Have you ever wondered: “how bad actually is Shrek: The musical?” If you’ve watched the performance as I have, then you’d know how bad it actually is, and how different it is from the source, Shrek (2001). The animated film, Shrek, is about an ogre who goes on an adventure with a talking donkey and has to save a princess from a castle in order to remove the fairytale creatures from his swamp. This premise may seem bizarre, but it sold well, racking up 3 sequel films and even a musical. Shrek: the musical (2008) was a musical play based off of the original film, enacted 7 years later. Most people don’t speak of this musical for how much of a joke it was. The internet tore it apart for being so laughable. But how bad of a performance was it actually, and how well did it stay true to the source? I’m going to torture myself today to observe two of the same scenes from play and film and see how well the Shrek: the Musical stands up to its source film: Shrek.

The scene which I’m going to compare between each medium will be the scene in which Shrek interrupts the wedding between Fiona and Lord Farquaad. First we will observe the scene from the movie and then go onto the musical afterward to compare. The movie has Mike Myers as Shrek, Eddie Murphy as Donkey, Cameron Diaz as Fiona, and John Lithgow as Farquaad, directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, and produced by Dreamworks, not Disney.
The scene starts with Shrek and Donkey arriving outside the church, discussing whether or not Fiona and Farquaad have said “I do” yet. Shrek then continues to throw donkey up to look into the window to see whether or not they have, having the camera cut from inside the cathedral, to a camera angle looking down on Shrek, to a side angle showing the window and donkey being thrown into the air. Then after realizing that they had said the line “I do”, Shrek bursts into the cathedral yelling “I object!”,  with a view looking back at him from the front, before Fiona and Farquaad are about to kiss, then switching to an angle facing a disgruntled Farquaad and a relieved Fiona. Then the camera follows Shrek as he runs down the aisle, frightening all the attendants, then a quick above shot showing them all standing up, then another close-up. This scene has some power as the music combined with the lines can show the emotion in Shrek (1:16:40).
This part of the scene continues as it switches between the characters talking, then  shows a joke where Farquaad makes the audience laugh at Shrek. Fiona looks at the window, showing the sunset, as she begins reciting her curse as she walks to the window and transforms into an ogre, showing Shrek being surprised and sounds of displeasure from Dulok. After that, we have shots from left, to right, then above, as Farquaad has guards seize the two ogres.They fight the guards to try to get to each-other, before Farquaad puts a dagger to Fiona. Shrek then frees his arm and whistles, as we get a show of the dragon flying through the upper window, then a shot looking down upon Farquaad, as he gets eaten by the dragon, with Donkey riding on top of it. The guards back away releasing Shrek and Fiona, as the audience claps and the two ogres tell each-other their feelings, as they kiss and sparkles appear around Fiona, as she floats up and begins glowing, and the camera rotates up her, then around the cathedral, as she then floats back down, landing gently on the ground, as Shrek picks her up it’s revealed that her curse has been lifted and she will now be an ogre forever. The scene ends on Shrek covering up the camera with his hand and the scene transitioning to the swamp where they have a “proper” wedding (1:21:30).
This scene has power with the music and the way the shots move to convey emotion and establish plot. This is a very important scene as it rounds off the movie, coming to the climax of the story, ending on a high note before changing scenes and enacting a musical number followed by credits. Now after going over the scene from the movie, we’re going to go over the play, where they can’t have angles like a movie, so we’re going to see how they try to replicate that scene in play form and see how well they do it. The play stars Brian d'Arcy James as Shrek, Sutton Foster as Princess Fiona, Christopher Sieber as Lord Farquaad, and Chester Gregory II as Donkey.
This scene starts with the curtain opening to the inside of the cathedral and a chorus walking on stage with the priest up on a pedestal and Fiona and Farquaad walking into the scene to stand in front of him. The ceremony then begins with the priest yelling his lines and Fiona looking disgusted. Fiona then asks the priest to skip to the “I do’s” and Farquaad agreeing with her. They say their “I do’s”, with Fiona seeming a bit impatient, followed by Shrek running up onto the stage abruptly and calling out Farquaad for what his true plan is. The actor for Farquaad over-plays his performance and everyone starts to laugh at Shrek falling in love with Fiona. Farquaad then orders Shrek to be taken away but Fiona stops them by telling them to let Shrek say what he wants to say, along with saying “it might be worth a laugh” and Farquaad agreeing with her.
This part has been changed quite a bit to make way for what follows: as the guards step into the background and Shrek stepping up and beginning a musical number: “Big Bright Beautiful World (Reprise)”. After it ends, Farquaad Boo’s Shrek and asks Fiona if she is ready to resume the wedding before she looks at Shrek and says “I can’t” and starts to run off stage and Farquaad commanding his guards to get Shrek. Before they can get Shrek and before Fiona runs off stage, all the fairy-tale creatures run on stage and start a ruckus. Farquaad calls them freaks before his father comes on stage and embarrases him in front of his kingdom. As they argue, Fiona begins her transformation, with lights flashing behind her, covering her front in shadows, then fading to black. She then yells “Stop the wedding!” and turns around to reveal herself. The rest continues mostly like the movie, with Farquaad ordering the guards on the two ogres, except none actually grab them, him putting on the crown, followed by him being eaten by the dragon, which appears from behind him as the wall opens up. Fiona’s curse lifts and then they begin a musical number to round off the scene.
This play would be great if it weren’t for the acting and costume design, it does stay mostly true to the original movie while still changing it up to make it work as a musical. The main changes were at the beginning, the part where the fairy-tale creatures run in, and the parts mainly around the musical numbers so they can make them fit into the story. The part where Farquaad’s father explains how much of a disappointment he is really adds quite a bit of character to the antagonist, and rounds off the ending better. Over-all, it was a mediocre (or should I say medi-ogre) play adaptation and could’ve been done better, but for what it is, it did a good job at staying true to the overall story of the “an ogre who goes on an adventure with a talking donkey and has to save a princess from a castle in order to remove the fairytale creatures from his swamp.” The 7-year late play of the 2001 film didn’t entirely get lost in adaptation and would say it did a good job at staying true to the original story-line. Though it didn’t have good acting, and added quite a bit of extra content on top of the original, I’m sure that if you got rid of that, you would have the original story in tact under all the swamp-slime of David Lindsay-Abaire (playwright).

Citations
“Shrek The Musical Finale.” YouTube, YouTube, 6 July 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtR1U9Y6wXE.
As well as the films from Netflix, and google results.