Review: Shrek The Musical

Royal City Musical Theatre’s production of Shrek the Musical is about as good of a version of the musical as you can find. While I have some issues with the show, they’re almost all problems with the script and not problems with this presentation of it. This is a good-looking, good-sounding, well-performed production.

Let’s begin there: the performances here are excellent. These are larger-than-life fairy tale creatures, and the cast rises to the challenge of bringing these fantastical cartoon characters to life on stage. Tanner Zerr’s work as Shrek is particularly good: his vocal performance is utterly transformative, and he brings remarkable emotional depth to the character. Madison Simms’ and Chris Francisque’s portrayals as Princess Fiona and Donkey, respectively, effectively capture the fun of the film performances. Kamyar Pazandeh’s version of the comical Lord Farquaad is surprisingly grounded, to great effect. In her brief time on stage, Alexis Hope makes a huge impact as the Dragon. Across the board, the actors are doing impressive work here.

From the production side, everything on stage looks great. Their sets and costumes, many of which were rented from Delta Youth Theatre, are excellent, and Robert Sondergaard’s lighting is effective as usual. There were a few sound balancing issues between the band and the cast, especially for characters whose voices made their lyrics more challenging to understand, but on the whole the production sounds good too. 

The issue with Shrek the Musical, for me, is that it struggles to emerge from Shrek‘s shadow. For many people of a certain generation (mine), Shrek is ubiquitous to the point that practically every joke and every line delivery is part of the cultural lexicon. A side effect of that familiarity is that it becomes too clear to a Shrek-aware audience that many of Shrek the Musical‘s best moments and funniest jokes are lifted verbatim from its source material. This isn’t necessarily a problem in and of itself, but because the original vocal performances are so iconic, the actors playing them on stage find themselves in a bind: either do an impression of the film performances (which had the luxury of not being performed live every night) or reinvent the line and risk losing what made it funny to begin with. Again, the performances in this production are terrific and do a good job of capturing the fun of the film, but the nature of the adaptation means that they have an impossible job to do.

The musical is at its strongest when it uses its musical structure to deepen and heighten the emotional stakes of its story. Princess Fiona’s introduction in “I Know It’s Today” is wonderful, giving context for the hardships of her life and immediately getting the audience to root for her. Shrek’s lovely “When Words Fail,” in which he works through some of his romantic anxieties, is similarly effective as it gives us a glimpse into the character’s sweetness and vulnerability. The Dragon’s “Donkey Pot Pie,” on the other end of the spectrum, is just a powerhouse performance showcase that captures the excitement of that moment in the movie without the resources that an animated film has. These, and others, are strong numbers that make the case for why this show needed to be written in the first place. There are some others that, in part due to the audience’s likely familiarity with the source material, feel like padding rather than enhancements.

Again, though, in spite of the material’s shortcomings, this production is strong. There’s some wonderful work being done both on stage and behind the scenes. The level of talent here is remarkable, and that alone is a good reason to give this show a watch.

Rating: 4/5

Date watched: April 25th, 2026

Location: Massey Theatre, New Westminster BC

Review by: Oliver Spilsbury