It took quite a bit of green paint to help Brandywine freshman Lucas Harner transform into the lovable, yet grumpy ogre known as Shrek for a rehearsal at Brandywine Elementary Tuesday night. It is a process that in two months of rehearsal time Harner has gotten used.
With the application of thick green face paint, a set of ogre ears and clothes fit for a swamp, Harner will take to the stage to perform a rendition of the popular movie this weekend.
“I have been doing plays for four years here and I just enjoy acting and singing,” Herner said.
“Shrek: The Musical” will premiere at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Brandywine Elementary school. It will play through Saturday at 7:30 p.m., with an additional matinee time at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
Reserved seat tickets will cost $8 and general admission tickets are $5. Contact Brandywine High School to find out how to purchase tickets.
The play is directed by August Garritano, a Brandywine alum who was involved in many play productions throughout his time as a Brandywine student.
“I was on this stage too,” Garritano said. “My two favorite [roles] junior year were playing Joseph from the ‘Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat’ and Harold Hill in ‘Music Man.’”
For Garritano, who said he didn’t really enjoy sports, acting in plays gave him a team to still be part of and he wanted to share that with today’s students.
Garritano knows how fun it can be for students to put on their very own production and even though he said “Shrek” has proved to be a somewhat difficult play with lots of lines, songs and action, he said he wanted to challenge students, as well as prove that with limited budget, Brandywine students could put on a play that was different from anything performed in the area before.
“It is a modern musical with modern music and a modern story line,” Garritano said. “I wanted to do something modern. I wanted to do something that was big and a bit of a risk.”
“Shrek: The musical” has been performed on Broadway. For the production, Garritano had to bring in a live orchestra, a feature that has not been used in a Brandywine production since 1997. Five of the musicians are professionals, two are high school students and one is a middle school student. Shortly before rehearsal, musicians tuned up and played bars of the music.
“I wanted to make a statement,” Garritano said. “There’s not a lot of money in the district and so I wanted to show that we could still put out a quality big production.”
Through fundraising, tickets and selling production ads, Garritano said the play was made a possibility.
He said the play follows a similar story line as the movie. In the play, Shrek’s swamp is invaded by fairy tale creatures that have been displaced by the evil Lord Farquaad, played by student Billy Gibson. To get back his swamp, Shrek must do a favor for Lord Farquaad and bring him the princess Fiona, played by Alyssa VanLue, a freshman.
Wearing a long red, braided wig and a green dress, Abagail Solloway, a fifth-grade Brandywine student, prepared for her role as the child version of Fiona. Solloway described her character as a unique person trapped in a bad situation.
“She is always in a tower, so she is lonely and she has nothing but toys. She is just a really wonderful person and she is really special and different than other people,” Solloway said.
“I get to wear a green dress and I like the color green,” Solloway said. “I always like to act. I have been to other plays besides this and I always thought it would be cool to participate.”
The red curtain finally parted revealing a set designed to look like Shrek’s swamp with a wooden sign warning “Beware ogre.” A few rogue sunflowers decorated the swamp.
There was no shortage of creativity in the costumes and the characters on stage from Lord Farquaad accosting the Gingerbread Man, to the lead characters Fiona and Shrek playing vibrant parts on stage.
“We come from a small school and they know that,” Garritano said. “But they also know that they are very talented and I’m glad to give them this opportunity.”