BWW Blog: DSOA's SHREK THE MUSICAL by Maddy Mackarey (Fiona) and Emily Betts (Shoemaker's Elf) - Opening Weekend!

Maddy Mackarey (Fiona)

We did it! After two months of long after-school rehearsals and hard work, our amazing cast and crew made it to opening weekend of Shrek the Musical! I'm Maddy Mackarey, a senior at DSOA, and I play Fiona.

As Sydney and Dylan discussed in our blog about tech week, much of the rehearsal process lately has been about being malleable as all of the pieces of the show come together while striving to keep up the energy and not sit back and get too comfortable. Well, being malleable does not stop once the show opens, and I experienced that when costume crew members and I had to adjust to some quick changes that didn't go exactly as planned, including a tear-away skirt that tore away after it was put back on. In the moment I was a little worried, but after hearing from our director and some audience members about how great the show was, I pushed all of it aside. We were able to adapt to the situation and continue with the awesome show we were having with barely anyone noticing, a skill and mindset I'll definitely take with me into college and professional theatre. Like one of our cast members, Kaytie Scott, said: "Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things!"

We were fortunate enough to play to super energetic audiences the whole weekend, including an audience with Broadway producer Hal Luftig in it. It's so encouraging to have an experienced professional not only attend our show, but tell us that we did a great job at finding the heart in such a big, animated musical. One of the greatest parts was seeing so many parents bring their kids to live theatre and then having the kids smiling and dancing with us by the end of the show! My personal favorite moment was when during a scene where we walk through the house, a little girl in the front row shouted "Hi Princess Fiona!" She had the biggest smile on her face and I obviously had to say hello back. I was reminded once again of theatre's ability to move someone and give joy. A smile and a "hello" seems simple but is so powerful, and I'm grateful that our show could give that girl such a great experience in the theatre and possibly inspire her to explore her imagination too. So, make sure to come to the last weekend of Shrek the Musical at Dreyfoos! See you in the swamp!

Emily Betts (Shoemaker's Elf)

Hey everybody! I'm Emily Betts and I'm playing The Shoemaker's Elf in the Alexander W. Dreyfoos production of Shrek the musical! We opened on February 27th and have had full houses every show so far! Being a part of this production is such an honor and I am so lucky that I get to work with a cast of such talented artists! Everyone involved in this production has invested so much work that it makes me feel like I'm working with professionals. It is a wonderful and collaborative environment that really makes the show come together.

We opened last weekend and it was an absolute blast! There will always be little things that happen unexpectedly during a run but that's what comes with the joys of live theatre! Every night we had engaged audiences that were laughing along with every single joke in the show and were giving collective "oohs" and "ahhs" throughout the run. All four shows were wonderful but there is one night that really sticks out to me- during the curtain call of the Saturday night performance, we received roars of applause and cheers and the type of standing ovation where people immediately jump to their feet. The whole experience of seeing that audience with the lights in my face surrounded by my fellow cast members really made me remember one of the reasons I am a performer. Live theatre is an experience like no other and I am forever grateful to be a part of it.

Through my perspective of the show, the fairy tale creatures appear in the beginning of the show and the very end of the show. The time in between gives me the opportunity to observe backstage and watch people do their jobs and it's actually incredible to watch the actors who are about to go on. It's incredible because you either see them prepare themselves to go on to be completely vulnerable on stage or you see them frantically getting into their next costume and then immediately turning on their character the second they set foot on stage. We have been rehearsing in full tech, costume, and makeup leading up to our first few performances but it's much different when there's an audience in the house. For this first weekend of shows, we were getting used to there being reactions to things and the audience adrenaline that comes with those reactions. For our opening weekend, I didn't know what kind of audiences to expect, and I was happily relieved to hear our audiences giving amazing feedback to the work of our cast and crew.

One of my favorite moments from opening weekend was when we first heard sound crew play the Shrek movie soundtrack for pre-show and intermission. When we heard All Star by Smash Mouth playing at half hour until go-time I was backstage in my full Elf get-up dancing with a few other characters in full costume and some fly crew members getting excited and pumped for our first performance. Moments like these bring us closer together and get us ready to put on a show of such magnitude. We made it through our first weekend of performances and I honestly can't believe it's finally here. It's a bittersweet feeling with some relief that our hard work is paying off with this incredible show that we are lucky enough to share.......and we get to do it all over again next weekend and I. Can't. Wait!

Check out some pics from the show below!

Photo credit: Sally Prissert

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