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Everything was set for the perfect orientation day at Theresa J.D. Walters Elementary.
Kid-sized tables were strewn about with crayola crayons and fairy-tale coloring sheets as teachers galavanted and chit-chatted across the room, and eager students filed in neatly to their assigned seats with little fuss.
While coloring a bright green dragon, I was even asked what grade I was going into this year.
“Second,” I told the teacher, a young woman in hot pink overalls. “I want to be a journalist when I grow up.”
Of course, Theresa J.D. Walters is not your standard elementary school—some may say it’s not even an elementary school at all.
Rather, this is the set of “Shrek the Musical” at Blackfriars Theatre, a blackbox stage lovingly fashioned with kindergarten toys, a velvet-curtained puppet stage, and a multi-tiered wooden slide playset pressed against the wall. It was any toddler’s dream adventure playground—and perhaps mine as well.
“Shrek” marks the ninth year of the Blackfriars Theatre Summer Intensive, a six-week pre-professional musical theater program intended for high schoolers and college students. It was staged July 25 to Aug. 3.
With many members local to the Rochester area, a 20-player cast of returnees and newbies alike sported an array of musical accomplishments around the region, as well as a passion for theater at a collegiate level.
And so, as the school bell rang, the troupe settled in for a story time led by Gabriel Pierce, an ensemble member who would eventually play Lord Farquad as the musical progressed.
Yet, the dawning story of Shrek was not just one person’s tale to tell. As pages flipped and the ensemble ooh-ed and aah-ed along, the puppet theater came alive: young Shrek portrayed by a paper figurine, his parents by two sock puppets.
Narration moved from third person to the words of Shrek’s family themselves—now represented through ensemble members wearing the ogre’s iconic ears. The young Shrek, portrayed by the third grader Owen Staebell, entered the stage with a face painted green and eyes full of youthful anxiety. While the ensemble sang of a “Big Bright Beautiful World “around them, things for poor Shrek were anything but.
Yet, in a blink of an eye, the story had fully taken hold of the stage. Shrek’s portrayer had swapped from the young Staebell to the greener and grander Sawyer Herbst, now content with his frightening demeanor and solitary lifestyle … almost.
Based on the 2001 DreamWorks film and 1990s picture book of the same title, “Shrek the Musical” spins the tale of the notable ogre as he pursues a quest for privacy in his swamp—now the temporary home of the fairy tale creatures kicked out of Duloc by the wannabe-king Lord Farquad. As he’s tasked to rescue Princess Fiona to enable Lord Farquad’s kingship by finding him a bride, he discovers that his quest for independence may be better with company. Shrek also finds kinship, confidence, and love in many forms.
Despite its fairy tale ending of a happily ever after, Shrek is still still tactfully satirical, twisting the archetypes of picture-perfect beauty standards and monarchical power to favor the underdogs instead.
Even with its quips (and a few subtle adult jokes), the show’s scripting and whimsical presentation made it wonderfully suitable for a younger audience: it’s colorful, it’s bright, and holds a valuable moral lesson of sticking true to oneself and letting ones “freak flag fly.” It also has a really cool slide—did I mention that before?
Alongside the synergy of the production’s leads—Shrek, his newly found sidekick Donkey, the soon-to-be-rescued Princess Fiona, and the dubious Lord Farquaad—the show’s power draws from the versatility and energy of its ensemble cast.
Players flitted smoothly between roles of Duloc’s eccentric fairy tale creatures, Lord Farquaad’s uncomfortably homogenous subjects, tap dancing woodland creatures, and even the barbershop quartet paper bag ghost knights passed away in the dragon’s keep.
It’s an impressive feat—particularly with the diversity and breadth of the show’s characters, and ones that make ensemble numbers all the more impressive. “Story of My Life,” which features the fairy tale creatures (particularly the comically squeaky-voiced and party-horn-nosed Pinocchio) as they reminisce on the tough luck of their circumstances, brought the crowd to cheers, as did many of the other misfits’ numbers throughout the night. Not to mention, the staging.
The Three Little Pigs, presented preshow through a picture on the classroom’s walls, revealed pop-out faces for the characters to sing along from backstage. The Gingerbread Man (who proclaimed himself an Aries during the showstopping number “Freak Flag”), was portrayed by a puppet in the hands of Lauren Akerley’s Sugarplum Fairy.
Of course, along with its ensemble, Shrek’s character-driven storyline was led marvelously by its leads and featured performers. Pulling across genre and stylization, the musical packs a punch of toe-tapping solos and emotional ballads, a collection of tunes that brought the audience from laughter to tears and back again.
As Shrek, Herbst’s powerful timbre (assisted by a few sound effect-driven ogre roars) and kitschy accent work brought both resonance and humor to the complex character, as well as made for some impressive solo moments throughout the ogre’s internal quest for self-acceptance. As Shrek recalls, ogres are layered, just like onions. Herbst’s performance follows suit.
Genevieve Prinsen’s Fiona basked in the glamour of the limelight (quite literally “lime” at times), presenting a compelling depiction of the little-bit-messy lotta-bit-ambitious princess on her journey for independence and true identity. Along with tactful vocals high enough to pop a balloon and a sense of confidence carried best by a princess, Prinsen brought depth to her dual-sided character as she cycled from apprehension to eagerness and finally acceptance of herself and her love.
Donkey (portrayed by Josh Hemmings) flourished as the comic relief to the comic relief, often playing the careful role of moral support on Shrek’s tumultuous journey. When acquainted with Fiona Culhane’s Dragon, a fiery creature looking for a meal (but more importantly, love), he finds himself embracing the quirky romance of the pair after settling his nerves.
No story is complete without a villain. Despite the character’s stature, it’s safe to say that Pierce’s performance as Farquad came up anything but short, particularly as each of his entrances garnered cheers and laughs from the crowd.
When the ensemble took their bows (accompanied by a rendition of Smash Mouth’s “I’m A Believer”), the joy radiating throughout the room was tangible: a sense of incredible fulfillment for a performance well done.
The Blackfriars Theatre 2025 – 2026 season will continue with “Souvenir” by Stephen Temperley, Sept. 4 to Sept. 14. More information can be found here.
Alex Holly is a member of the Oasis Project’s second cohort.
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