DELPHOS — Students at Delphos St. John’s will be performing, “Shrek the Musical,” an adaptation of the popular children’s movie.
The scheduled performances will be at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday; Thursday and Friday at St. John’s High School, 515 E. Second St., Delphos. For tickets, call 419-692-5371. Ticket prices are $10 for adults, $8 for students, and $5 for pre-K and younger.
It is the story of a green ogre who, having been treated badly by others, moves to a swamp and lives a simple life as a recluse. When Lord Farquaad decides he wants to be king, he resettles a number of fairy tale characters to the swamp, disturbing Shrek’s quiet existence. Shrek goes to the castle to negotiate with Lord Farquaad.
In exchange for his land back, Farquaad asks Shrek to rescue Princess Fiona who is being held captive in another land and return her to Lord Farquaad so he can marry her. Shrek agrees, and along the way meets a talking donkey and discovers there is more to love about the princess than he ever imagined.
“This year’s cast of Shrek is incredibly talented, and there are some seasoned performers, particularly our senior leads,” said Susie Slawinski, vocal music teacher at Delphos St. John’s and the director, musical director and choreographer of “Shrek the Musical.”
The performance will be divided into two acts with a total of 14 scenes. Musical solos sung by Shrek, played by the male lead, senior Marcus Freewalt, include songs like “When Words Fail” and “Build me a Wall.”
“My awesome costumes consist of a fat suit, a prosthetic head, and a whole lot of green face paint,” Freewalt said.
Freewalt, who employs method acting, said, “To get in character and perform, I put myself in Shrek’s shoes and think about what he would say and how he would react to what’s happening around him.”
Solos “Morning Person” and “This is How a Dream Comes True” will be sung by Fiona, played by the female lead, senior Nicole Pohlman.
“Princess Fiona is a girl who yearns to find her true love but is locked away in a tower for over 20 years,” Pohlman said. “… Being freed from the tower, Fiona quickly finds that her life is not like the perfect storybook she’s read all these years. This red-headed beauty dressed in green wears her crown nobly and her heart boldly on her sleeve. As a red-head who has always had her head in the clouds, I will proudly portray this princess I was meant to be, believing in myself every step of the way.”
It’s an ambitious and artful production, Slawinski said.
“We are fortunate to have some wonderful community artists who always do a wonderful job creating our sets,” Slawinski said. “Costuming for Shrek is somewhat complicated, and the cast has many ‘pieces and parts’ that they need to keep track of, so I have required them to have something (a laundry basket, box, bag, etc) to contain everything that they are responsible in terms of their costumes and props.”
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