Shrek the Musical: Heartening story comes with fairytale ending

As with the film that spawned it, Shrek the Musical has its heart firmly and earnestly in the right place.

Todd McKenney and the Shrek ensemble on stage. Picture: Brian Geach

As with the film that spawned it, Shrek the Musical has its heart firmly and earnestly in the right place, no doubt about that.

It asks you to love yourself, ­especially if you don’t conform to society’s narrow idea of beauty, to care for others who are different and give them refuge from ­oppression.

These are good and proper things to put on the stage, more so now than when Shrek the Musical premiered in 2008 (Australia sees the 2011 London production originally directed by Jason Moore and Rob Ashford).

It’s also fine to see sparring ­lovers who bring to mind Shakes­peare’s smart, funny and combative Beatrice and Benedick.

Ben-Mingay as Shrek. Picture: Brian Geach

There is nothing more delightful than when Ben Mingay’s ogre Shrek and Lucy Durack’s Princess Fiona trade tough-childhood ­stories in I Think I Got You Beat. It’s a highlight of Jeanine Tesori’s mostly bright and bouncy score, as is Mingay’s lovely Who I’d Be that brings Act I to a touching ­conclusion.

Fiona, rescued from her ­dragon-guarded prison tower by Shrek at the behest of dastardly Lord Farquaad, is no wilting damsel. Indeed, she has formidable backbone, illustrated by her perky salute to early rising, Morning ­Person. Fiona could be intensely irritating but Durack charms your socks off.

A young girl could have worse role models. It would be even ­better if she could see a more buoyant, nimble production that made the themes soar. The first half plods along in sections strung out too long and loosely by book ­writer David Lindsay-Abaire. Lindsay-Abaire, also the lyricist, is a dab hand at amusing in-crowd, cross-cultural references but hasn’t nailed the galvanising ­energy of the Shrek-Donkey relationship so central to the film’s success. Nat Jobe’s Donkey is ­likeable but denied the exhilarating physical freedom ­bestowed by animation.

In a tour de force of scenery consumption, Todd McKenney preens and twinkles as the vertically challenged Farquaad. It’s fabulous casting, as is the choice for The Dragon — a voice-only role but with a featured spot at the end for its glamorous performer.

Once upon a time there was a young woman who came to our shores from a land far, far away and sang her way into many hearts, where she remains. Her name was, is, Marcia Hines and this year it’s a half century since she first appeared on an Australian stage.

Now that’s a fairytale ending.

Tickets: $49.90-$215. Bookings: 1300 795 267. Duration: 2hrs 30mins including interval. Until February 9, then Melbourne from February 16 and Brisbane from May 9.