Shrek The Musical - UK Tour / Eventim Apollo

[sophizoey]

Well this was throughly enjoyable. I laughed through the majority and it and Steffan Harri gave a great performance as Shrek. I wasn't as convinced with Laura Main but she was still good anyway. Disappointed about the Snow White verse being cut from I Know it's Today and the puppets ... weren't great.

I didn't see the previous tour, but I did see an enjoyable and great show (the best show I've seen in Sunderland) I would and probably will go again while its here.

[daniel]

I'm pleased you enjoyed it sophizoey, and it's nice to read a positive review after mine!!

I wonder if it's just the difference between being a first time viewer or seeing the last tour

[sophizoey]

Feb 1, 2018 8:34:34 GMT daniel said:

I wonder if it's just the difference between being a first time viewer or seeing the last tour

I think that hits the nail on the head, I was sat next to a few repeat viewers of the last show who were completely unimpressed by the end of the first act.

If the last tour was grander, I can understand why you would see this one and not be too happy about it.

[shady23]

Totally agree with the above.

I watched it this afternoon and it felt a little flat for me.

Laura Main was OK. I've started judging all Fiona's to Amanda Holden, everyone has to be better than her. Admittedly not a hard job. Acting was fine, singing was fine but fine seems the standard for many tours these days. I don't want fine. I want exceptional! Perhaps unrealistic expectations? My sister doesn't see many musicals and liked her, found her quirky and fun but, for me, some of the ensemble girls had such powerful and glorious voices that in the rare occasions we were able to listen to them, I hoped for the same for Fiona.

Steffan as Shrek I really liked although not sure if it was the sound or his diction but I couldn't understand what was being said some of the time. Glorious singing voice though.

Marcus as the donkey was great.

Samuel as Farquad fell a little flat for me in the laughter department. He did a good job but the guy who did the last tour (whose name escapes me) was far more of a natural comedian.

Ensemble. Great.

The puppet scene others have talked about was just bizarre and did not work for me. Later in the show when Fiona and Shrek were comparing how bad their lives were and Fiona talked of her empty room with nothing to do.... Well that would be an empty room apart from all the material to make all your puppets with... Some captor giving their prey piles of material, thread, eyes and needles. It just does not make sense.

All in all an enjoyable afternoon but I hope they keep the standards up with this show and don't dilute it again and again to become a Skrek-a-lot type production.

[BurlyBeaR]

I judge all Fiona’s against Sutton Foster which gives us the opposite problem.

I saw Bronte Barbe at the end of the last tour and she didn’t really pull it off either

[Deleted]

Carley Stenson is probably the only Fiona Ive seen who was able to pull it off, followed in a close 2nd by Faye Brookes.

I enjoyed Amanda Holden, but I think its because I wasnt expecting anything at all from her performance. Kimberley Walsh, I'd rather erase all memories of that performance.

[daniel]

I'd previously seen Carley Stenson, Faye Brookes and Bronté Barbé, all of whom I really enjoyed and all of whom I felt were streets ahead of Laura Main in every department.

Faye was probably my favourite, though as the years pass it gets difficult to remember the finer details of every performance!

[Deleted]

I caught the show in Edinburgh and it seemed like the budget was much, much smaller this time round. From the lack of children in the intro to 'I Know It's Today' being done by the adult Fiona and her puppet friends, it just seemed like they were very child-unfriendly for this production. Even the orchestra was smaller and the ensemble was missing a few characters (e.g. the Ugly Duckling) and scripts more PC and current (e.g. changing the Wolf's line "they called me a tranny mess" and adding some Bake Off joke when they introduced Fiona)

I thought Laura Main was relatively good but she struggled a bit with the higher notes and her acting was a bit hammy for me. Steffan was entertaining but his diction was a bit poor at times and the Scottish accent rather laughable.

