WILMINGTON, DEL (KYW Newsradio) — A reimagined version of a classic fairytale movie is coming to Wilmington, Delaware. “Shrek the Musical” stops at The Playhouse on Rodney Square on Tuesday, June 4.
The 2001 movie was first adapted into a musical in 2008 by composer Jeanine Tesori and writer David Lindsay-Abaire. The pair went on to collaborate on several other shows, including “Kimberly Akimbo,” which won them the 2023 Tony Awards for Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score.
15 years after “Shrek” debuted on Broadway, the duo decided to revisit their first collaboration and make a new “Shrek” as they envision it today.
“It’s sort of them making the show that they've always wanted to do,” said Nicholas Hambruch, who plays Shrek on the tour. “It's really cool, it's sort of a passion project.”
He said this production emphasizes the performers as storytellers.
“It has this, like, children's toy box sort of feel, where you can see the magic being created in front of you at all times.”
It also highlights the humanity of the characters.
“People think that it's about the romance of the show when, in actuality, it's a show about people who are too afraid to accept themselves before they can accept others,” Hambruch said. “So it's really about that journey of self love, and how it doesn't matter who you are, you are worthy of love.”
The musical features mostly original music, including Hambruch’s favorite song, “Who I’d Be,” where he gets to dig into Shrek’s emotional side.
“[Shrek is] going on about all these things that he could be, and he doesn’t realize that all the things that he's talking about are things that he's already done, things he's already doing,” Hambruch said. “He doesn't believe that he could be the hero of a story, he doesn't believe that he could be worthy of love.”
He says the tour so far has received heartwarming reactions and interactions from both kids and nostalgic adults.
“We'll have kids who will finish the line before I even get a chance to. … We've had a couple days where Farquaad will come up and say something mean to me, and the kids will be like, ‘No! Don't do that!’”
“Shrek the Musical” is part of The Grand’s Broadway in Wilmington series. More information and tickets are on The Grand’s website.