‘Shrek the Musical’ a Parfait of a Production with Spectacle, Romance and Laughs

By Doug Kaufman

“Shrek the Musical,” like the movie it’s based on, is about an ogre who has layers – like an onion, or a parfait.

So performing this parfait of a production in a venue as expansive as The Muny’s seems to be as perfect a match as Shrek and Fiona. Enter innovative Muny executive producer Mike Isaacson and director John Tartaglia, who performed in “Shrek the Musical” on Broadway and loves The Muny.

“We both kind of had a shared love for the piece,” Tartaglia said. “And we both felt the same thing, that there were things that could be stronger, there were things that could’ve been explored better emotionally, and also things that could be simplified, and things that could be heightened.”

They discussed this over dinner last summer, when Tartaglia was here playing the genie in “Aladdin.”

“The more we talked about it, the more exciting it was, to picture it,” Tartaglia said. “It’s funny – The Muny kind of offers you polar opposites. From a spectacle point-of-view, and from a size point-of-view, you can do things here you couldn’t do anywhere else.  Because you have that big of a stage, and you have access to a cast that’s much larger. … You have all these chances to supersize things and fill the stage and live out your dream of how you can make things bigger.”

The knowledgeable, appreciative audience is also a treat to perform for.

“Because you have an audience that is so dedicated to The Muny, and loves it so much, you also have the ability to do storytelling in a way that people really want,” he said. “I found with ‘Aladdin’ that Muny audiences are hungry for good storytelling, and they want to invest in the characters and the show.  The flip side of everything being really big and fun is they also want to iris in and pay attention to the storytelling and the characters.”

When people are sitting outside in the heat for two-plus hours, Tartaglia said, they need the whole package.

“You can have the biggest, most beautiful show. You can have the best special effects,” he said. “That’s not gonna keep people’s attention. What’s going to keep people going is the heart and the storytelling. And I think people forget that. It doesn’t matter how fantastic your fireworks show is, after about 10 minutes people are done. So you have to offer more than just fireworks.”

With “Shrek the Musical,” that means telling the story about friendship, believing in yourself and dealing with differences.  He and Isaacson agreed on that.

“He was really adamant that we didn’t just do a big show, that we did a show with heart,” Tartaglia said. “Which is very important to me too.”

Tartaglia, who has also acted on Broadway in “Avenue Q” and was a longtime puppeteer on “Sesame Street,” was thrilled to get the chance to direct here. But he still has the heart of a performer.

“I did have my first moment today, missing that silliness and that fun of being on stage,” he said on Friday.

Particularly seeing members of the cast who are new to The Muny stride the vast stage for the first time.

“We had our first on-stage rehearsal today,” he said. “Watching everyone walk on stage and take it in, and seeing the enormous size of it, and getting excited – I definitely got that feeling. Standing on stage with them, there was something so special about being up there.”

Still, working behind-the-scenes has its appeal too.

“As a director, my job is to make sure the show works and comes together, and I really love that. I love directing,” he said. “But I certainly never want to 100 percent give up performing.  My dream for next summer would be to direct a show and perform in one – kind of get the best of both worlds.

“I’ve never been happy in just one thing,” he said. “I love puppetry, I love acting, I love singing, I love directing, I love writing. I think it’s really healthy and it’s important creatively, so you don’t get stale, to always keep challenging yourself. So, yeah, I do feel that way. I never want to say I’m done with A, B or C. I feel like when you do that, you close the possibilities off.”

Tartaglia feels like a proud papa when the show starts to click.

“I do, I really do. Yesterday we did a full run of the show. It was really the first time we  got through the entire show, and it was very emotional for me. It really is like birthing a child, and, no exaggeration, we’ve been working on this for over nine months. So it really is like having a baby,” he said, laughing.

“You see it on paper, and you see it in your mind, and the design team comes on – and we have the best design team from sets to costumes to lighting and sound – and you’re seeing lots of ideas come in. You’re kind of creating this little family and this little collaboration. And then the icing on top is when the cast is actually standing on stage and you get to see everything. It’s pretty amazing.”

It’s also a relief when all the work is done and opening night arrives.

“It’s like sending your kids off to college,” he said. “You have to let it go, because it’s not yours anymore. You just have to let it find its own way, find its own path. I’m lucky in the sense that I’ve done a lot of other directing, but this is my first grand scale show. And I’m very, very blessed that I have a team behind it that has been able to bring the show to life so beautifully. I feel very spoiled.”

