The 2001 Oscar-winning film “Shrek” is loved by people of all ages because it tells the story of an ogre and a cursed princess, two social outcasts who find love. The musical adaptation, based on the film, shares a similarly heartfelt story about accepting oneself and others.
Saguaro City Music Theatre will stage “Shrek the Musical” from Friday, June 27, to Sunday, June 29.
“Shrek” will open the 2025 season. The company will also be putting on “My Fair Lady” and “Annie.”
“Shrek” is a Theatre for Young Audiences production. It has a runtime of 90 minutes, which includes an intermission.
The show will feature a cast of adult actors and youth from the Studio Arts Presents summer camp program.
Saguaro City Studio Arts, the educational wing of Saguaro City Music Theatre, offers tuition-free, inclusive arts education throughout the year.
During a three-week musical theater camp, students from various backgrounds and skill levels get the chance to rehearse and perform in a professional-grade musical theater production. They develop skills like choreography and staging.
The 11 adult actors also serve as teaching artists, guiding the 61 students, who range in age from 6 to 17 years old.
The show highlights the themes of accepting others and embracing being different. It features popular characters from the film such as Shrek, Princess Fiona, Donkey and Lord Farquaad.
Drew Humphrey, the producing artistic director and CEO of Saguaro City, emphasized the importance of finding roles for campers that align with their skill sets and abilities. He said that the script allows for a large cast.
“What we really try to do is to figure out the best way to give each camper a challenge that is unique to them, to take all of their gifts and make sure that we are celebrating them in a unique way,” Humphrey said. “Sometimes, that’s playing a character like the dragon, or it’s playing a character like Farquaad, but it can also be the Pied Piper leading a parade of rats…Or playing a bluebird. There are opportunities to have multiple bluebirds. There’s no limit on the number of rats that can follow the Pied Piper. We try to find opportunities in this script and this story, which provides so much permission to feature everyone in a very unique and special way,” Humphrey said.
Humphrey said that with a show like “Shrek,” audiences will come in with pre-conceived notions.
The creative team has working together to find versions of Duloc and the characters that honor the original film but are unique to their production.
“We’ve been talking a lot about how to meet those expectations but also give ourselves as a production as much permission to be as creative as we want and to bring the audience along into our world of ‘Shrek,’” Humphrey said.
“So many people come in with an idea of what they think Shrek should look like. We want to meet expectations of our audiences, but we also want to have the freedom and the permission to tell Shrek in the way that we only we can.”
The show uses puppets for Dragon and nursery rhyme characters.
Humphrey said students have the opportunity to use their imaginations and contribute ideas to the show.
More experienced campers often mentor newcomers.
“It’s part of the natural environment of a theater. It always provides that opportunity to learn from one another. We all can take ourselves to school on someone else’s experience or expertise,” Humphrey said.
For the production, Nina Christenson served in dual roles, as the costume designer and wardrobe supervisor.
She sewed as a child and made clothing for her friends in college, but she didn’t get into costume design until her daughter joined a children’s theater.
“That’s how I got started in the costume department. I am a teacher by training. I was there, and I knew how to do it. I’ve been doing it for almost 15 years now,” Christenson said.
For the production of “Shrek,” she has worked very closely with the makeup designer.
“It requires a lot of makeup to make believe. Shrek is green, and he has a specific nose and his little ears,” Christenson said.
Christenson started working with Saguaro City for their production of “Seussical,” which, like “Shrek,” is similarly set in a fictional place, with fantastical characters.
Christenson said that she often thinks about colors and their meanings when designing costumes.
“It’s pretend, so you have to play a lot with imagination. I try always for the characters to tell a story with the colors they wear… Shrek has green skin, but that doesn’t mean he is a bad being. He just happens to be an ogre,” Christenson said.
“When he’s 7, his parents send him away, and they give him a little brown bag lunch with his boots in case it rains. They’re preparing him for this life he’s going to have in the future. He knows he’s going to have a hard life. How can you create this character who has a hard life but also has a big heart, a heart of compassion? What am I going to put in that outfit to show a heart of kindness? I thought a little pink in his pants, or maybe his belt can have some pink. That’s how I always try to tell a story with colors.”
“Fiona wears that green dress. Green is usually a color of envy, but it’s also the color of growth… Flowers are green. Trees are green. Grass is green, and it grows.”
Christenson said that when the campers put on the costumes, she can see their transformation.
“They light up when you put something fun on them,” Christenson said.
“They go, ‘I love it. I love it.’ It fills me. I do think of the audience, but in the end, I want the students to have a meaningful experience backstage and also on the stage… I always tell them,’ Can you twirl with your outfit?’ They do and love it.”
Christenson said that for the show, they have rented, borrowed and made costumes.
“Tucson has a rich theater community, and you can ask them, ‘Hey, do you have this? May I borrow it from you?’ I’m going to say 99% of the time, they always say, ‘Yes.’ It’s a big family. We are doing the same thing with a different flavor. That’s how you can get many things done,” Christenson said.
“In the summer, I am so blessed to have interns from Pima Community College. These interns are so creative. They are wonderful workers. The best part is they want to learn…Working with Pima Community College also makes a difference because it provides resources and offers guidance from experienced professionals. So, you can ask them, ‘How would you do this?’ You can pick their brains, and they come up with ideas and suggestions for you.”
The sound and lighting designers have also had interns helping them.
The camp takes place on the PCC campus. Campers get a chance to get a behind-the-scenes look at how the costumes, sets and other elements come together.
Christenson said the show’s message really speaks to her personally.
“I love this story very, very much. I know it very well…We want to be prettier on the outside instead of being prettier in the inside… As you get older, you’re not as pretty as you were, but your inside gets better as you get older, if you work on it,” Christenson said.
Humphrey said the story has an important lesson, from which the campers and audiences can learn.
“The story just talks so much about how ‘I see myself differently than the world sees me.’ We can all relate to that, particularly a lot of our campers that have exceptional needs or diagnoses that has the world interact with them or see them in a different way than they see themselves. To show that what’s underneath is what matters the most, that’s the main theme of this whole story,” Humphrey said.
This article appears in 06-19-2025.