Ogres – as we know from the hilarious 2001 animated film Shrek – are like onions.
Onions have layers…ogres have layers.
Watch those layers get peeled back as Vernon’s Center Stage Performing Arts Academy’s Lights of Broadway goes green this month, bringing the uproarious musical Shrek to center stage at the Powerhouse Theatre.
It’s the 23rd season of Lights of Broadway bringing full-scale Broadway shows to the stage each spring.
“The large cast of 23 all auditioned to be in this theatre-intensive company,” said Shrek director Charity Van Gameren. “The end result is a professional production that will leave audiences thrilled to have been a part of such an exciting show.”
Shrek will run Friday and Saturday, May 24 and 25, at 7 p.m., Sunday, May 26, at 2 p.m., and May 30, May 31, and June 1, at 7 p.m. at the Powerhouse Theatre on 35th Avenue.
“It’s our first time at the Powerhouse, a smaller, more intimate venue, and we’re very excited about that,” said Van Gameren. “We’re also excited to be back on an actual stage performing in front of a live audience.”
Based on the Dreamworks animation film, Shrek follows the story of a nasty ogre who lives alone on a swamp until his peaceful life is put on hold when a caravan of fairytale creatures show up as they have been banished from the Kingdom of Duloc by the villainous half pint Lord Farquaad.
Shrek decides to rectify the situation and travels to Duloc. Along the way, the ogre encounters a chatty Donkey and a very strange friendship begins.
No story would be complete without a princess and Princess Fiona is awaiting her true love to come rescue her from a dragon-guarded tower. Shrek and Donkey become her hero in this exciting adventure.
Aria Kinnigburgh dons the green makeup as Shrek; Ayva Pringle plays Fiona; in the role of Donkey is Morgan Chaun; and Marina Land portrays Lord Farquaad.
“The music, composed by Jeanine Tesori, is exciting, upbeat, heartwarming and full of storytelling,” said Van Gameren. “A musical that the whole family will love combined with a fairytale for the ages, this is a theatrical spectacle between incredible costuming, a lighting display and a set that will transport you to a kingdom far, far away.”
Lights of Broadway brings the best of Broadway through months of intensive preparation. Working alongside the actors and Van Gameren are choreographer Cherise McInnis; acting coach Sarah Mori Jones; and choral coach Heidi Hewitt.
Tickets for Shrek can be purchased through https://centerstageperformingartsacademy.com/vernonevents.
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