Overview
Fancy reliving your childhood film favourites on the stage? That seems to be the current trend. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is doing big business in Melbourne, the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory musical has been taking its golden tickets around the country, and now Shrek the Musical is bringing its all-singing, all-dancing version of the animated movie franchise to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
Expect plenty of green when this Tony and Grammy award-nominated stage show finally makes its way to our shores, after first premiering on Broadway back in 2008. Since then, everyone's favourite ogre has sung his way through theatres in the UK, Asia Europe, Canada, Latin and South America, Israel and Scandinavia. Although exact dates haven't been revealed, the character originally voiced by Mike Myers will bound across the Sydney Lyric Theatre at The Star from early January 2020, then hit up Her Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne and the Lyric Theatre, Brisbane.
You know the story, of course — unless you somehow managed to miss the original 2001 Oscar-winning film, its sequels in 2004, 2007 and 2010, and the heap of spin-offs, shorts, TV specials and series that all followed. Based on the 1990 picture book Shrek!, the tale follows the reclusive but kindly titular figure who endeavours to rescue the feisty Princess Fiona from the the fairy tale-hating Lord Farquaad, all while trekking along with a talking Donkey sidekick.
Australian cast details haven't been revealed, but Shrek lovers can expect a whopping 19 songs, an obvious colour scheme and plenty of other fairy tale references.
Check out the trailer for the production's UK run below:
Shrek the Musical will tour Australia from 2020, starting with a Sydney season at the Sydney Lyric Theatre, The Star from January. Complete dates — including for the show's seasons at Her Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne and the Lyric Theatre, Brisbane — are yet to be announced. Sydney tickets go on sale on Friday, July 5, with pre-sales from Monday, July 1. Head to ShrekTheMusical.com.au to join the waitlist, and for further details.
Image: Helen Maybanks.