A Look Into Shrek The Musical

Shrek – Austin Dalgleish
Q. Tell me about Shrek.
A. I’m an ogre. I’m big, I’m smelly, I’m really sweaty. Lots of sweat, lots of make-up, lots of roaring, lots of being mean and having weird horns.
Q. What’s it like being an ogre?
A. It is really interesting for me because I’m huge but I’m not large. It’s been a learning curve having this fat suit, learning how to be big and stand big.
Q. What’s it like having Shrek’s complicated emotions?
A. Well, as the show will tell you, ogres have layers, and onions have layers. It’s interesting to play a character that is so callous on the outside but is actually a big teddy bear on the inside. It’s fun to get to start the show all mean and then end the show and be a big, loveable guy.
Q. Hit me with a random fact about Shrek.
A. I burp a lot, lots of burping. There [are] a few real burps in there.

Donkey – Bridgette Beasley
Q. What’s it like being the funny person of the show?
A. It’s really fun. Making a goof of yourself, it’s harder than I expected it to be just because of how much energy it requires. It’s all energy all the time. I really, really enjoy it.
Q. Do you have to walk on all fours?
A. Thank goodness I don’t! That would be terrible; no, I get to stand up, and I kind of bend my knees a bit. And I actually have hooves, I don’t have hands.
Q. Tell me about having hooves.
A. It’s so hard, you just want to gesture all the time, you want to use your hands, you want to use your fingers. I’ve had to practice having everything closed off. Usually you can extend your fingers, and that’s where your energy comes out and that’s a weird feeling. And I can’t pick up anything, so I can’t grab anything in the show, and that’s kind of strange.
Q. What’s a weird fact about donkey?
A. I have a fake butt. It’s padded.
Q. Are you supposed to be a boy?
A. Yes, I am. I’m an ‘it’ basically. People are going to know I’m a girl, like I speak a little lower. I mean, I already have a naturally low voice, but I’m trying to speak a little lower. And I’m trying to not have as many girlish moves to kind of roughen everything up. It’s kind of fun and quirky; I’ve played a lot of boys before. So I have the hooves on my hands and feet.

Alec Armer – Lord Farquaad
Q. How do you emulate his height?
A. Well, I’m on my knees, and I have these legs that get strapped to me, and they come from about my waist to knees. It’s kind of creepy, actually. It’s cool though because in the back I have a cape so you don’t see anything. You think it might hurt, but it doesn’t. I get to walk around of my knees and everything.
Q. Isn’t Lord Farquaad cocky? Has that rubbed off on you?
A. He thinks he’s the best but he’s got insecurities like the rest of us. He’s just better at hiding it than everyone which is really fun to play.
Q. Quick fact about Lord Farquaad.
A. He keeps up with pop culture. Although he’s royalty and everything, he likes to have fun. He has major daddy issues, too. His dad left him in the woods as a child, and he’s still hurt.

Maddie Roberts – Fiona
Q. How’s being Fiona?
A. It’s been great. It’s been a lot of pressure, but it’s been fun. I’m in a lot of the show, and I feel like it’s the first time of being a leader of the cast, so it’s been fun. It’s been hard.
Q. Costume details?
A. So, the last scene is the quick change where I have to become an ogre in a minute and 40 seconds. So that’s a kind of hard, quick change because I have to become green and fat.
Q. How’s having Austin as your lover?
A. It’s kind of funny because he’s like my younger brother. It’s fun. He’s really so talented, so he’s made it easy to kind of get into that.
Q. How have you taken on the Fiona persona?
A. Well, I mean she’s really sassy, and so am I. She’s kind of like me in that way.
Q. What’s an interesting fact about Fiona?
A. She talks in her little fairy voice, but she also does this deep tom-boy voice. That’s kind of what I like to picture her as — a kid that was a tom-boy that had to be a princess.

Justin Armer – Pinocchio
Q. So how does Pinocchio play into the musical?
A. Well, you could say I’m kind of a leader of the fairy tale creatures. Cause we’re all just sort of a jumble of misfits who got kicked out of Dulock. Mostly I lead the fairy tale creatures and they all make fun of me because I think I’m a real boy but I’m really not, I’m still a misfit. So there’s a big song at the end where I’m like I am a wooden boy, I’m a misfit.
Q. Random fact about Pinocchio
A. Well the nose does grow, but I can’t reveal the theater magic. I’m also singing everything an octave up my falsetto.

Abby Kramer – Dragon
Q. Tell me about Dragon.
A. The Dragon comes on and falls in love with the donkey and she belts her face off [sings].
The song I sing is called ‘Forever’ and it’s about Donkey and how the Dragon, like, protects Fiona and then Donkey and Shrek come and she tries to get rid of them in a way and then she falls in love with Donkey.
Q. Big costumes, how’s that?
A. It’s really fun, it’s very cool. Alex Lang, he’s inside of it. So he does the jaw and moves the neck and stuff.