Fairy-tale fun onstage in ShrektheMusical

JulieMacLellan

jmaclellan@newwestrecord ca

RebeccaVander Zalm is clearly not a large green ogre with a Scottish accent, and Scotia Browner is patently not a princess with a deep, dark secret ter,” she explains.

Rebecca agrees

Onstage

What: Shrek the Musical, presented by NWSS

When: Thursday, March 2 through Saturday, March 4. Evening shows at 7 p.m.; Saturday matinee at 2 p m

Where:

But they admit to finding pieces of themselves in the characters they’re playing in Shrek the Musical New Westminster Secondary School’s musical theatre program is bringing the family-friendly production to the stage March 1 to

4 at Massey Theatre.

Tickets:

For Scotia, the musical resonates because of its core message of being true to who you are a message as important in the hallways of a high school as it is in the land of Far, Far Away

“It’s actually OK to be the theatre kid, to be odd, because you will be loved by the right people, you know, the people that mat-

“It does feel kind of personal the message of ‘What makes us special makes us stronger,’” she says “People that do theatre, they also get made fun of for doing it But going on the stage and doing it anyway is sort of proving the message: Even if we’re made fun of, it’s not going to stop us from pursuing it and making this creation ”

And, just like the fairy-tale creatures in Shrek find their own group of “weirdos” well, so too have the cast and crew of this production

A chat with five of the students over their lunch hour is full of easy banter, laughter and obvious camaraderie

It helps that Shrek and Donkey Rebecca and Shantei Leal are close friends in real life, so it wasn’t a stretch to become an inseparable duo on- stage

“I think for us the challenge was because we’re not very touchy people, and Donkey and Shrek, they have these moments that are supposed to be really genuine and serious, but because we’re not touchy people we tend to giggle and laugh,” Shantei says with a laugh.

“Shrek hates it and so do I, so it’s all good,” Rebecca adds wryly

Their natural chemistry has expanded to include their castmates including Christian Duarte, playing the villain Lord Farquaad (yes, he has to play the vertically challenged character while kneeling, and, yes, he’s adapting just fine to the knee pads that are part of his costume)

He’s clearly unfazed by the ribbing of his castmates, who joke that Duarte is exactly the same in real life as he is in his onstage evil persona.

“I really do love it,” Christian says “I just think that being a villain allows me to be just so ”

“In your element?” interjects Scotia, as the students laugh in a way that suggests they may have had this conversation before

“I just think it allows me to express myself in a very different way that I personally do like,” Christian continues “I feel that as Farquaad I can just not be me, per se, but also have more of a punch than other characters, and I just like that ”

Scotia, too, has embraced the chance to play her character, the princessturned-ogre who finds an unconventional happily ever after.

“She’s such a firecracker,” Scotia says “Yes, she’s a princess who wants to be saved, and she wants a happy ending But she’s