Good morning 🐣

Tomorrow’s the last day of this nonsense, I promise.

But I just have to tell you about “Shrek The Musical” (streaming on Netflix), an actual live musical that lasted on Broadway for a little over a year in 2009. It was even nominated for several Tony Awards, winning Best Costume Design!

It starts off rough, depicting a young Shrek being kicked out of the swamp hut by his parents and given advice on how to survive in the great, big ugly world. It seems like something we really didn’t need to see. But over time we realize that it’s a prelude to the whole point of this production: really acknowledging what some of these characters have gone through.

It especially puts more focus on the hell Fiona went through living over two decades alone trapped in a tower. They tell her backstory in a cool way, starting with a young actress singing about her life, then walking back behind the castle turret and coming out the other side as a slightly older actor, then transitioning again to the final twenty-something character.

The musical also gives the other fairy-tale creatures more agency, taking their fates into their own hands at the final wedding scene and confronting Lord Farquaad themselves.

But I probably wasn’t sold on this show until about halfway in, when there’s a whole musical number with the Pied Piper and tap shoes made to look like rats, the dancers hidden behind a curtain. Where was this energy before? And there are a ton of other fun special effects:

• Pinocchio’s nose actually grows;

• the Farquaad actor walks around on his knees with tiny fake legs dangling in front of him; and

• a life-size dragon puppet speaks through a chorus while the skeletons of her past victims dance around.

It’s not perfect — it’s probably for Shrek completists only — but it’s fun and you can tell a lot of thought and care went into it.

See you tomorrow! 💚