‘Shrek The Musical’ @ Outcry Theatre
Photos by Jason Johnson-Spinos
—Hannah Kneen
Based on the book by William Steig and the DreamWorks animated film we all know and love, Shrek the Musical is at the Addison Performing Arts Centre this summer. Produced by Outcry Theatre, whose mission involves “drawing youth and young adults from Plano and the surrounding areas to the theatre as both audience and participants,” this show is lively fun for the whole family. To catch, it, though, you’ll need to get quick tickets to the final day’s performances at 2:00 and 6:30, Sunday June 21.
Hopefully, we all know the story of the ogre Shrek (Brady Beckley at my performance, who alternates in the role with Dylan Cantu). His much-loved swamps has been overrun by fairy-tale “misfits” who have been evicted from the kingdom of Duloc by the short-tempered Lord Farquaad (I saw Liam Paynter, who alternates with Cameron Brown). Shrek first sets off to get his swamp back, plain and simple. But instead, the evil and crafty Lord F sends him to retrieve a princess from a tower. Shrek gets more than he bargains for when he meets the feisty princess Fiona (Karsten Schaffhauser at my showing, who alternates with Brennan Barnes), a young lady who has a secret of her own.
The plot stays pretty close to that of the film, though there are one or two slight differences. (The very good book/script of the show is by playwright David Lindsay-Abaire.) For example, if you ever wanted to know more about Farquaad’s backstory, this show will give it to you, complete with snazzy musical numbers (music by Jeanine Tesori) and back-up dancers. Other than that, you can still enjoy the fun of watching the ogre and the princess fall in love through unusual campfire snacks and contests of flatulence.
Of course, their first real point of connection is a whose-childhood-was-worse competition (set to music, naturally) which is helped by the fact that they have their childhood selves around to help make their points.
With a huge cast and the ambitious task of performing an animated story as a stage production, Shrek the Musical can be a tough show to pull off. But Outcry Theare has managed it with a lot of spirit and relatively few technical issues. I was told there was a bit of trouble with lighting in the first act, but frankly, I hardly noticed (things were sorted out quickly), and the balance of microphones and sound-mixing had some minor issues. But with a cast and creative team that large, it would be a very difficult thing to get it all perfect.
Overall, this is a solid production with the noteworthy distinction of having a cast with ages ranging from nine years old to performers in their seventies. The director/choreographer, Becca Johnson-Spinos, manages the big cast splendidly. Everyone gets their moments to shine and the stage never feels overcrowded. People aren’t bumping into each other nor does the space feel underutilized. And some of the dance numbers are great fun: the tap dancing rats, the skeletons in the Dragon’s lair, and the Duloc welcoming committee performance standing out in particular.
Fiona (Schaffhauser) and Shrek (Beckley) both gave strong performances. My personal favorite was Donkey (Lee Mulupi), with the Dragon (Amelia Racca at my showing, who alternates with Micah Graham) hot on his heels (get it?). Mulupi’s humor was spot-on and always made me smile, and Racca’s voice and stage presence were spectacular.
I want to give additional kudos to costume designers Kathy Wright and Kristin Bell for those two designs, though really the costumes all across the board were pretty colorful and fun. Also of note, there also was a magnificent Dragon puppet that followed the actress through her musical number, looking remarkably similar to the animated version.
But that wasn’t the only clever bit with regards to the set and props. It would be rather difficult for the actor playing Fiona to be painted green and then unpainted green for every transformation. So when Fiona’s nighttime predicament is discovered by Donkey, the tech gets creative. With a painted scrim that’s backlit with green lights for Fiona and neutral colors for Donkey, the result is a very effective temporary transformation.
The other particularly fun tech element is Farquaad’s clever costume, which allows us to see his… shortcomings. The actor (Brown or Paynter) spends most of the show on his knees with tiny little fake legs attached to the front of his costume to achieve the appropriate height for the character. And choreographer and director Becca Johnson-Spinos takes appropriate measures to make this into a joke whenever possible.
The morals of this story center around the ideas that anyone can be a hero and anyone can find love. Plus, it’s always a good thing to let your “freak flag” fly—and this show doesn’t let you forget it. Full of sunflowers, characters as layered as onions, and fairy tale whimsy turned on its head, this irreverent story never fails to delight audiences of all ages.
WHEN: June 18-21, 2026
WHERE: The Addison Performing Arts Centre Main Stage
WEB: https://www.outcrytheatre.com/
