Review Roundup: SHREK THE MUSICAL at 3-D Theatricals; What Did The Critics Have To Say?

3-D Theatricals concludes its 10th Anniversary season with SHREK The Musical, directed and choreographed by David F.M. Vaughn. SHREK The Musical, featuring music by Tony Award-winner Jeanine Tesori, and book and lyrics by Pulitzer Prize-winner David Lindsay-Abaire, will play August 9-25, 2019 at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts (18000 Park Plaza Drive, Cerritos, CA). Opening night is Saturday, August 10.

Based on the Oscar-winning Dreamworks Animation film, SHREK The Musical is a Tony Award-winning fairy tale adventure, featuring all new songs from Jeanine Tesori (Thoroughly Modern Millie; Caroline, or Change) and a sidesplitting book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire (Fuddy Meers; Good People; Rabbit Hole).

What did the critics have to say?

Leo Buck, Bucking Trends: Director Vaughn truly knows this show and possesses plenty of earnest affection for the material. Here his direction is fast paced and colorful-kind of like a frisky and forward-flowing whirl on a merry-go-round-with loads of big laughs, super-charged songs and light-hearted dance segments around every corner. You couldn't find a fitter or finer show with which to introduce younger audiences to the joys of a top-flight theatre-going experience!

Michael Quintos, BroadwayWorld: Those with a soft spot for the original movie will have lots to love with its mostly faithful adaptation which has been purposefully energized with the magic of live theater. The score is droll and light, peppered with witty meta lyrics that poke self-effacing fun at fairy tale tropes but at the same time can also be reverent to the classics that many of us know by heart.

Tony Frankel, Stage and Cinema: By today's standards - lowered tremendously since the Golden Age of Broadway - Shrek has an acceptable score: some numbers good, some numbers mediocre, and some just downright bad. The fart number comes to mind. Yes, there's a fart number with flatulent, burping beat-boxing to illustrate Shrek and Fiona's similar comfortable confidence. I could have done without Donkey's jazzy narration of Shrek's budding love for Fiona, accompanied by the three blind and busty mice. And Fiona's intro number - in which three successively aged actresses portrayed Fiona throughout her detainment - starts out with a sweet melody then gets lost. The biggest culprit is "The Story of My Life" - its semi-tuneful but ends up a juvenile snoozer with an ultimately forgettable melody that provides backstory for some fairy tale characters but not plot movement.