They always dreamed they’d get a happy ending! And this right here— actually, contrary to the lyrics in that “Story of My Life” number from Shrek the musical, is a super-fantastic ‘happy ending’ for Stand Up For…Theatre, the theatrical arm of Erase Hate Through Art/How Do You Like Me Now Productions. Wasn’t everyone just hoping to survive this crazy two-year running pandemic, and maybe not just survive but come out the other side thriving? Stand Up For…Theatre has managed to do just that! They’ve survived and now they’re thriving in their newest home at Columbia’s very own DoodleHATCH. (An immersive, interactive creative arts— incubator for lack of a more whimsical word.) And they don’t ease back into things, the company has decided to tackle the big, scary ogre of a musical— Shrek as their first show back from the pandemic; all things considered they’re doing pretty great. Directed by Ed Higgins with Musical Direction by Catina McLagan, Vocal Coaching by Andy Kay Wojciehowski, and Choreography by Mea Holloway & Jillian Paige, this fairytale farce of fun and fancy free is just the joyous evening you need to spark your summer seasonal spirits.
There’s a lot of magic happening with true community spirit and team effort behind it— everything from Director Ed Higgins’ vision for the set (constructed by Jordan Hollett, painted by Amy Rudai, and brought to life by a fabulous run-crew consisting of James Drive, Noah Allen, and Noah Figueiredo, spearheaded by Stage Manager Kathy McCrory)— to the lighting design (Andrew Vida, which features some clever magical SFX for more transformative moments and some very impressive video-projection magic for the storybook beginning)— and the way the whole thing comes together; painted storybook backdrops, multi-tiered leveling on the play-surface of stage; it’s just a magical atmosphere inside the most chimerical of spaces.
True magic and wonder— like something you might only find inside a fairytale— is coming straight out of the costume design work by Lee Anderson (creative-mother and founder of DoodleHATCH). With assistance from Jenifer Hollett and Grant Myers (and the odd Stage Garb Inc. rental) Anderson’s work is a marriage of whimsy and texture, fantastical reality and storybook couture that just screams Shrek in a most innovative way. Anderson’s pièce de résistance for this production are the Fiona dresses (seen in repeating triplicate on Young Fiona, Teen Fiona and Fiona herself.) Everyone recognizes the iconic Fiona dress, with the bright emerald-forest green hues, a bit of trim around the waist (to hide the pull-away tap-dancing skirt for the ‘rat-tap’ sequence at the top of the second act) and the gold accents notes. Anderson has taken this vision to the next level, adding vivacious, saturated shades of avocado, palm, and lime, adding textures with gold underlay and a totally magical underside for that aforementioned reveal during the tap-routine. Other Anderson miracles include the very life-like dwarf costume for Grumpy, the uniquely swamp-tastic togs seen on the titular character, and a whole host of other impressive outfits that create a visual masterpiece for these fairytale characters.
Choreographers Mea Holloway and Jillian Paige keep it simple. The stage isn’t overly large (or overly small; it’s just right!) but there are quite a few fairytale creatures packed onto it. So for numbers like “Story of My Life” and “Freak Flag” the movements are basic but clean and executed in unison. There are some more creative dance moves in play for “What’s Up, Duloc?” and the sassy tap-routine featuring the exquisite Rat Tappers (Andy Kay Wojciehowski, Melody Blahut, Johnny Drew) and led by Princess Fiona herself.(Choreographer Jillian Paige.) There’s also a great bit of movement (and hysterical costuming) coming out of “Forever”, which is Dragon’s big musical breakout. Only the movement that’s drawing all the attention here comes from the Skeleton Knight Brigade (Nikolai Skwarczek, John Imajori, Johnathan Halberstam, Mauryce Brumfield.)
