It'll be a few more years before the fourth Shrek movie marks the return of the grumpy green ogre, but diehard fans can head to Broadway this fall to find him live and in the flesh. Yes, the little corner of hell-- I mean, Times Square-- that has seen Tarzan swinging from vines and Ariel swimming/rollerskating onstage will also bring us Shrek: The Musical, opening in Seattle in September before moving to Broadway in December.
USA Today has the first look at the actor who will play the titular character, Brian D'Arcy James, a Broadway veteran recently seen in Spamalot. The process of getting into costume apparently takes over two hours, and James finds himself in a costume so unwieldy there's not even time for bathroom breaks. "There's no escape route in it, if you will. Ogres have very large bladders, but I'm definitely going to be mindful of my coffee intake."
It's useless at this point to complain about the bastardization of Broadway thanks to constant adaptations of movies into musicals. The Little Mermaid and Mary Poppins and the one that started it all, The Lion King, bring families into the theater by droves, and keep Broadway alive. So my only hope for Shrek: The Musical is that it's good enough to justify its lead actor getting into such an uncomfortable looking costume.
