Tonight my family attended Opening Night of Pioneer’s Production of Shrek. We had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed the show.
We thought the show was a great combination of the story line from Shrek with original songs. The play includes a new back-story about how Shrek was sent away from home at age 7 (as are all ogres). Similarly Fiona was locked in the tower at the age of 7.
As the show progressed, I was wondering how Lord Farquaad would be made short and how they would incorporate the dragon. I thought both were handled wonderfully.
All of the actors seemed well cast and performed well. It felt like if I closed my eyes the actor who played Lord Farquaad sounded just like John Lithgow. Even Shrek at times sounded like Mike Myers.
Pioneer is one of two shows piloting this production before it is available for all schools in June. The quality of the production is even more amazing when you realize that they had limited guidance on costumes, set design, and choreography due to the pilot nature of the production. Their production can definitely provide guidance to other schools looking to perform Shrek: The Musical.
There are five more productions of Shrek: The Musical at Pioneer High School:
- Sunday, April 28 at 2p
- Friday, May 3 at 7:30p
- Saturday, May 4 2p
- Saturday, May 4 at 7:30p
- Sunday, May 5 at 2p
We definitely recommend Shrek: The Musical to families. (Please note that this is Shrek, there is some crude humor – farting, burping, donkey is referred to as an ass and a jackass several times). The show was around 2.5 hours long, so families may find the 2p matinees are better for their children than a show ending after 10p. There was an intermission part-way through the show. Snacks were for sale for $1. We bought a bottle of water and a pack of M&Ms. However, my daughter was disappointed that they did not have Oreos since they were listed on the sign.
Tickets are available as General Admission at the door or you can pre-purchase assigned seats. We only made the decision to attend tonight’s performance this afternoon. When I looked at the website to reserve tickets, I noticed that the auditorium was mostly full so I decided to pre-purchase our tickets. I opted for tickets on the right side section on the aisle. We were fairly far back (row Y). I could have been a few rows further up by selecting inside seats, but I was hoping that by letting my daughter (age 7) sit on the aisle that she would have less issues with a tall person in front of her. It was a great choice of seats.
Tickets are $15/adults, $10/students. For our three tickets (2 adult, 1 student) I paid $1.35 in fees to purchase them on-line. I felt that it was well-worth the price to know we had seats and have some input in selecting them.
