By Chris Hagan
Review Staff Writer
Rochester Hills based performance group, the Peanut Gallery Players, will present Shrek the Musical at Meadow Brook, and a Lake Orion sophomore will play the role of the large green ogre.
Jason Donaven will grace the stage as Shrek along with 62 other cast members.
The idea to do Shrek the Musical was from Artistic Director Stacy Cleaveland. She began considering Shrek at the start of the year after seeing the students in her fall performance group.
Auditions were then held in late June marking the beginning of the seven week program which wraps up next week with three performances, taking place August 4-6.
Shrek, which takes its story from the 2001 animated comedy, tells the story of an ogre who embarks on a life-changing adventure. Joined by a wisecracking donkey, the unlikely hero fights a fearsome dragon, rescues a feisty princess, and learns that friendship and love aren’t only found in fairy tales.
“This is my favorite program to do, I love it, the kids are great, and a show like Shrek we are getting a lot of interesting interpretations of things which I love,” Cleaveland said.
“Shrek offers a lot of interesting and over the top sort of fairytale characters that I thought that group would identify with and I think it has a good message, I think it’s fun, I think the characters are interesting, and would appeal to this age group to perform.”
The 63 member cast features Donaven, who also starred in West Side Story back in April at the high school, Katie Lane-Waters from Rochester as Princess Fiona, McKenna Reynolds, also from Rochester, as Donkey and Tyler Hohf from Shelby Township as Lord Farquaad.
There will also be 12 technical and backstage members helping with lighting, set design, and stage management.
The performances will take place at Meadow Brook Theatre on the campus of Oakland University.
Performing at Meadow Brook adds some challenges due to its size. The space doesn’t allow for easy set movement so set builders have to design and build sets that can be disassembled so they can be moved from rehearsal to the final stage.
“I have to say this is the biggest show I’ve done because everything is bigger with Shrek,” Cleaveland said. “The costumes are bigger, the sets are bigger, and the acting is bigger.”
The Peanut Gallery Players began in 2008, and the name came from the Howdy Doody children’s radio show, which adopted the term “peanut gallery” to represent the audience of children. The name resonates with Cleaveland as her father would jokingly say to her, “that’s enough from the peanut gallery.”
“I sit down and I just watch the show and that’s my favorite thing because what ever happens, it’s all the students, all the time, onstage and off.” she said.
“It’s so exciting for me because when things go wrong they get out of it, when things go right, they enjoy it, opening night is always the most glorious moment.”
Tickets are $15 for adults and $12 for students and seniors. Groups of 12 or more should call for group discounts.
Tickets are available by calling 248-885-5129, at www.peanutgalleryplayers.org or at the door on performance days two hours before curtain.
Performance times are 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, August 4, and Friday, August 5, as well as a 2 p.m. matinee on Saturday, August 6th.
Meadow Brook Theatre is located on the campus of Oakland University in Rochester Hills.