In the animated version of "Shrek," the nasty little "villain," Lord Farquaad, is heads below everyone else. So when it was adapted as a Broadway musical, staff got creative to make the very tall actor Christopher Sieber very short. After first trying kneepads worn by umpires and catchers in the world of baseball, they got supremely technical, as reported in "Broadway Buzz": 

"Eventually, a designer from England came up with what we call “the Rig,” which is basically a big ol’ Frankenstein shoe that I put my knee in. It’s filled with all of this rubber shock-absorber material, and it works. It works really well. The knee pads have been upgraded, too, and run from the bottom of my shin to the top of my quad. Now I can bounce around and actually run on my knees without worrying about being hobbled for the rest of my life. It’s actually getting comfortable."

Attached to the front of his real legs were puppet legs on a device that allowed him to move them while "walking" and kick them out during dance numbers.

Our Lord Farquaad, played by Senior Jared Wilde, followed tradition by performing on his knees. While his acting and singing skills and his characterization were Broadway-worthy, our budget allowed for umpire/catcher's gear, not designer rigs. The photos in the attached gallery reveal his true height, his knee pads, and the fact that he actually towers over mom Tina and dad Corin when standing.

The show may be over, but we're not done sharing cool stories from behind the scenes of "Shrek, The Musical," and we hope you're not tired of reading them!

Starting with the Broadway production of "Shrek," which debuted in 2008, it's been a tradition that the role of Gingy be voiced by an actor but that the character be a puppet. The same was true of the PHS production.

Introducing the creator of our Gingy: Jerome Strode, a paraprofessional at PHS. He's been making puppets as a hobby for about six years.

To make our Gingy, he started over Christmas break and put in about 20 hours of work. He had to create the legs as separate pieces so that Lord Farquaad (portrayed by Senior Jared Wilde) can "rip them off" and toss them aside during the interrogation scene. Gingy was presented to Lord Farquaad by Senior Jon Commons, who was portraying Thelonius the Executioner, and hilariously was wearing an oven mitt.

"Gingy" was voiced and moved by Junior Olivia Joy, who also performed the roles of Teen Fiona, Tinkerbell, a Duloc Dancer, a Blind Mouse, and a Rat.

And now you know!

— Lydia Winters, PHS Junior 
and "Shrek Cast Member, and
Andra Stefanoni, Drama Mama

*Top photo courtesy of Stephen Rosebrough of TimeKeepers Photography​

In some respects, it got here too fast. In others, it's time. This is the day the cast, crew, pit band, parents, and audiences will say goodbye to "Shrek, The Musical" forever. For those of us who are "criers," that's hard. For those of us with piles of laundry who have been eating entirely too much fast food these last few weeks and have not gotten enough family time nor enough sleep, it will be welcome.

Actually, who are we kidding? — it will be hard for everyone. 

But that's show business. People give it their all and then it's done and you move on to the next show or the rest of your life. Along the way, you learn things, you experience things, you grow, you create memories, like you never could in any other way. Here's how it happened:

• Following auditions Nov. 30 — which happened immediately after PHS produced the amazing musical  "Band Geeks" — 40 cast members were chosen by Director Greg Shaw and Musical Director Susan Laushman for their ability to act, sing, and dance. In this show, they all had to be "triple threats" — able to do all three. 

• The immediately began blocking and vocal rehearsals nearly every weekday after school from at least 3:30 to 6 p.m., and dance rehearsals every weekend (with only a few exceptions) from 1 to 8 p.m. on Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. on Sundays. (See our previous blog entry about sisters Maggie and Mollie Stephens returning to Pittsburg from KC each weekend to teach and rehearse these numbers). All told, we count 165 hours each cast member put in to achieve the level of performance audiences have seen on stage this week. They learned 19 musical numbers.

• They learned how to apply complicated makeup and change costume after costume backstage — many while running to get to their next entrance as a different character — in sometimes less than 30 seconds because there are 117 characters in the play and 40 kids to perform them. They had to keep track of 70 wigs and 80 pairs of shoes (and if you are the parent of a teen, that's impressive, as in "real life" it's sometimes hard to keep track of one pair).

• The pit band members, meanwhile, rehearsed those 19 songs individually, together, and eventually with cast under the direction of PHS band teacher Cooper Neil. They play for more than 2 hours in this show — and many of them often went straight from rehearsal to basketball games to perform in pep band.

• Memorial Auditorium Director Jason Huffman and his crew, including Kirsten Burke, Caitie Almond, and Olivia Ellison, worked with PHS Tech Director Chuck Boyles and his student crew to design and install the lighting and sound, and to install the massive set pieces. Other Memorial staff took phone call after phone call for ticket sales, and kept the auditorium house, bathrooms, and other spaces clean and in tip-top shape for performers and audience members.

• Friends of PHS Performing Arts — a.k.a. "drama mamas" — handled coordinating the publicity (radio and TV spots, news releases, social media, Rotary and Chamber appearances, billboards, etc.) and lending support behind the scenes through contributions of food and bottled water for the cast, t-shirt sales, and concession stand sales.

• And then there were the parents. They drove the underage cast members to and from rehearsals, helped run lines at home, likely endured listening to their kids sing "Story of My Life" about 1,000 times, and all of the myriad of unseen things that get done in support of the show. The families of those involved, including those of the directors and Memorial staff, also put up with not getting to see them much at all for much of January and February, likely shouldering extra duties at home as a result.

But what has happened on stage as the culmination of all of that has been pure magic. Audience member Courtney Payne said it best in her message to us on Facebook after seeing the show: 

"I wanted to send my gratitude to you all for giving my family and I a night we will cherish forever! We rarely get a family night since our schedules are so busy, but we made time to go and see "Shrek the Musical" and I'm glad we did. It was a family night that will last us years!!!!! Thank you!!!!!"

Happy Last Show Day everyone, and thanks for the memories.

— Andra Stefanoni, PHS Drama Mama
(PHS Class of 1988 and Pittsburg Community Theatre Board Member)