Being in an open space with limitless possibilities, Musical Director Catina McLagan has brought a well-articulated live orchestra with her to set the tone, the mood, and the overall impressive sound of this musical. (Featuring McLagan on keys, Will Zellhofer on keys, Mari Hill on reeds, Allyson Wesley on trumpet, Jamie Williams on guitar, Yoshi Horiguchi & Frank Higgins on brass, and Arielle Miller on drums/percussion.) The music arising from the orchestra is lively, professional-sounding, and clean. Above all McLagan runs a tight ship, with her musicians catching performers who occasionally get ahead of or behind the beat in a natural way that brings everything back into sync before it becomes a problem. McLagan utilizes some clever placement of vamped-interstitials which create excellent coverage for scenic shifts; this is particularly noticeable during ‘the bridge’ scene change with a shoutout to Mari Hill and her crystal-clear clarinet solo here.
Vocal Coach Andy Kay Wojciehowski has provided some useful insights to how to carefully craft character voices for Shrek. Particularly in Post-Pandemic times, when our casts aren’t as full as they were in the BT (before-times) and often per the libretto (definitely the case with Shrek) you get one actor playing multiple parts, needing multiple different voices. Perfect examples of this are the clearly distinguished voices of Pinocchio and the three or four other characters that the actor ends up playing when not guised with a wooden nose and feathered cap. The same is said for the Sugar Plum Fairy/Gingy performer and several others throughout the performance. Wojciehowski encourages silly but articulate vocal affectations to bring these characters to life.
The zany ensemble of fairytale characters (Ed Higgins, Johnny Drew, Mike Zellhofer, Mauryce Brumfield, Chloe Scully, Melody Blahut, Mary Flores, Andy Kay Wojciehowski, Jonathan Halberstam, Melani Guitzkow, John Imahori, Nikolai Skwarczek, Jenifer Hollett) come together to add strong, energetic sounds to big group numbers like “Freak Flag” and “Story of My Life.” Standout performers in this bunch include the hysterical Nikolai Skwarczek as Pinocchio and others. Between the sassy and flamboyant attitude Skwarczek presents when playing one of the Duloc guards and the delightfully affected voice as Pinocchio; these are not performances one will likely forget. Mauryce Brumfield is another individual whose ensemble performance is noteworthy. Though Brumfield may start off as ‘just an egg’ (playing Humpty-Dumpty in a hilariously smooth, rounded, dinner-plate-style cage-costume) the varying appearances made by this actor are eggscellent. (See what I did there?) Brumfield has an incredible singing voice too, which is featured during “Freak Flag” with a stellar, soulful solo that is not to be missed. And let’s not forget Melody Blahut, who in addition to being the sparkly red sugar plum fairy, is also the voice and puppet-master for Gingy, the incendiary spark behind “Freak Flag.” Blahut, like vocal coach Wojciehowski, doubles, triples, and quadruples up as the two aforementioned roles as well as one of the three-blind mice (providing hysterical but beautifully harmonized backup vocals for donkey during “Make a Move”) and as ‘Rat Tapper’ during the dance break for “Morning Person.”
As Young Fiona (Mary Flores— who also plays Baby Bear at some performances), the job of being locked away in a tower can be a tiresome one! Just ask Teen Fiona (Melody Blahut, you know the one who has five other roles in this show?). When the two younger Fiona-actresses come together with Fiona (Jillian Paige) for their three-part harmony during “I Know It’s Today” it’s something really magical. You can feel their frustrations as well as their eager hopefulness that someday the rescue they’ve read about in those fairytale books is really coming for them.
If you’ve ever seen Shrek you might be expecting a larger-than-life puppeteering endeavor when it comes to the character of Dragon. Stand Up For…Theatre takes the road less traveled (…sing a song, hit the trail…forget the maps, forget the guides…) when it comes to creating Dragon. Embodied and vocalized by Jenifer Hollett, Dragon is a shimmering pink entity on stage, which compliments of Lee Anderson’s brilliant costuming, looks super whimsical and enchanting. There are wings and a tale, with a glorious mask, but its all on one person rather than a puppet. Hollet moves with such intention and puts a great boisterous vocal sound behind “Forever” so much so that you could never doubt she is the Dragon. (no puppet necessary.) Doubling up as the snarky wicked witch and one of the three blind mice, you can catch Hollet in a myriad of extravagant costumes all throughout the performance.
