Does Lord Farquaad sing in Shrek the Musical?

Most theatergoers planning to see Shrek will be familiar with the sweet movie. It’s the tale of a supposedly ugly giant ogre who shuns company and in order to retain his solo swamp paradise, agrees to rescue Princess Fiona from her tower (think Rapunzel!). The smarmy evil Lord Farquaad wants to marry Fiona and he insists that is the only way Shrek will clear his swamp of unwanted fairytale-land guests.

So Shrek sets out on his quest and soon becomes befriended (whether he wants it or not) by a talking donkey, and eventually they rescue the beautiful Princess Fiona.

Ben Mingay as Shrek is a total delight, with a wonderful stage presence and a very pleasant singing voice that I would love to hear more of. Nat Jobe as Donkey is an excellent comic sidekick, with verve and spot-on timing. Whenever he appears, Todd McKenney steals the show as the pint-sized posh Lord Farquaad, with an interesting stage gag to create the character. McKenney is surely one of this country’s national theatrical treasures and he never disappoints. Lucy Durack as Fiona gives an assured performance, mixing comedy with charm, as Fiona and Shrek gradually discover they have a lot in common.

Thankfully, Shrek has an attractive Scottish accent and Farquaad has an appropriate upper class British one, but the remainder of the characters have strong American twangs, which can grate. For my ear, too much of the music is largely belt style, again with that hard American twang, except for Mingay and McKenney, who use their mellow and resonant singing voices.

For me, the music (by Jeanine Tesori) isn’t memorable, and the book (by David Lindsay-Abaire) could be a lot stronger – a case of the whole being less than the sum of its parts.

However, the message the show gives, of diversity winning out, is a heartwarming one, and there were many children there with parents or grandparents, and they came out of the theater with their eyes shining. While the show didn’t do that for me, I came out marveling at the incredible music theatre talent we are lucky to have in this country. People’s opinions of Shrek will differ, so if you decide to go and make up your own mind, you won’t be disappointed in the performances of the cast.

Photo: Shrek – Ben Mingay, Donkey – Nat Jobe, Princess Fiona – Lucy Durack. Photo credit Brian Geach.

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Julie Houghton reviewed the opening night performance of “Shrek The Musical” at Her Majesty’s Theatre on February 19, 2020.

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Shrek The Musical (music by Jeanine Tesori, book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire) is an adaptation of the DreamWorks Animation film Shrek as a stage musical. It opened on Broadway in 2008 after a trial run in Seattle. Multiple touring productions followed, and it is now available for independent productions.

A recording of a performance of it is available on DVD and Netflix.

Shrek The Musical provides examples for the following tropes:

• Adaptational Wimp: While he isn't much of a badass in the film either, here, Lord Farquaad is portrayed as a Sissy Villain with Manchild tendencies.
• Adaptation Amalgamation: Based on the first movie but starts the same as William Steig's original book, with Shrek's parents kicking him out of the house.
• Adaptation Expansion: The extra half-hour that the film didn't have is used to elaborate on the backstories of Shrek, Fiona, and Farquaad, as well as give more focus to the Fairytale Creatures as characters.
  • Fiona's time in the tower is expanded on and we see how it's affected her outlook, namely why it makes her so eager to marry the first prince who comes. It also shows how being locked in a little room for twenty years can result in slight Sanity Slippage.

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  • Shrek's cynicism comes from a harsh life of learning that ogres are the biggest recipients of Fantastic Racism out there and having his dreams of maybe getting to be a hero crushed by that harsh life.
  • Dragon doesn't really like her job, feeling she's essentially Fiona's babysitter and hating how no one will ever want to rescue her instead of the classically beautiful princess, explaining why Donkey's flirting works so well.
  • Farquaad's short stature and Fantastic Racism turns out to be because he's actually Grumpy's son.
  • The Fairytale Creatures realize that their natural way of dealing with problems (wait until a hero solves it for them) won't work this time and that they need to stand up for themselves. More specifically, Pinocchio has to accept the fact that he's a wooden boy, and that he doesn't need to be a real boy in order to be said hero.
• Adapted Out:

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  • Robin Hood and his Merry Men (which is ironic, since they're the only characters that actually have a musical number in the film).
  • While the Magic Mirror did appear in the Broadway show, he was cut out of the script for future productions. The scene has Gingy inform Farquaad about Fiona instead.
• Age Cut: Both Shrek and Fiona get this:
  • "Big Bright Beautiful World" goes from young Shrek finding his swamp, to adult Shrek breaking out of his outhouse. The song also shifts from his parents singing about how much his life will suck, to him singing about how much he doesn't care.
  • "I Know It's Today" has Young Fiona walk behind the tower, and Teen Fiona emerges. Then Teen Fiona walks behind the tower, and Adult Fiona emerges.
• Age-Progression Song: "I Know It's Today" serves as this, with the first verse sung by Young Fiona, the second sung by Teen Fiona, and the third sung by Adult Fiona.
• All There in the Manual: The Fairytale Creatures get a surprising amount of characterization, sometimes even a little backstory, in the behind-the-scenes webisodes and their individual profiles on the (now defunct) "Shrekster" website, most of which isn't given in the show itself.
  • The soundtrack and DVD are missing the song "Forever" because it replaced the original song "Donkey Pot Pie" between the original Broadway run and the U.S. tour. The song contains a lot of Dragon's motivations (she's annoyed that she's a glorified babysitter and no one will ever want to rescue her) and the reason Donkey becomes attracted to her (in stating that Fiona's not his type, he declares he "likes a big, big girl").
• Ambiguously Gay: From the sassy Donkey, to the prissy Farquaad, to the entire pride-anthem vibe of "Freak Flag", the musical is full of this trope.