[HereForTheatre]

I ended up enjoying this but it dragged at times. Unlike most others it seems, this as my first time seeing the show so have nothing to compare to. I liked Steffan, Laura and Samuel. But didn't really enjoy Marcus as the donkey. I was surprised at how low budget the set seemed honestly.  

I appreciated all the musical theatre references dotted in.

[ensembleswings]

Caught the show in Cardiff yesterday I forgot it would still be half term when I booked for the matinee so my head fell a little when I saw just how many young children there were in the audience, obviously it is a child friendly show and I expected there to be some kids around but I'd say two thirds of the audience around me were under 10. I have to admit they all surprised me, it may well have been the most respectful quiet audiences I've ever been a part of (during the dialogue/songs, there was a lot of cheering/applause after the songs and at the end).
As for the show itself I'm undecided, I enjoyed it but act 1 dragged too much for me, thankfully act 2 was much better. We had a couple of understudies on Michael Carolan was on as Shrek with Kevin Yates as Donkey. Kevin was absolutely brilliant, from what I've heard he's not had many/if any Donkey shows before but you couldn't tell, standout performance from him. Lucinda Shaw as the Dragon, what a voice! 'Forever' was the highlight of act 1 for me.
I've never seen the show live before, I've only ever seen the Broadway DVD but I was left very disappointed by 'I Know It's Today' it's my favourite song on the cast recording and although Laura sang it well I couldn't get past the whole puppet thing.

Still debating taking a trip to Bristol given the fact it'll be a new Fiona and most likely a new Shrek and Donkey.

[Deleted]

Amelia Lily is now appearing as Fiona as of last night.

[katykate]

Saw this with my little boy at the wmc yesterday afternoon after only ever seeing the recorded version on dvd. On the whole we had fun, but it seemed to lack energy at times and felt much cheaper than the version I had previously seen.

Amelia Lily was a pretty good Fiona. Although you could tell she was new to the role. I think she’ll settle in well and had good chemistry with shrek.

The puppet bit was a bit weird and fell a bit flat.

High points: the ensemble were great, the dragon was fantastic and lord farquard brought the comedy (with a few little welsh references which the audience loved).

On the whole, nowhere near the best thing I’ve seen but my 6 year old loved it and we had a fun afternoon.

[critchyboy]

Just in case anyone is interested, Travelzoo have an offer for tickets at Blackpool at the moment.

[TallPaul]

Travelzoo has a good deal on tickets for Woking, just in time for half-term.

[jamb0r]

May 21, 2018 13:26:59 GMT TallPaul said:

Travelzoo has a good deal on tickets for Woking, just in time for half-term.

Thanks for sharing this!

Though the actual click through from Travelzoo to ATG is broken at the moment, I've informed Travelzoo and they're looking into it.

[TallPaul]

May 22, 2018 11:55:41 GMT jamb0r said:

May 21, 2018 13:26:59 GMT TallPaul said:

Travelzoo has a good deal on tickets for Woking, just in time for half-term.

Thanks for sharing this!

Though the actual click through from Travelzoo to ATG is broken at the moment, I've informed Travelzoo and they're looking into it.

It seems there's a 'hack' for anyone who wants to get in first, before the link is fixed.

Just go direct to the New Victoria part of the atgtickets.com site, select a performance date/time and enter TZOO in the top right promotional code box. 

www.atgtickets.com/shows/shrek/new-victoria-theatre/

[itsemily]

Saw this last night at Woking, the audience looked to be pretty full. It's a fun show, definitely not the best show I've ever seen but didn't go in expecting it to be so was not disappointed. I enjoyed Laura Main as Fiona (probably because I'm a huge call the midwife fan) although her accent was a little inconsistent, sometimes Scottish, sometimes English& sometimes American. I thought she sang 'I Know Its Today' well but I was not really a fan of the staging with the puppets, especially when they all started singing on their own,in my opinion if they were not going to have the younger Fiona's during that song, they should have just had her with a book as if she is telling a story to the audience/herself. I sometimes struggled to understand what Shrek was saying in places but apart from that the rest of the cast was very good. Lucinda Shaw was a particular standout to me- what an amazing voice! I loved the dress Red Riding Hood was wearing, I got a little distracted in the first half though by Fiona's dress. On the skirt she had a largish white stain right in the middle of it, it looked a bit like toothpaste, would not like to imagine what else it could be .

