History Shrek The Musical

1 history

1.1 development
1.2 seattle premiere (2008)
1.3 broadway production (2008–10)
1.4 national tours
1.5 west end production (2011–13)
1.6 uk , ireland tours
1.7 international productions

history
development

lindsay-abaire , jason moore (director) began working on show in 2002, tesori joining team 2004. reading took place on august 10, 2007, stephen kramer glickman in role of shrek, celia keenan-bolger princess fiona, robert l. daye, jr. donkey , christopher sieber lord farquaad.

seattle premiere (2008)

the musical premiered in out-of-town tryout @ 5th avenue theatre in seattle. previews began august 14, 2008, opening night of september 10. tryout ran through september 21, , played favorable reviews, being cited 1 of few movie-to-stage adaptations heart . principal cast included brian d arcy james shrek, sutton foster princess fiona, christopher sieber lord farquaad, chester gregory ii donkey, john tartaglia pinocchio , kecia lewis-evans dragon.

during previews, used replaced don t let me go, , let in became make move . during previews, brief reprise of d sung after shrek overhears fiona s misleading comment being hideous beast, led build wall . cut , build wall placed after morning person (reprise) . build wall later cut during previews, re-instated towards end of run.

broadway production (2008–10)

after extensive changes made, show began previews on broadway @ broadway theatre on november 8, 2008, official opening on december 14. cast included brian d arcy james shrek, sutton foster fiona, christopher sieber farquaad , tartaglia pinocchio. daniel breaker took on role of donkey, creative team thought chester gregory ii did not fit part. dragon voiced company members haven burton, aymee garcia , rachel stern, instead of soloist. kecia lewis-evans, played dragon in seattle, offered part in show s ensemble declined. ben crawford standby shrek, until replaced d arcy james final months of performances.

the song m believer , played audience left theatre, added score on october 2, 2009, , sung entire company @ end of performance.

the broadway production of show received total of twelve drama desk award , 8 tony award nominations, including best musical , acting awards d arcy james, foster , sieber. @ tony awards, entire cast performed section of freak flag opening number medley; later on, d arcy james, foster , breaker introduced sieber , company, performed s duloc? .

the broadway production closed on january 3, 2010, after 441 performances , 37 previews. @ time, 1 of expensive musicals open on broadway, @ estimated $25 million, , despite reviews, failed recoup initial investment. show extremely modified national tour.

us national tours

a national tour of north america began previews @ cadillac palace theatre in chicago, on july 13, 2010, opening night on july 25. rob ashford co-director, broadway creative team revised changes. production marked debut of all-new dragon, voiced off-stage single vocalist, 4 puppeteers controlling movements of new 25-foot puppet.. on subject, set designer tim hatley stated biggest change [will be] dragon. different creature puppet/soul trio on broadway [but] think ve gotten right . tour features new opening, new songs , improved illusions, on broadway.

many changes made tour include new song sung dragon entitled forever , replacing donkey pot pie .

the original touring cast featured eric petersen shrek, haven burton princess fiona, alan mingo, jr. donkey, , david f.m. vaughn lord farquaad. carrie compere played dragon, blakely slaybaugh pinocchio. todd buonopane cast in role of lord farquaad, replaced vaughn before opening.

tour played final performance @ pantages theatre in los angeles on july 31, 2011, ahead of non-equity tour in september.

a second tour of north america, featuring non-equity cast, launched september 9, 2011, @ capitol theatre in yakima, washington. merritt david janes appeared lord farquaad. tour officially opened in portland, oregon on september 13, 2011. tour ran in u.s. through april 29, 2012, final show in springfield, missouri, before playing asia.

the second non-equity tour began october 5, 2012, in anchorage, alaska, ending on april 7, 2013, in reno, nevada.

west end production (2011–13)

a newly revised scaled down version, began performances in west end @ theatre royal drury lane, on may 6, 2011. nigel lindsay headlined shrek, richard blackwood donkey, nigel harman lord farquaad , amanda holden princess fiona. landi oshinowo plays dragon, jonathan stewart pinocchio. official opening night took place on june 14, 2011. critics positive production, , in particular praised harman s performance, branding him hysterically funny .

the show nominated total of 4 awards @ 2012 laurence olivier awards, including best new musical, best actor lindsay , supporting actor harman, best costume design tim hatley. harman won award best performance in supporting role in musical performance lord farquaad. ensemble cast performed freak flag @ awards.

kimberley walsh, of uk pop group girls aloud, took on role of princess fiona october 5, 2011, after holden announced pregnancy. dean chisnall , neil mcdermott took on lindsay , harman shrek , lord farquaad respectively on february 29, 2012. carley stenson later took on princess fiona may 23, 2012.

the london production of show came end after 715 performances, on february 24, 2013. producers announced plans tour shrek across uk in 2014.

uk , ireland tours

the first uk , ireland tour began @ grand theatre in leeds, england on july 23, 2014, before touring across uk , ireland. dean chisnall repeats west end performance shrek, under direction of nigel harman, originated role of lord farquaad in west end. full company announcement made in february 2014, chisnall joined legally blonde star faye brookes princess fiona, gerard carey lord farquaad, idriss kargbo donkey, candace furbert dragon , haswell pinocchio. cast change tour took place july 8, 2015, ensemble member bronté barbé taking on role of princess fiona brookes. tour concluded @ lowry, salford on february 20, 2016.

a second uk , ireland tour commence @ edinburgh playhouse 12 december 2017. nigel harman once again direct tour. tour scheduled run until @ least january 2019. full cast announced in november 2017 x factor star amelia lily , call midwife actress laura main share role of princess fiona, alongside samuel holmes lord farquaad, stefan harri shrek , marcus ayton donkey

international productions

shrek made available independent , overseas theatres. have chosen stage own versions of show same music, book , lyrics intact , own designs sets, costuming , other creative elements. productions have been staged in asia, poland, spain, france, italy, germany, netherlands, mexico, brazil, philippines, estonia, finland, israel, sweden, panama, denmark, canada, puerto rico, argentina , norway.