Synopsis
Shrek the Musical brings the beloved DreamWorks film to life in a colourful and heartfelt stage adaptation filled with humour, adventure and unexpected romance. The story follows Shrek, a gruff but good-hearted ogre who lives alone in his swamp — until a group of fairy-tale creatures are banished there by the tiny tyrant Lord Farquaad. Determined to reclaim his peace and quiet, Shrek strikes a deal to rescue Princess Fiona from a dragon-guarded tower so that Farquaad can marry her and restore order. Along the way, Shrek is joined by the fast-talking Donkey, and together they discover that friendship and love can be found in the most unlikely places. Featuring an original score by Jeanine Tesori with book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire, the musical celebrates acceptance, individuality and the joy of being true to oneself.
Reviews
“It is the most ingeniously wacky, transcendently tasteless Broadway musical since The Producers, and more family-friendly than that gag-fest. … Leading man Brian d’Arcy James may have to conceal his boyish good looks, but his Shrek is an adorable hero and, despite his blubbery prosthetics, an expressive one. James’ delightfully playful, at times plaintive performance leaves no doubt this guy’s just a chartreuse cherub.”
USA Today
“As embodied by Brian d’Arcy James and Sutton Foster in a breezy song called “I Think I Got You Beat,” Shrek the ogre and Fiona the princess find a chemistry that’s more than merely gaseous. In the best tradition of screwball comedy, they transform glowery friction into dewy-eyed romance. And a show that has been trying way too hard to entrance us suddenly relaxes into goofy, genuine charm.”
The New York Times
Playbill’s My Life in the Theatre
On 2 December 2025 Playbill released an interview with Brian on Youtube under their My Life in the Theatre playlist. Below is a transcript from the video about his time with Shrek the Musical – you can watch it here.
“Shrek the Musical. Oh, my God. Uh… Well, again, the people. The people is first and foremost, and the fun of this show, is what comes to mind. Jeanine Tesori’s incredible score, David Lindsay-Abaire, just hilarity. Directed by Jason Moore, who I went to school with, I went to college with Jason. And it was really fun to kind of have that professional experience after, you know, a good chunk of time from our earlier days.
Okay, so there’s a lot to say about this show. And it’s all wildly positive. The one thing that was hard was the makeup, and it was really difficult because it was, it took an hour and a half to get in, and it took 45 minutes to get out, and on two show days, I couldn’t get out of the big head. Jeanine Tesori would come in sometimes. She’s like, oh, you’re stuck in the head? You’re stuck in the head? They won’t let you out of the head. I’m like, no, I can’t. Can’t get out.
Sometimes I would go, I would order food and because I couldn’t take the head off in between shows, matinee, and an evening performance. I’d order my food and I’d have my little my little robe on with my head on my, you know, my human body, and not, let’s call it, my non-Srek body and a Shrek head, and I go pick up, go pick up my delivery from the stage door looking like Hugh Hefner on acid or something. I don’t know. that’s in the eyes of what I’m imagining, the guy picking it up or delivering the food would think. Um, and I would just really enjoy just straight-facing, like, how much is that, you know, just having a normal conversation.
My daughter was in second grade when I did Shrek, and she was not a fan. Not a fan. She, uh, she, the first question she said was, do you have to kiss anyone? And I said, no, I don’t have to kiss anyone. It’s Shrek. He’s an ogre. Of course, the whole thing goes, he’s like careening towards a kiss with Sutton Foster as Princess Fiona. So when she saw it, apparently she saw it with my mother during previews and when that moment came, she saw this and she just went [facepalms]. Betrayed, betrayed by her ogre father.
I mean, there’s so many things to say about this show. I mean, oh God, Daniel Breaker as Donkey, Sutton Foster as Princess Fiona. Chris, oh my God, as Farquaad. Oh my god! I mean, that performance, as Farquaad, was Christopher Sieber. Sorry I just call him Chris. And he calls me Peaches. I’m not sure why. That performance, my daughter now has gone full circle. She will now send me Spotify cuts from the album. They call him cuts these days, kids. She’ll send me all of his stuff and she’ll say, listen to this. Like, I’ve never heard it before! But it is brilliant. I mean, that dude, um, [sings] hey, nonny, nonny, nonny, nooo. I’m thinking of Greg Reuter, who played the gnome, who’s sadly no longer with us.
The last thing I’ll say about it. People in the theatre are great. These companies are amazing. You forge a family very quickly. And it became clear in Seattle in our tryout, that this makeup thing was going to be really, really brutal and hard and difficult. So a lot of the cast decided that what they could do is they could give me CD compilations of their favourite music that I could listen to while I was getting into makeup, which is fantastic. I still have like a collection of music that I would never have if it weren’t for, you know, my generous cast mates. So that, you know, things like that come to mind.
And I will a shout out to Jack Scott, dresser extraordinaire.
Jack was basically Shrek with me, because that experience was so unusual and so demanding that, you know, he would see me crushed by the, the exhaustion of it, and the, I don’t know if I can do this I don’t know if I can continue doing this. It was really, really challenging on a physical level, and Jack Scott was just as bright as a penny, and just was always there to kind of, you know, start the day and be positive, and he’s a Michigan guy, so that’s not surprising. Anyway, I love that show so much, and I’m super proud of it. I’m really happy that you can watch it on Netflix.”