From left, Madison Wendelin, Zachary Anderson and Reagan Minnette play Fiona, Shrek and Donkey in the Vanity Theater's upcoming production of Shrek the Musical.
Dakota Baker of Crawfordsville High School plays the hilarious Lord Farquad, a man of short stature with big dreams.
On the journey to true love, Fiona realizes that it comes in all shapes, colors and sizes.
Fairy tale creatures are about to come to life on the Vanity Theater stage in a story of friendship, true love and being true to one’s self. Or as the “Shrek the Musical” characters call it, letting their “freak flag fly.”
Crawfordsville High School student Reagan Minnette plays Donkey, a character that was made famous by comedian Eddie Murphy.
“First watching the movie,” Minnette said, “I thought, ‘Wow. Eddie Murphy did a great job. This character is hilarious.’ But now that I’m actually playing the character, I never realized how deep the real message of the show is. To be true to yourself and not be ashamed of who you really are. It’s just been so fun developing the character and realizing all of his layers.”
That’s the message that this show brings to life through its music and its characters: a person should be judged by who they are on the inside and not what they look like on the outside.
Princess Fiona, played by CHS student Madison Wendelin, learns this lesson in different ways throughout the show while coming to grips with who she really is — princess by day, ogre by night. And that makes it a fun part for Wendelin to play.
“That’s the thing about Fiona,” Wendelin said. “Fiona’s not a princess. Yes, she has a crown and she has the title, but she’s grown up by herself and she’s kind of been left to her own devices. And one of the great things about her is she’s not a girly girl. She doesn’t live like a princess.”
“Shrek the Musical” is a junior production that will showcase 52 different cast members. With that large of a cast and some fairly big set pieces, stature will be the only thing that’s small throughout this show.
CHS student Dakota Baker plays the hilarious role of the vertically-challenged Lord Farquaad, a ruler who is so determined to marry Fiona and become king of Duloc that he will let nothing stand in his way.
“I love him because I get to be evil,” Baker said, “and yet, no one really respects him as an evil character except for maybe the Duloc people. Everybody is just making fun of him because he’s kind of making himself an easy target.”
Baker performs the entire show on his knees, which makes him have to ice them every night. And though he said he’s nothing like his character, everyone at the Vanity is enjoying Baker’s portrayal.
“He never ever drops character,” director John Blair said. “Even when he talks to you outside of the character, it is Farquaad.”
Zachary Anderson plays the title role of Shrek. As a 20-year-old Wabash student, he brings veteran stage experience with him that his cast members say they’ve enjoyed learning from.
“Last summer,” Anderson said. “I thought about doing “The Producers,” but I didn’t. So I spent the whole summer here and was so bored. This year, we had just wrapped up “Our Town” at Wabash, and I decided to audition for this kind of on a whim. John had told me the message for Shrek, and I really liked it. The whole idea about letting kids be proud of who they are regardless of what society tells them, especially in this social media age, when it’s hard to protect kids against those kinds of things.”
Even though the cast of “Shrek the Musical” is young, Blair believes audiences will be impressed by the quality of the show and the level of talent of each performer.
“The singing is out of this world,” Blair said. “The set is incredible. The choreography is quite well done. I think people will be impressed with the professionalism of the production; I really do. I think it’s one of the finest things that I’ve done here.”
With the sponsorship of Phantom Point Technology Services, Joe Elliott, a professional guitarist from Nashville, Tennessee will be providing accompaniment each performance. The production is being sponsored by Arni’s.
“Shrek the Musical” will be presented at the Vanity Theater June 10-12 and June 17-19. Friday and Saturday performances will be at 7:30 p.m. Sunday performances will be at 2 p.m. Tickets are $12 for adults and $8 for youth 17 and younger.
