Review - Things I'm Honor-Bound Not To Tell You About 'Shrek, The Musical'

Never one to refuse a complimentary martini or two at Sardi's (remember that the next time you spot me spreading an extra shmear of that cheddar cheese concoction over crackers at the upstairs bar), I too was invited to attend the presentation of three songs from the upcoming musical version of Shrek that Michael Riedel wrote about with his usual passion and adoration for the art of musical theatre in his column a few weeks ago and again yesterday morning.

Unfortunately, I was at a disadvantage at that little gathering, where composer Jeanine Tesori at piano accompanied Sutton Foster, Chris Sieber and a pair of talented young ladies through a few of her collaborations with bookwriter and lyricist David Lindsay-Abaire. See, I was invited with the understanding that the material presented was not to be reviewed in any manner. So when I read the gentleman's less than enthused opinion of their music and lyrics, as well as his flat out statement that those involved are not making art - that they're in it just for the money - I could only assume that Riedel was not asked to honor such an agreement, for Riedel is an honorable man.

It's a shame that I am honor-bound not to express any opinions of what I saw that evening, otherwise I would have been delighted to inform my dear readers that, even though I walked into Sardi's not having seen any of the Shrek movies nor knowing anything of the musical's original source material, I enjoyed Tesori's perfectly charming music and laughed quite a bit at the cleverness of Abaire's character-specific lyrics which demonstrated an entertaining knack for story-telling. It's really tearing me apart that I can't quote any of the funny lyrics from a song they wrote for the character Farquaad, making reference to his celebrity parent.

I'm sure the popularity of the source material is going help make Shrek a commercial hit, but once hearing the story and style explained to me I can see how a writer or a composer can be artistically attracted to the project. I mean, this isn't like Edward Albee signing up to write the book for Spamalot. And even if it were, just because a show seems like a sure-fire money maker doesn't mean it can't wind up actually being good. And if the team behind Shrek can come up with two hours and twenty minutes of the same quality as the ten that I saw at Sardi's, I'd say this one has a shot at being very good.

Oh wait, that was an opinion. Forget that I wrote that, okay?