Lord Farquaad and a chorus of everybody's favorite fractured fairytale creatures. With more layers than ever and a completely original new score, Shrek The Musical proves that there's more to the story than meets the ears.

David Rooney, Variety: "Countless films of recent decades have set out to spin a gently subversive fairy tale with a contemporary edge, but few have succeeded as wildly as "Shrek." Conjuring genuine enchantment without quaintness or treacly sentimentality, the 2001 movie enlivened its storybook traditions with rude humor, gleefully anachronistic pop-culture references and knockabout characters brimming with heart. That recipe remains largely intact in "Shrek the Musical," along with much of the irreverent charm that's been successively diluted in two overworked screen sequels. If the storytelling is bumpy in patches and the songs don't quite soar, the show never stints on spectacle or laughs, making it a viable contender for a slice of the Disney market on Broadway."

Michael Kuchwara, Associated Press: The folks at DreamWorks have done their darndest to make sure we are entertained at "Shrek the Musical," the company's lavish stage adaptation of its hit animated movie. For much of the time, they succeed, thanks to the talent and ingratiating appeal of the show's four principal performers, starting with Brian d'Arcy James as that disagreeable, smelly green ogre who lives in a swamp.

Ben Brantley, New York Times: ""Shrek," for the record, is not bad. The maiden Broadway venture of DreamWorks Theatricals (a stage-oriented arm of the company that made the movie), in association with Neal Street Productions, it is definitely a cut above the most recent offerings from its creators' direct competitor in cartoon-inspired musicals, Walt Disney. Unlike that company's "Tarzan" and "Little Mermaid," "Shrek" has the virtues of a comprehensible plot and identifiable characters. And as designed by Tim Hatley, whose set captures some of the feral majesty of Steig's original drawings, the show isn't the eyesore that Disney's fish story is."

Elysa Garner, USA Today: "Leading man Brian d'Arcy James may have to conceal his boyish good looks, but his Shrek is an adorable hero and, despite his blubbery prosthetics, an expressive one. James' delightfully playful, at times plaintive performance leaves no doubt this guy's just a chartreuse cherub. Sutton Foster is predictably plucky as Princess Fiona, who teaches Shrek that beauty is in the eye of the beholder — and that pretty girls can make loud, disgusting noises, too. And as anyone who caught Daniel Breaker's enchanting star turn in last season's Passing Strange would suspect, the young actor is perfectly hilarious as Shrek's goofy sidekick, Donkey (represented on screen by the voice of Eddie Murphy). All these assets do not add up to a great musical: That, by definition, would require great music. But Shrek is pretty grand entertainment, and to these eyes, it looks like a big, fat hit."

John Simon, Bloomberg News: "As "Shrek the Musical" opens at the Broadway Theatre, starring Brian d'Arcy James, Sutton Foster and Daniel Breaker, there's good news and bad news. The good news is that it is done very well; the bad news is that it is done at all."

Barbara Hoffman, The New York Post: "MORE green, less yellow. If the mak ers of "Shrek: The Musical" had been brave enough to give their imaginations - and their big green guy - free rein, the show that opened on Broadway last night could have been one of the standouts of the season. As it happens, it takes nearly all of Act 1 before "Shrek: The Musical" starts to sing. And when it does, it truly comes alive."

Joe Dziemianowicz, NY Daily News: "TURNING cartoons into Broadway shows ranks below root canal on my list of favorite things. Yet "Shrek the Musical" certainly has things to like, even if it's sometimes ungainly. Chief among them, Sutton Foster. She brings an authentic sweetness and spunk to Princess Fiona, whom grumpy green ogre Shrek (Brian d'Arcy James) falls for. "

"I'd rather have a bottle in front of me, than a frontal lobotomy."

-- Dorothy Parker

The grosses are out for the week ending 12/14/2008 and we've got them all

right here in BroadwayWorld.com's grosses section.

Up for the week was: SPRING AWAKENING (7.2%), Irving Berlin'S WHITE CHRISTMAS (4.6%), IN THE HEIGHTS (3.8%), HAIRSPRAY (3.2%), 13 (3.1%), LIZA'S AT THE PALACE (2.9%), SPAMALOT (2.9%), EQUUS (2.4%), WICKED (2.1%), AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY (2.0%), JERSEY BOYS (1.5%), A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS (1.2%), AVENUE Q (0.7%), THE LION KING (0.6%), SOUTH PACIFIC (0.4%), Billy Elliot: THE MUSICAL (0.1%),

Down for the week was: SHREK THE MUSICAL (-20.2%), PAL JOEY (-14.9%), GREASE (-13.5%), THE LITTLE MERMAID (-8.3%), SLAVA'S SNOWSHOW (-5.5%), CHICAGO (-5.3%), GYPSY (-5.1%), THE 39 STEPS (-4.0%), BOEING-BOEING (-4.0%), MARY POPPINS (-3.8%), MAMMA MIA! (-3.5%), ALL MY SONS (-1.8%), THE SEAGULL (-0.8%), SPEED THE PLOW (-0.7%), DIVIDING THE ESTATE (-0.6%), THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (-0.1%),