Shrek The Musical

Shrek The Musical is a musical with music by Jeanine Tesori and book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire. It is based on the 2001 DreamWorks film Shrek and William Steig's 1990 book Shrek!. After a trial run in Seattle, the original Broadway production opened in December 2008, and closed after a run of over 12 months in January 2010. It was followed by a tour of the United States which opened in 2010, and a re-vamped West End production from June 2011. Since its debut, the musical's rights have been available for independent overseas theatres, who have chosen to stage their own versions of the show, starting with the 2010 Israel production.

A High Definition filming of the Broadway production was released on DVD, Blu-ray and digital download on October 15, 2013, in North America and December 2 in the UK.

History

Development

Lindsay-Abaire and Jason Moore (director) began working on the show in 2002, with Tesori joining the team from 2004. A reading took place on August 10, 2007, with Stephen Kramer Glickman in the title role, Celia Keenan-Bolger as Princess Fiona, Robert L. Daye, Jr. as Donkey and Christopher Sieber as Lord Farquaad.

Shrek!

Shrek! is a picture book written and illustrated in 1990, by William Steig about a repugnant and monstrous ogre who leaves home to see the world and ends up saving a princess. The name "Shrek" is derived from the Yiddish and German Schreck (Yiddish שרעק) meaning "fear" or "fright". The book served as the basis for the popular Shrek film series over a decade after its publication.

Awards

Adaptations

Steven Spielberg acquired the rights for the book in 1991, planning to produce a traditionally animated film based on the book. However, around the time DreamWorks was founded, producer John H. Williams brought the book to DreamWorks, and co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg was interested in the concept. As a result, DreamWorks ended up acquiring the rights for the book in 1995, and Katzenberg quickly put the film in active development.

Shrek was released in April 2001, starring the voice talents of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, and Cameron Diaz. (Chris Farley had originally been cast to voice the title character in the film, but died before being able to complete the project in December 1997; in August 1998, DreamWorks then recast the role to Mike Myers.) The film was an immediate commercial and critical success, and won the first ever Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. The film's triumph ultimately led to the releases of three sequels: Shrek 2 (2004, which was also an instant success), Shrek the Third (2007), and Shrek Forever After (2010).

Shrek (franchise)

The Shrek franchise from DreamWorks Animation, based on William Steig's picture book Shrek!, consists of four computer-animated films including: Shrek (2001), Shrek 2 (2004), Shrek the Third (2007), and Shrek Forever After (2010). A short 3D film, Shrek 4-D, which originally was a theme park ride, was released in 2003. Two television specials, the Christmas television special Shrek the Halls (2007) and the Halloween television special Scared Shrekless (2010), have also been produced. A spin-off film titled Puss in Boots was released in October 2011, and a 2008 Broadway musical adaption was produced for two years.

The series primarily focuses on Shrek, a reclusive but kindhearted ogre, who becomes a respected hero with an ever growing collection of friends and family in a fairy tale world in spite of himself.

In May 2010, The New York Times called the principal Shrek characters "brilliantly realized" and said "nearly a decade after the first Shrek film they remain as vital and engaging fusions of image, personality and voice as any characters in the history of animation."

Shrek (video game)

Shrek is a video game, based on the first installment in the popular film franchise Shrek. Shrek is one of 22 launch titles that were available the day of the Xbox's launch on 14 November 2001.

A port of the game for the GameCube, entitled Shrek Extra Large, was released on 31 October 2002 in North America and on 24 October 2003 in Europe.

The game was also noted for being one of the first commercial titles to make use of deferred shading, a feature which was relatively uncommon in games until the release of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl and Grand Theft Auto IV.

Plot

Shrek is based on the first installment of the popular movie franchise Shrek. Shrek is delivered a message by the infamous Magic Mirror that the lovely Princess Fiona has been captured by an evil wizard, Merlin. Shrek must travel to Merlin's Dark Tower Fortress of Pure Evil, but an impassable fog has been laid across the Fairy Tale Lands. The fog and Merlin's Fortress can be passed through the completion of Good Deeds. The Magic Mirror gives Shrek a Book of Good Deeds and offers to teleport him to places where Good Deeds are required.

Musical film

The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing.

The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate "production numbers".

The musical film was a natural development of the stage musical after the emergence of sound film technology. Typically, the biggest difference between film and stage musicals is the use of lavish background scenery and locations that would be impractical in a theater. Musical films characteristically contain elements reminiscent of theater; performers often treat their song and dance numbers as if there is a live audience watching. In a sense, the viewer becomes the diegetic audience, as the performer looks directly into the camera and performs to it.

Musical films in the Western world

The classical sound era

The 1930s through the early 1950s are considered to be the golden age of the musical film, when the genre's popularity was at its highest in the Western world.

Musical theatre

Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an integrated whole. Although musical theatre overlaps with other theatrical forms like opera and dance, it may be distinguished by the equal importance given to the music as compared with the dialogue, movement and other elements. Since the early 20th century, musical theatre stage works have generally been called, simply, musicals.

Although music has been a part of dramatic presentations since ancient times, modern Western musical theatre emerged during the 19th century, with many structural elements established by the works of Gilbert and Sullivan in Britain and those of Harrigan and Hart in America. These were followed by the numerous Edwardian musical comedies and the musical theatre works of American creators like George M. Cohan. The Princess Theatre musicals and other smart shows like Of Thee I Sing (1931) were artistic steps forward beyond revues and other frothy entertainments of the early 20th century and led to such groundbreaking works as Show Boat (1927) and Oklahoma! (1943). Some of the most famous and iconic musicals through the decades that followed include West Side Story (1957), The Fantasticks (1960), Hair (1967), A Chorus Line (1975), Les Misérables (1985), The Phantom of the Opera (1986), Rent (1996), The Producers (2001) and Wicked (2003).

1776 (musical)

1776 is a musical with music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards and a book by Peter Stone. The story is based on the events surrounding the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It dramatizes the efforts of John Adams to persuade his colleagues to vote for American independence and to sign the document.

It premiered on Broadway in 1969, earning warm reviews, and ran for 1,217 performances. The production was nominated for five Tony Awards and won three, including the Tony Award for Best Musical. In 1972 it was made into a film adaptation. It was revived on Broadway in 1997.

History

In 1926, Rodgers and Hart had written a musical about the American Revolution, called Dearest Enemy. Additionally, in 1950, a musical about the Revolution had been presented on Broadway, titled Arms and the Girl, with music by Morton Gould, lyrics by Dorothy Fields, and a book by Herbert Fields, Dorothy Fields, and Rouben Mamoulian, the show's director.

Sherman Edwards, a writer of pop songs with several top ten hits in the late fifties and early sixties, spent several years developing lyrics and libretto for a musical based on the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Edwards recounted that, "I wanted to show [the founding fathers] at their outermost limits. These men were the cream of their colonies... They disagreed and fought with each other. But they understood commitment, and though they fought, they fought affirmatively." Producer Stuart Ostrow recommended that librettist Peter Stone collaborate with Edwards on the book of the musical. Stone recalled,