by Frank Lee
operations@thenewsleaders.com
Shrek the ogre comes not only to life but even sings aloud in Great Northern Theatre Company’s production of Shrek the Musical, which features Sartell and St. Joseph residents in the cast.
The loveable curmudgeon will appear on stage in Cold Spring in the Tony Award-winning, adventure-filled musical Friday-Sunday, Aug. 5-7 and Wednesday-Friday, Aug. 10-12 at Rocori High School. All performances are at 7:30 p.m. except Sunday, Aug. 7, which is a 2 p.m. matinee.
“One of the points made in the story is Shrek talks about how he’s an onion and he has layers,” said Liz Schultz, a 38-year-old wife and mother from Sartell who is in the cast. “And you can’t judge a person just by what you see on the outside; we all have flaws, none of us is perfect.”
The musical is based on the beloved DreamWorks animated movie from 2001 that featured the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz – a movie that spawned several sequels.
“The songs in the musical are really good, and it has a powerful message, and it’s a fairy tale, so you can be wild and creative as you play the characters,” said Luke Reber, a 19-year-old from St. Joseph who plays Lord Farquaad, Shrek’s pint-sized rival for Princess Fiona’s affection.
Reber has to be on his knees every time he is in character on stage to achieve the illusion that he’s shorter than the rest of the characters in the production. The music is by Jeanine Tesori, and the book and the lyrics are by David Lindsay-Abaire.
“I have to wear these big huge kneepads and walk around, and it hurts my knees a little bit,” Reber said with a laugh.
Co-directors Leigh Ann Davis and Vicki Meyer said Great Northern Theatre Company, which is celebrating its 25th year, will put its unique spin on the fractured fairy tale.
“It will be silly and funny, but at the heart of the show is finding the hero in us all,” Reber said. “And the message is we are all in this together, and everyone is beautiful in their own way.”
The musical brings the beloved characters from the film to life on their way to discovering “the big bright beautiful world at the end of this fabulously fresh storybook journey.”
Luke’s mother, Anita, will play Puss in Boots, while her 13-year-old plays a villager and “the cow that jumps over the moon.”
“I do wear cat make-up, so it takes me about 30 to 45 minutes to apply the facial cat features I have to do before a performance,” Anita Reber said.
Schultz originally auditioned for the part of Gingy the Gingerbread Man but got another part – one that required less of a time-commitment and worked better with her schedule.
“It’s a big time commitment, but what I like about it is you get to just escape your problems, worries, cares, stresses of just your everyday life, and you get to go into this fictional world,” Schultz said.
It’s the fourth time Schultz has participated in a Great Northern Theatre Company production. She was Mrs. Pierce in My Fair Lady and Marian Paroo in The Music Man, among others.
“My son really wanted to be in this show, and I thought this was a great thing to do together,” Schultz said. “What I love about the stage version is it’s right in front of you – it’s very personal – and the music is fun, and there is a tap-dance number.”
Throw in a short-tempered bad guy, a cookie with an attitude and over a dozen other fairy-tale misfits, and you’ve got the kind of mess that calls for a real hero, even if it’s an ogre.
“Accepting your differences and accepting each other, I think, is one of the biggest messages in the show,” Schultz said.
Her son Tom, 14, will be a freshman at Sartell High School. He will play a knight and a guard. His mother is a realtor with Edina in St. Cloud and runs a design business.
“I love the sense of community,” Schultz said of community theater. “You get to meet people from all over, all different walks of life, all different ages, and you just work really hard together, and you almost become a family.”
Shrek The Musical was nominated for seven Tony Awards in 2009 (including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Original Score, Best Orchestrations), winning the Tony for Best Costume Design.
It also received 12 Drama Desk Award nominations winning Outstanding Actor in a Musical, Outstanding Set Design and Outstanding Costume Design. Shrek also won the Grammy award for Best Musical Show Album.
Tickets are available by calling 320-241-GNTC or by visiting GNTC1.com.
Luke Reber (front, center) of St. Joseph rehearses his lines as “Lord Farquaad” along with Steve Schweim of Litchfield (left) who plays “Shrek” and Mitchell Hurrle of South Haven who plays “Donkey” in Great Northern Theatre Company’s upcoming production of “Shrek the Musical” Aug. 5-7 and 10-12 in Cold Spring.
Brian Schultz of Sartell is doing the lighting for Great Northern Theatre Company’s upcoming production of Shrek the Musical in Cold Spring, which includes his wife Liz and their son Tom in the local cast as “Sleeping Beauty’s godmother” and a knight, respectively, in the musical based on the beloved DreamWorks animated movie from 2001 that featured the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz.