I went to stage door afterwards and met Laura Main who was lovely and chatted to us for about 15 minutes, mainly about 'Call The Midwife'.

Overall I enjoyed the show, I don't think it is one I would rush back to see again but I am definitely glad that I went. I had watched the Broadway DVD ages ago but fell asleep about 20 minutes into it and woke up at the end so I don't really remember much of it - I wasn't bored by it I was just very tired. I will have to give it another watch soon I think and try to stay awake this time!

[hannechalk]

I saw Shrek last night at the Bristol Hippodrome, and it is a great family-show. I was surprised, considering it's aimed at children, how long the show was! Many children were getting very restless during act II.

In my humble non-professional opinion, several scenes could be cut short, or be done with altogether. Fiona dancing with the rats doesn't really add to the story.

I also think there are far too many characters on stage for kids to grasp what was what, and who is who.

Loved the staging, customes and sets, but I haven't got any other productions to compare it against.

I didn't go with the expectation to be dazzled and amazed, so I wasn't disappointed. Even the farting- and burping-contest was better choreographed than the whole of Flashdance.

[BurlyBeaR]

Aug 11, 2018 18:34:34 GMT hannechalk said:

In my humble non-professional opinion, several scenes could be cut short, or be done with altogether. Fiona dancing with the rats doesn't really add to the story.

Its the best thing in it!!!!!!!

[hannechalk]

Aug 11, 2018 21:48:23 GMT BurlyBeaR said:

Aug 11, 2018 18:34:34 GMT hannechalk said:

In my humble non-professional opinion, several scenes could be cut short, or be done with altogether. Fiona dancing with the rats doesn't really add to the story.

Its the best thing in it!!!!!!!

It is a good bit, but just a filler, in my opinion, and many kiddies were whinging and restless at this stage.

[Deleted]

Aug 11, 2018 18:34:34 GMT hannechalk said:

I saw Shrek last night at the Bristol Hippodrome, and it is a great family-show. I was surprised, considering it's aimed at children, how long the show was! Many children were getting very restless during act II.

In my humble non-professional opinion, several scenes could be cut short, or be done with altogether. Fiona dancing with the rats doesn't really add to the story.

I also think there are far too many characters on stage for kids to grasp what was what, and who is who.

Loved the staging, customes and sets, but I haven't got any other productions to compare it against.

I didn't go with the expectation to be dazzled and amazed, so I wasn't disappointed. Even the farting- and burping-contest was better choreographed than the whole of Flashdance.

4 principal characters are too many? The fairytale characters are only glorified ensemble.

[hannechalk]

[/quote]4 principal characters are too many? The fairytale characters are only glorified ensemble.[/quote]


I'm just speaking from my own experience, young children sat near me were asking for clarification from their parents a lot if more than the maim characters were on stage speaking. Older children could follow it, younger children were getting very restless.

[BurlyBeaR]

Haven’t these kids seem the original film though? I assume it’s the same storyline (I never saw it myself). Paying those prices to take them to see something they have no idea that they’ll like seems like a high risk strategy.

[Deleted]

Aug 12, 2018 12:15:45 GMT BurlyBeaR said:

Haven’t these kids seem the original film though? I assume it’s the same storyline (I never saw it myself). Paying those prices to take them to see something they have no idea that they’ll like seems like a high risk strategy.

It is the same storyline as the original movie, it’s just longer and padded out with the musical numbers added.

[BurlyBeaR]

Oh well with a bit of luck the little buggers will never want to go again. Anything that keeps kids out of theatres is ok by me 👍😆