Shrek The Musical
09 August 2024
Eventim Apollo Hammersmith
4.0 out of 5.0 stars
After an Ireland and UK tour, Shrek the Musical has landed in London, though quite far from the West End. Touring productions can be a bit hit and miss, so it was with a lot of curiosity we ventured down to Hammersmith to see this show.
Despite being obviously aimed more at children, it’s a delightful show for anyone who grew up with Shrek, though maybe be prepared for awful audience behaviour, as you know, any show with young children in attendance will also have entitled parents who do not care that other people also exist…
But we pushed past the constant moving around, chatting, spending every second of the musical handing crinkly snack bags around, children standing and climbing on chairs, grown humans taking selfies and answering face time calls during the show, and even one attendee providing a running translation, including during songs, for their non-English speaking child at full volume, and yet still managed to enjoy the spectacle.
While the whole cast was fantastic and really fell into their roles with enthusiasm and passion, an absolute stand-out performance was James Gillan as Lord Farquaad, who turned the greasy villain into an audience favourite with his silly songs full of delusional grandeur. An absolute delight to watch!
The musical definitely follows the story of the film very closely, sprinkling songs throughout the action, which really livens things up and works incredibly well. We barely noticed the time pass and were actually surprised when the interval came around. Time does fly when you’re having fun!
With impressively fun costumes (talk about making an ass out of Donkey!) up-beat songs, and an unbeatable finale, Shrek the Musical is a delightfully fun show for the whole family.
