OUTLOOK - One of the most elaborate and crowd-pleasing musicals ever to take place on a local stage entertained audiences over four performances this past week in Outlook.
LCBI High School hosted its annual springtime production over June 12-15, presenting one of the most popular and beloved stories that audiences have loved for nearly 25 years: Shrek.
The Scottish green ogre, the central character in four animated films that drew more than a billion dollars combined in North American box office receipts from movies that were released in 2001 through 2010, once again proved to be popular with audiences who came to watch his adventures at LCBI.
The show proved to be so expansive and with sizable depth both in the number of characters and the design of the staging that this particular production took place in the school gym, a change from the usual drama setting of the student chapel across the property.
But given the sizes of the audiences who came out to watch the show, the switch to the gym was a smart move by the school.
The story, known to many movie fans but with slight alterations in the stage version, goes as such: When Shrek, an anti-social ogre who enjoys his solitude, comes across a gang of homeless fairy tale characters that raid his sanctuary and say they've been evicted by the vertically-challenged Lord Farquaad. Shrek makes a deal with them: he'll get their homes back if they give Shrek HIS home back. When Shrek and his soon-to-be-best-pal Donkey meet with Farquaad, the Lord says he'll give the fairy tale characters their homes back if Shrek rescues Princess Fiona. The ogre agrees, but in the process of rescuing Fiona from the dragon and getting to know her, feelings are starting to sprout. But why does Fiona always retreat when the sun sets?
Shrek fans know it's because Fiona is herself an ogre who changes to her true form when the sun goes down at night. When a misunderstanding causes Shrek to shun her, Fiona gives herself to Farquaad and agrees to marry him. When Donkey tells Shrek the truth, it's up to the two best friends to stop the wedding and for Shrek to proclaim his love for Fiona.
With elaborate costuming, memorable dance numbers, and the feeling that the whole school was involved in the cast in one way or the other, this latest show by LCBI students that was directed by principal Jennifer Ridgewell with musical direction by Graham Codling may go down in school history as being the biggest and, well, the most fun show ever performed on an LCBI stage.
As for the performers themselves, audiences gave them well-deserved rounds of applause for a job well done over their four performances.
Portraying the green ogre himself was Carlos Giudici who, with his mannerisms, voice and stage presence, had obviously done some character research by watching the blockbuster Shrek films. Giudici hit those emotional notes perfectly and made the people believe in the character, bringing layers to the role that brought the people into the story.
With him was his buddy Donkey, played by Jaxon McIver, who hit the bullseye by providing audiences with some laughter while weaving in some true emotion at times. Portraying the diminutive antagonist Lord Farquaad was Nathan Boot, who may have stolen the show with his both commanding stage flair full of cocky self-importance and the physical requirements of the role. With Farquaad being very, very short, Boot wore black pants and was equipped with small puppetry legs that were strapped onto the front of his legs with Velcro, while Nathan wore protective pads and scooted around onstage on his knees. The result was a hilarious but still convincing stage trick that made it look like he was, indeed, only three feet tall. As Princess Fiona, Melanie Murray gave audiences a reason to hope for the best for her and Shrek in the end; her down-to-Earth demeanor and comedic timing made viewers think of her animated counterpart, which showed that Murray herself had done her homework as well.
Rounding out the rest of the large cast, portraying everything from Farquaad's knights to the fairy tale residents of the local land, were a number of LCBI students who helped bring depth, humor and emotion to the popular story. Abigail Calvin was a crowd favorite as Pinocchio, and she helped lead the rest of the characters such as Peter Pan, Tinkerbell, the Big Bad Wolf, and of course, the Three Little Pigs.
Taking on these roles were students Coby Speir, Adie Lee, Angel Sodhi, Jude Ellis, Glory Corlan, Maya Doucette, Ben Van Reeuwyk, Troy Peterman, Kyler Follick, Daylan Hoelicher, Aiden Tran, Olivia Thompson, Susannie Hofer, Isabella Theoret, Anthony Thiessen, Kisha Kamanzi, Hallie Sincennes, Naomi Brand, Nash Dolan, Jerilee Shaw, Brody Ireland, Bekah Boot, Eden Laliberte, Jessica Flath, Joy Kamanzi, Annika Friggstad, Matthew Syhlonyk-Fisher, Duane Dalisay, Sophia Fleck, Emily Knutson, Abigail Thompson, and Cullen Keith.
The success of the popular show, anchored by strong performances from all students and playing to approximately 1000 people over the course of all four performances, no doubt ensured that audiences will continue to come and see what else LCBI's young performers will do next.
CLICK HERE for a full photo gallery of the show with photos by Derek Ruttle.
