Big Bright Beautiful Shrek!
Shrek The Musical had it’s Borders Premiere last night, in a bold and exciting production staged by Innerleithen & District Amateur Operatic Society. I have written before about my involvement with the society and my love of the work it does, and it was with great excitement that I watched the Opening Night. I was very impressed with what I saw and wanted to share my own review of the show to act as my own heartfelt thank you to those who staged this but also, frankly and without a scintilla of shame, to help sell tickets. There are still some available for Tuesday and Wednesday before it gets into the realms of small pockets or individual seats for the final four shows. I think this is a show that deserves to sell every seat, and here is why...
The story will be familiar if you have seen the 2001 Oscar winning film and the show follows a similar plot, with the added beauty that only musical theatre can bring – emotional depth through songs. Yes, the original film soundtrack is great with pop bangers by The Proclaimers and Smash Mouth among others but the songs here really get you under the skin of the characters – Shrek’s big heart, Fiona’s loneliness, Lord Farquaad’s major daddy issues. Couple this with fart gags and you’ve got a heady mix. The initial film was a huge box office hit and spawned three sequels before moving to Broadway and now it’s journey has taken it to Innerleithen!
To summarise the plot, the events take place in a mythical once upon a time world where Shrek, a lonely Ogre, is displaced from his swamp home when the evil Lord Farquaad sends all the fairy tale creatures there to live so that he can have his perfect kingdom with no freaks and a terrified population conforming to his reign of terror. A quest therefore ensues, initially by Shrek to get his swamp back but soon to rescue Princess Fiona from her dragon guarded tower so she can marry the diminutive Farquaad and legitimise his claim to the throne of Duloc. Accompanied by a talking donkey its safe to say hijinks ensue. Starring as Shrek is David Paterson, 10 years on from his first appearance in Innerleithen Opera. David has a fantastic singing voice, which is well showcased here, and he brings real emotion to the role to carry the show – not easy under a load of prosthetics, padding and makeup. The makeup throughout the show is first class, hats off to Adrianne Robb (Dad Bobby would be proud) and her team. Such is the demand on makeup this year that none of the team will get to see the show so well done to them for their dedication. A special word on David’s accent - really well done, he’s flattened the Hawick vowels out to give a convincing ‘Holywood Scottish’ accent on stage - that must be harder than he makes it look! No hero is complete without a sidekick and Dougie Russell fills the role of Donkey with his customary comic skill and timing, plus an impressive physicality for a grandpa. Like all the main characters there is a vulnerability behind the humour and Dougie shows the impressive acting chops he has brought to roles as deep as Tevye and Fagin to convey Donkey’s marginalised place in this whacky world. It’s a lovely, subtle touch among the comedy. The antagonist of the show is Colin Tweedie as Lord Farquaad, another physically impressive performance which will make anyone with bad knees wince. Hammy, over the top, villainous perfection by Colin; by the weekend I expect the diminutive Lord will need to be scraped from the ceiling such is the high camp on display here. Needs to be seen to be believed. Rounding out the principal roles is Nicola Watt as Princess Fiona. Nicola will probably hate me saying that’s its 24 years since her first leading role in Innerleithen Opera but there it is – and she’s still getting better. Certainly, the funniest role I have seen her in, with an opportunity to show off her fantastic voice and diction so clear you could hear her from the other end of the High Street. A wonderful performance and another layer to an ‘Opera’ career that few can ever have matched.
The fairy tale creatures make a colourful scene with show cases for Pinnochio (Stuart Johnson) and Gingy (Neve Scott), both in their first year in the society. If there were any nerves then you couldn’t tell. Not a lot of shows allow such depth of characterisation, so it was great to see so many of the fairy tale creatures getting solo singing lines in these big Chorus numbers, special shout out to The Wicked Witch given she was so memorable, and is my wife (there’s no neutrality here…) Both chorus numbers for the fairy tale creatures are a riot of colour, enhanced by a highly professional lighting set up and creative staging, all under the stewardship of Stage Manager/Mad Professor Mark Phelan and his team. The creativity stretches to an impressive dragon, something I never thought I’d seen on an Innerleithen stage. The dragon is voiced, and how, by Aimee Gilhooley – delivering a belter of a song, where Donkey finds an unlikely new love interest.
Kids always add something unique to a show and there are a small handful of youngsters in this show who all play a memorable part. Matthew Edwards was seen at school this morning looking decidedly green – not through illness but the residue of his ‘Young Shrek’ makeup. And a special mention to Sadie and Heather playing younger versions of Fiona – ‘I Know It’s Today’ is one of the musical highlights of the show. Well done Jennie Campbell for the 10 piece orchestra, but also the work she has clearly put in with the singers. The harmonising of the three Fiona’s, the excellent Three Blind Mice/Little Pigs (Erin Thompson, Katy Lockett and Anne McKinnon) and the three leads on ‘Who I’d Be’ were all stand outs for me.
One more note on the cast – I have picked out a few leading roles, but the Company this year felt very vibrant, a real mix of experience and a huge number of newcomers, well done to them all for working hard to perform a show worthy of bringing The Opera back. From ‘the front’ it looks a great, happy Company which is what it’s all about.
The Society has a new Choreographer this year, Mo Anderson, and she’s got the cast moving well, I particularly enjoyed the Duloc dance scene and commend Mo for rising to the challenge of getting great movement out of a cast working on a stage which resembles a shoe box for size!
Congratulations are also due to the myriad number of people behind the scenes, led by Pam Graham as President. This is a huge undertaking in people’s spare time and at times its stressful – but look at the results.
Final word has to go to Mr Producer himself, Brian McGlasson. Almost 30 years in this role and he is still finding new ways to stage Productions which, frankly, have absolutely no business on a wee stage like Innerleithen’s Memorial Hall. Like Farquaad, he must have perfection and I suspect if he were to pen a review of last nights Production it wouldn’t be as gushing as this, but that’s Brian. He doesn’t settle for anything lest than the best. He should be very proud of this show and I hope he enjoys his week.
Ticket hotline – 01896 404 908
Online – www.idaos.org.uk
