[NEohioPAL] Review of "Shrek: The Musical" at Beck Center for the Arts

[Bob Abelman]

Vocals, not visuals, win the day for Beck’s ‘Shrek: The Musical’ 



Bob Abelman

Cleveland Jewish News, The News Herald, The Morning Journal



Screen-to-stage productions are a mixed blessing and a diverse lot.



While theatrical stagings of live-action films like “Billy Elliot” and “The Producers” need only the addition of a musical score to facilitate the storytelling in the absence of editing, animated films like “The Lion King” and “Aladdin” require elaborate production values to compensate for the lack of computer generated imagery and cinematic artistry.



Try as it might with scenic designer Don McBride’s movable set pieces, Brittany Merenda’s often animated projections and Steve Shack’s lighting, Beck Center for the Arts’ production of “Shrek: The Musical” falls short of the film’s visual majesty and the higher-budgeted Broadway and touring productions’ bells and whistles.  Rented costumes, augmented by costumer Betty Pitcher, help fill the void but only to a point.



Not a problem, for this staging more than makes up the deficit in so many other ways.



For more of this article, go to www.clevelandjewishnews.com/columnists/bob_abelman/
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