By night one way, by day another
This shall be the norm
Until you find true love’s first kiss
Then…take love’s true form.

Shrek the Ogre (Brian d’Arcy James) was living a perfectly miserable and lonely life in the swamp until the day his home was invaded by a large group of wandering fairy tale characters who were evicted from Duloc by the evil (and really short) Lord Farquaad (Christopher Sieber). Pinocchio (John Tartaglia) and the other unwanted guests plead with Shrek to use his scary ogre-ness to get Farquaad to let them return to their homes. When Shrek arrives at Farquaad’s castle demanding his swamp back, Farquaad agrees to hand over the deed if Shrek rescues the princess Fiona (Sutton Foster) from her dragon-guarded tower and brings her back for him to marry. Shrek is joined on this quest by the annoyingly talkative donkey Donkey (Daniel Breaker), whom Shrek eventually warms to. On the return voyage, Shrek finds himself falling for the princess, who oddly seems to have a lot in common with him—but she is hiding a secret.

Shrek The Musical takes the story we all love from the original Shrek film and expands upon it by giving more back-story to the characters and adding a whole new dimension with singing and dancing. While it is not a direct scene-for-scene remake of the film, it does include many iconic scenes and lines from the movie. I was so thrilled to see that my favorite Gingerbread Man torture scene from the film made it into the play—“Not the buttons! Not my gumdrop buttons!”. It also includes the film’s fun “I’m a Believer” end credits sequence.

I was quite impressed with the world they were able to re-create on stage. Even though it’s such a small set, it’s amazing the way they utilize it to create so many different locations and how easily it changes from one to the next. From a giant dragon to a 3-foot-tall Farquaad, the magic really comes to life. While all of the primary cast are excellent, with their perfect comedic timing and stellar musical performances, I found Sutton Foster particularly well cast, and truly adorkable, as Princess Fiona. The dialogue these actors were given is so witty and this also carries over into the song lyrics. I found myself laughing and tapping along throughout the production.

As for the Blu-ray, the picture quality is flawless, and the audio is excellent. These combine to give the feeling of being right there in the theater surrounded by other audience members. However, the musical is not shot solely with a static camera view of the stage. Instead, the production plays out more like a film, making use of close-ups as well as the wide shots. For the most part this works really well. However, I was surprised by a couple of the shots used that kind of take the viewer out of the magic—one close-up of Gingerbread Man “speaking” that includes the ventriloquist’s lips in the frame, and another close-up that includes the orchestra conductor’s head popping up from the pit in the middle of the stage.

As for bonus features, the Blu-ray only contains a short behind-the-scenes featurette with interviews with the creators of the show as well as the ability to watch 8 of the productions’s 17 musical numbers with or without a sing-along feature.

Overall, I found this production a thoroughly entertaining two hours that anyone can enjoy—whether you’ve seen the original Shrek film or not. I still have some of the songs stuck in my head!

What’s Included:

Film: (2:10:13)
Blu-ray

• Widescreen 1.78:1
• Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1
• Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

DVD

• Fullscreen 1.78:1
• Audio: English DD 5.1
• Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Digital Copy: (Redemption Deadline 10/15/2015)

• iTunes Digital Copy (requires disc to transfer)
• UltraViolet DigitalHD Copy redeemable via Vudu or Flixster

Extras (Blu-ray Only):

• Shrek The Musical Songbook with Sing-Along (27:46)
  Watch some of the show’s musical performances—Play All, Shuffle or select from “Don’t Let Me Go”, “I Know It’s Today”, “Donkey Pot Pie”, “Who I’d Be”, “When Words Fail”, “Build A Wall”, “Freak Flag” and “I’m a Believer”. Performances can be viewed in either Songbook or in Sing Along mode. For the latter, the lyrics are displayed at the bottom of the screen and highlighted as they are performed. (“I’m a Believer” is not available in the Sing Along mode). I’m not really sure why they didn’t provide all of the production’s 17 musical numbers in the Songbook mode as it would have allowed easy access to all of them.
• From Swamp To Stage: The Making of Shrek the Musical (8:06)
  Take a look behind-the-scenes of the Broadway show—the characters, the music, and the dancing. With an introduction by Cameron Diaz, this featurette includes interviews with directors Rob Ashford and John Moore, writer of the book and lyrics David Lindsay-Abaire, composer Jeanine Tesori, and choreographer Josh Prince.
• Sneak Peek (13:10)
  Trailers for other releases. Play All or select from “Turbo”, “The Croods”, “Epic”, “DreamWorks Dragons: Riders of Berk”, “Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness – The Scorpion Sting”, and “Holiday Favorites” (“Shrek the Halls”, “Merry Madagascar”, “Kung Fu Panda Holiday”, “Gift of the Night Fury”, “Rise of the Guardians”, “Original Christmas Classics”, “Veggie Tales/Merry Larry”)
• World of DreamWorks Animation (6:18)
  Watch music videos for various DreamWorks animated films and DVDs. Includes “Shrek” — “I’m a Believer”, “Madagascar” — “I Like To Move It, Move It”, “How To Train Your Dragon” — “Fly High”, and “Kung Fu Panda” — “Kung Fu Fighting”

Final Thoughts:

Shrek The Musical is a hilarious and delightful Broadway adaptation of the the original Shrek film that looks and sounds excellent on this blu-ray. With a fun, talented cast, witty dialog and lyrics, and catchy musical and dance numbers, this is a fully entertaining two hours that shouldn’t be missed. It’s definitely worth checking out whether you’ve seen the first Shrek film or not.