  Pinocchio: I'm wood. I'm good. Get used to it!

• Anthropomorphic Shift: Donkey, being portrayed by a live actor in costume, went from the quadruped Talking Animal he was in the films to an upright biped wearing a vest, at least in early productions. Inverted in later incarnations as the clothes were removed and he began walking in a torso-first fashion with his forelegs held up - a stance more like that of a real quadrupedal animal on its hind legs.
• Arc Words: "A big, bright beautiful world." It finds its way (with its music and everything) into about half the songs.
• The Artifact: Two instances in the filmed version of "Freak Flag".
  • The line "But it's not a choice you make, it's just how you were hatched" is usually sung by Humpty Dumpty. However, the actress who normally plays Humpty plays a different character in this performance (Tweedledum), yet still sings the lyric as written, consequently losing the egg pun.
  • "I smell like sauerkraut!" was originally a line written for the Gnome, but here, it's sung by (of all characters) the Mad Hatter, who replaces the Gnome.
• Ascended Extra: All of the Fairytale Creatures ensemble to an extent, but especially Pinocchio.
• Ascended Fridge Horror: Any struggles you could think of with Fiona being locked in one little room of the tower are lovingly spelled out in her verse of "I Think I Got You Beat", making it clear she was more a prisoner than anything. Sanity Slippage from isolation and boredom, minimal creature comforts (including needing to boil her chamberpot since she had no toilet), not much headroom when she grew taller... She even admits that it's a good thing the walls were padded.
• Big Beautiful Woman: A plot point with Dragon, oddly enough—in both versions of her song ("Donkey Pot Pie" and "Forever"), she laments that she's always overlooked in favor of the more traditionally beautiful Fiona. Donkey tries to charm her into letting him go by revealing that he actually likes big ladies, which prompts Dragon to believe he's flirting with her and fall in love with him. In some productions, the point is emphasized by having Dragon be represented by an attractive plus-sized actress as well as a puppet.
• Boomerang Bigot: Lord Faarquard is half dwarf, but commits genocide against fairytale creatures.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: The still-living prisoners of Dragon tell Donkey the reason they weren't incinerated is that she keeps them around to sing backup.
• BSoD Song: "Build a Wall" consists of Shrek planning to build a ten-foot wall to keep the world out after being convinced that Fiona and Donkey have betrayed him. While much of the song comes off more angry and sarcastic than depressed, the rage is at least partly Shrek's way of keeping his devastation under wraps.
• Burping Contest: Shrek and Fiona bond over one (with a fart contest as well) during "I Think I Got You Beat".
• Call-Forward: Puss in Boots makes a quick cameo during "Travel Song".
• Canon Foreigner: A handful of the fairytale creatures in the show never actually appeared in the films. These include the White Rabbit, the Mad Hatter, Tweedledee and Tweedledum (in some productions), The Ugly Duckling, the Sugar Plum Fairy, the Gnome, and the Shoemaker's Elf.
• Canon Immigrant: Shrek's parents, who appeared in the William Steig book that the films were based on, make a brief appearance in the show's prologue.
• Casting Gag: The casting of John Tartaglia, a famous Broadway puppeteer, as Pinocchio, a puppet.
• Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like: Fiona does this during "This Is How A Dream Comes True" when Shrek doesn't rescue her the way she imagined being rescued.

  Fiona: This is how I pictured it
  More or less I must admit

• Costume Porn: Bringing fairy-tale creatures to life requires it.
• Counterpoint Duet:
  • Shrek and Donkey during "Travel Song".
  • Shrek and Fiona during "I Think I Got You Beat".
  • All three sing a Counterpoint Trio at the end of "Who I'd Be" (which also counts as a Distant Duet since Fiona is separate from Shrek and Donkey).
• Crowd Song:
  • "Story of My Life" introduces the various exiled Fairytale Creatures.
  • "What's Up, Duloc?" promotes Lord Farquaad and his "plan with seven phases" for Duloc.
  • "Donkey Pot Pie" is sung by Dragon's three singers, Donkey, and the remains of Dragon's previous victims.
  • "Freak Flag" is the Misfit Mobilization Moment for the Fairytale Creatures.
• The Dead Can Dance: During "Donkey Pot Pie" the skeletal remains of Dragon's previous victims dance around Donkey.
• Demoted to Extra: Dragon's role in the musical had shifted quite a bit throughout the show's history. In the tryout version, her role was significantly larger compared to the first film, due to her romance with Donkey being much more established and fleshed out. Once the show hit Broadway, however, the scenes that helped develop their relationship were cut, and Dragon's stage time was reduced to the "Donkey Pot Pie" number, the chase sequence, and the scene where she bursts into the chapel to eat Farquaad.note The Seattle tryout was able to give Dragon more stage time by personifying her through her actress, allowing the character to appear without the giant puppet head. This wasn't the case in the Broadway production.

  How did they do Farquaad in Shrek the Musical?

  The effect is achieved through a device called "the rig," which Marriner is put into before he is costumed as the half-pint villain. "It's kind of like a catcher's uniform, with the (small) legs connected to it, like puppet legs.

  Was Lord Farquaad on his knees in Shrek the Musical?

  Christian Marriner (Lord Farquaad) struts among his courtiers during a production of “Shrek the Musical.” Marriner performs the entire show on his knees. Christian Marriner used to be 6 feet tall.

  Who is Lord Farquaad in Shrek the Musical?

  Lord Maximus Farquaad is the main antagonist of the 2001 animated feature film Shrek, as well as Shrek 4-D and the musical. He is voiced by John Lithgow.

  Is Shrek the Musical lip synced?

  Not only do they have to carry a load, but they also have to lip sync with the singers back stage and play other characters.