This April, Four Corners Upper School, along with its sister elementary school, is putting on Shrek the Musical at the elementary campus from April 18-20th. Tickets are being sold now for the shows.
Shrek the Musical is based on the original and live action film. Director Julie Gardieff never thought she would be able to put on this particular show until 2 years ago when she saw it at UCF.
“They changed a couple of things to make it work for them and I’m like okay well this is actually attainable for us to do. Before seeing it, I didn’t think this show was something in our abilities and resources we have to put on, but when I saw it at UCF, I knew we could do it,” Gardieff said.
The characters of Fiona and Shrek both go through challenges in the play as do the actors who portray them. One potential challenge when tackling a new show is acting as a character different from those an actor has portrayed previously.
“It was a little complicated because I was cast as more of a serious character in my previous shows but now, I am playing like a jolly little princess who’s always happy but then yet sassy. She’s a fun character to play so far, I’ve been having a of fun with it, but it’s also been a little hard to fulfill,” senior Alexandria Polohronakis said.
Senior Josiah Farley, who plays Shrek finds this role to be harder than others he has portrayed while acting at FCUS, “Shrek is very different from who I am as a character. He’s very mean and brooding in the beginning. He is also green, so I have to be painted green.”
As Mrs. Gardieff further explained, “The character of Shrek has a lot of emotional depth. I’ve had to sit down with Josiah and break down the meaning of the songs and how he would feel.”
Of course, all members of a production have a favorite scene; for Polohronakis it is the morning person scene, “Because I get to dance with the rats, so it is pretty funny”.
Farley feels it is probably his first scene with Donkey, “I am meeting him, and he is played by my buddy Miles, and I enjoy our chemistry, so it is fun to kind of play and hash it out.” For Gardieff it is the song by Fiona who is portrayed at three ages by different singers, “I have three powerhouse vocalists on it, and I heard them practicing in the bathroom and I stopped to listen and knew this is what heaven sounds like”.
Within this large cast of 34 are eight seniors all ranging from tech, to acting on stage. “Shrek the Musical” will be these seniors’ last performance while in high school. Gardieff has been teaching some of these seniors since they were in eighth grade.
“It’s a little emotional since I’ve been doing theater for a while now and it’s where I got to meet [the] majority of my closet friends. So, knowing that it’s the last time that we’re going to be in a show together it’s kind of heartbreaking,” Polohronakis said.
If you plan on seeing “Shrek the Musical” make sure to buy tickets as soon as possible as this show will be nothing like FCUS has ever put on before.
“We usually put on a very fluffy show like “Bye Bye Birdie” even though it’s a good script there’s not a lot to do it or like “Camp Rock” and “High School Musical”. The character of Shrek has a lot of emotional depth, there’s never been a role of this enormity,” Gardieff said.
