By Rachel Burke and Madison Krzos, Photo by Madison Krzos

Argo Theater performed Shrek the Musical on May 4^th, 5^th and 6^th to close out their performing season in the Bulow Auditorium. Under the direction of Ms. Prochaska the main cast David Hernandez (Shrek), Katie Block (Fiona), Larry Henderson (Donkey) and the rest of the fairy-tale gang gave an overall amazing performance.

There was a lot of musical talent showcased in this production with familiar faces and new faces as well. Larry Henderson was the fan favorite every night and really shined as Donkey. He displayed a strong voice and good comedic timing, proving no one could pull the role off like him. Rose Mozier was a show stopper with her solo “Forever” near the end of the first act, and Natalie Cross established herself and her beautiful voice as a younger Fiona during Fiona’s opening song “I Know It’s Today”.

Backstage, Thespian President Klaudia Gorgon oversaw the sound, which was utilized a lot in this production especially with the clean sounding effects throughout the show that kept the crowd laughing. Stage Director Mackenzie Brodzinski revealed that the hardest part of being behind the scenes is dealing with costume changes, especially with this production because so many people had more than one costume.

Mozier played the Dragon along with other ensemble characters and partook in several costume changes. She admitted that it was so hard to deal with that she ended up layering the costumes. Sure, it was hot on stage but she said, “It’s all a part of putting on a show for you guys.” Jennifer Gutierrez also had many costume changes between being Pied Piper and a happy person but she said despite the changes she had a great time performing in her last theater production ever at Argo.

Of course, with any high school production there were some flaws. The set consisted of crafty swamp signs and outhouses but there was also a castle that was on stage the whole time, yet not utilized in many of the scenes. It was hard to distinguish when the castle was supposed to be there or when we were just supposed to ignore it. With the castle being the only big flaw there were certainly more good than bad elements in the production.

With Shrek the Musical all wrapped up and the Dick and Sharon Portillo Performing Arts Center on schedule for use in the 2017-18 school year, it looks like Shrek marked the end of an era. Luckily, Ms. Prochaska and co put on a stellar performance and definitely were ogre-achievers.