5-Star embarks on magical journey




TO THE RESCUE—Shrek (Trent Mills, left) and Donkey (Lawrence Cummings) hit the road to free a princess in “Shrek the Musical,” 5-Star Theatricals’ season-opening production at the Kavli Theatre. Courtesy of Ed Krieger

TO THE RESCUE—Shrek (Trent Mills, left) and Donkey (Lawrence Cummings) hit the road to free a princess in “Shrek the Musical,” 5-Star Theatricals’ season-opening production at the Kavli Theatre. Courtesy of Ed Krieger

PLAY REVIEW /// ‘Shrek the Musical’

Five-Star Theatricals opened its 2018-19 season Oct. 19 at Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza with the debut of “Shrek the Musical,” a satirical fairy tale starring a self-pitying, ostracized ogre who has been banished to a swamp because of his own repulsiveness.

“Shrek’s” thinly disguised morality tale—preaching that beauty and valiance come from within—is accessible enough for a child to understand, but “Shrek” is also rife with enough breezy dialogue and pop culture references to please the entire family.

“Shrek” is a typical transformative “journey” fantasy (e.g. “The Wizard of Oz”) as its greentinged hero takes on a buddy, a jive-talking donkey, and embarks to rescue a princess from a fearsome dragon in order to (using a modern-day reference) prevent an authoritarian leader from “draining the swamp.”

The story is self-consciously jokey, turning traditional fairy tale conventions on their collective ears. Princess Fiona is a modern Disney-like heroine, a spunky, outspoken feminist (“and a very gifted bowler”) who would just as soon wear torn jeans as a sparkling ball gown.

The magical transformation that serves as the payoff in Shrek and Princess Fiona’s relationship is anything but what you might expect.

The lavishly colorful, cartoony sets and many of the costumes come from 3-D Theatricals in Orange County. Against that backdrop, director Kirsten Chandler has assembled a cast with a raft of quality performers, led by 6-foot- 4-inch Trent Mills in the title role.

The youthful Mills pretty much plays straight man to his costars, imbuing his character with a melancholy that attracts sympathy at the outset. His attractive singing works well on the Act I closer, “Who I’d Be,” one of the better songs in Jeanine Tesori and David Lindsay-Abaire’s pleasing but ultimately unexceptional score.

Lawrence Cummings is a natural as Donkey, possessing a sassy attitude as well as being a good hoofer.

Alison Woods is wonderful as Princess Fiona, able to bridge the gap between “regal” and “real gal,” especially when the Princess takes on Shrek in the show’s musical highlight, “I Think I Got You Beat,” a kind of topsy-turvy turn on “Anything You Can Do” from “Annie Get Your Gun.” In the song, the two compete over which of them has had the harder life, the number degrading into a rhythmic flatulence contest at its conclusion.

The show is stolen by acting chameleon Marc Ginsburg as the diminutive despot Lord Farquaad. Ginsburg is as good at broad comedy (he was Lumiere in last year’s “Beauty and the Beast”) as he is in meatier roles like Che Guevara in “Evita.”

Equipped with a height-stunting costume that makes him look like half-man, half-marionette, Ginsburg is an absolute riot and a deft knee-dancer in the show’s most visually pleasing production number, “What’s Up, Duloc,” flanked by a cookie-cutter army of red-and-white-garbed palace guards.

The show’s delightful fairy tale characters make for one of Broadway’s most bizarre chorus lines, highlighted by terrific voice characterizations like Julia Lester as Gingy and Kyle Frattini as Pinocchio.

Kevin Gilmond kept stage dressers busy by playing no less than five roles, and Deanna Anthony displayed a powerhouse voice as the Dragon. Young Kate Godfrey and younger Bayley Tanenbaum sing splendidly as earlier incarnations of Fiona in “I Know It’s Today.”

Act II’s “Freak Flag” is the show’s 11 o’clock number and it serves as a clarion call for persecuted beings from any world, not just worlds of fantasy.

Dan Redfield’s orchestra performs with distinction, however, from the orchestra seats the sound tended to be on the murky side, sometimes overwhelming the singers during fortissimo passages. Karl Warden’s choreography worked well within the characterizations and was especially exceptional in the ensemble numbers.

“Shrek the Musical” runs through Oct. 28 in the Kavli Theatre at Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., T.O. Tickets are available via Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000, online at ticketmaster.com or in person at the box office.

Call (805) 449-2787 or visit 5startheatricals.com for more information.