“Shrek the Musical” will follow the story line of the movie, but it will be its own ogre too. That was the approach taken by David Lindsay-Abaire, the playwright who adapted “Shrek” for Broadway.

“He felt very strongly, and I think it’s great, that you really have to keep the essence of the movie,” Tartaglia said. “There are probably three or four or five top moments from the movie that people love and are expecting, and they’re in the show. But then it’s completely new stuff. I’d wager to say that 50 percent of the show is completely new, in the sense of plot lines, or backgrounds for characters.”

For instance, audiences will learn why Shrek (played by Stephen Wallem) is the way he is with flashbacks to his youth. Princess Fiona (Julia Murney), Donkey (Michael James Scott) and Lord Farquaad (Rob McClure) will also have backstories. This is something theater can do better than movies, Tartaglia said.

 “With the show, you’re creating that picture for the audience with the stage, and you have to create that backstory for them to invest in,” he said. “You can’t introduce Fiona as an adult and say, ‘This is who she is – get used to it.’ You have to tell us why. “

This is the element that may surprise people who see The Muny’s version.

“The movie is really funny,” Tartaglia said. “The movie has all those great jokes, and Eddie Murphy’s wisecracks, and a lot of that is still in (our) show.”

But the intimate, live theater experience offers more.

“This is my experience being on Broadway. The thing I always heard was ‘I never thought I’d care about these characters so much, and I’d be moved by them, and be really touched by them.’ So I hope that this is something else that we bring to The Muny stage,” Tartaglia said.

“Shrek the Musical” is considered one of the children’s shows, but it’s not just for the kids. It has spectacle and romance, and adults can enjoy it without worrying that the jokes have been tailored to a much younger audience.

“I feel that good entertainment is good entertainment,” Tartaglia said. “There are certainly different levels of humor, and there are certainly different levels of appropriateness of humor. But at the end of the day, if something is entertaining, it’s entertaining. Having worked with the Muppets for so many years on ‘Sesame Street,’ one of the things I was taught – I like to think I was bred on – is that if you’re really smart with your humor, it can work on two levels. The kids will get it for one reason, and the adults will get it for another.”

Tartaglia said he and Muny executive producer Isaacson believe kids do not need the kind of low level humor that makes parents cringe.

“I think kids are smarter than we are – I really believe that,” Tartaglia said. “They listen better than we do, they pick things up better.”

Tartaglia is living proof of that. As the offspring of a show business family, he became “obsessed” with the show “Fraggle Rock” at age 7.

“Besides loving the show itself, and the storytelling, I really loved the puppets, and I was fascinated about how they worked, and what they were,” he said. “I guess the more I learned what puppetry was, and the way they would use their hands to create these living, breathing things – and I never doubted they were real, at seven-years-old – it locked in one day and I said, ‘oh my God, I want to do that.’ That was what launched it – that show.”

Tartaglia was a part-time puppeteer on “Sesame Street’ by age 16, and working full-time on the show at age 18. That early success came because Tartaglia was too young and naive to worry that he couldn’t do it.

“When you’re a kid, you just kind of dream it and think, ‘Oh yeah, I’m gonna do this.’ I like to think that’s why it ended up happening, because I put that out there. … It wasn’t arrogant – it was just blind trust –just trusting the universe.”

Tartaglia feels that same sort of unbridled enthusiasm in all his colleagues at The Muny. It makes for a vibrant, creative work environment.

“I think what Mike’s done with The Muny is amazing,” he said. “There’s this incredibly collaborative – you know, people don’t really believe me when I say this, because it does sound too good to be true – but there’s this amazing energy. It feels kind of like those old-school productions you used to read about, like in the fabled time of Hollywood, where everyone pitched in and gave 100 percent.

“That is what The Muny is. It’s just this group of artisans and people who are passionate about theater and make magic on – sometimes if they have to – a shoestring budget. And overnight. There are times when it’s ‘How are we gonna do this?’ And the next day someone comes in with this genius idea. And they do it because they love it – they’re passionate about it. There’s a family there. Without being sentimental or ironic, it’s an amazing experience. I love this cast, and I love everybody at The Muny. I’m kind of sad, believe it or not, that the show’s about to open, because it means I’m almost done. The process has been so fulfilling. “

“Shrek the Musical” runs at 8:15 p.m. today (Monday, June 24) through Sunday, June 30. Tickets range from $12 to $80 and are available at The Muny box office or by going to http://www.muny.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=778&Itemid=248.