He will have perfection! He will have conformity! He will be the best thing on knees since Chris Sieber! Gage Wright as the nefarious and no-good Lord Farquaad is a proper thrillifying scream in this quirky, cuckoo-villain role. With a true mastery of how to scoot around (it’s such a delicate optical illusion and it can so easily be destroyed but Wright really understands how to walk, mince, shuffle, step, hop, and even dance, in a way that keeps the illusion alive, which is no easy feat!) as the diminutive wannabe king, Wright has a stellar vocal affectation that’s a hybrid between what John Lithgow did in the original animated film, Chris Sieber did in the original Broadway cast recording, and his own unique thing, which just makes certain moments really pop. With the ever-present plastic-grin of a villain posing as nice, Wright gets his vocal-A-game on the boards for “What’s Up, Duloc?” and “The Ballad of Farquaad” (during which there are some hysterical picture-cards flashed for maximum comedic impact!) Watch him during the confession scene at the wedding; his little scene-stealing antics over the crown with the Bishop (guest-appearance by Grant Myers) are to die for!
She’s always been a morning person, a morning girl, hooray. That’s Princess Fiona (Jillian Paige) Taking the vocal lead in the trio “I Know It’s Today”, Paige produces a hearty princess-like sound that really carries the emotional intent of this number. You hear this sound again during “Who I’d Be” which is a song led by Shrek and joined by Fiona and Donkey. The sass and sarcasm that accompany Paige’s performance are impressive, and the way she just gets down and boogies on with Shrek, particularly in the back-half of “I Think I Got You Beat” is just hilarious. Her dancing skills are up to snuff, watch Paige lead the Tap-Rats during the Pied-Piper dance break of “Morning Person” (which is another moment where you get a great sampling of Paige’s belting capabilities.) Her articulation for the pattered sections of “This is How a Dream Comes True” is as impressive as her ability to sing in tune.
Shrek (Kristen Cooley) and Donkey (Bryan Brown)— like that whole song says— they are a match made in paradise, like every half of a two-thinged team you could hope for. Brown has the patois and cadence of Donkey down to a fine science and has impeccable comic timing, particularly when it comes to zippy one-liners. Cooley masters that thick Scottish accent that everyone who has ever heard Shrek (film or TV or stage) expects and the delivery of particularly iconic lines as well. The facial expressions on both Cooley and Brown are killer; they slay with exasperation and comedy as well as surprise and sincerity when the moments are appropriate. The dichotomy of playing a shorter Shrek against an extremely tall Donkey makes for added humor throughout the entirety of the performance. When they pair up for “Travel Song” (a strangely written duet but this pair really rock it) you get a great sense for their vocal harmonizing skills.
Brown, as Donkey, really gets to shine in the spotlight when rolling through “Don’t Let Me Go” and later with all the hilarious soul and smooth jazz-style infusions with his performance of “Make a Move.” As the titular character, Cooley has a few more solo feature numbers, all of which radiantly showcase her vocal capabilities. It’s the emotional depth that bursts through for both “Who I’d Be” and “Build A Wall” (both numbers are so strongly charged with emotional gravity— the former being dashed hopes and dreams with the later being pure hurt and fury) that really put Cooley’s talents on display. There’s even a cute and awkward emotional insecurity that we get to hear during “When Words Fail” too. Brown and Cooley are a knockout team that really get this show on the road, and when you add Paige’s Fiona into the mix, you’ve got a solid team of leading players, an enthusiastic ensemble, some striking visuals and a whole bunch of joy waiting to happen.
So you let your Freak Flag wave! You let it fly! And you never take it down; the people at Stand Up For…Theatre will teach you that 100% with their production of Shrek.
Running Time: Approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes with one intermission
Shrek plays through June 12, 2022 with Stand Up For…Theatre in their new home at DoodleHATCH— 8775 Cloudleap Court in Columbia, MD. Tickets are available for purchase at the door or in advance online.
