"Shrek The Musical" by Good Companions Musical Theatre

Derby Theatre.

"Once upon a time, there was a little ogre named Shrek...." And thus begins the tale of an unlikely hero who finds himself on a life-changing journey alongside a wisecracking Donkey and a feisty princess who resists her rescue. Throw in a short-tempered bad guy, a cookie with an attitude and over a dozen other fairy tale misfits, and you've got the kind of mess that calls for a real hero. Luckily, there's one on hand... and his name is Shrek.

Tom Banks plays the main man, Shrek, and I can only imagine that he had a ball playing this character, and he really did get into character. It must be quite difficult to actually sing in a Scottish accent - then again, The Proclaimers do it all the time. Loved the light and shade of the vocals showing both the comic side of Shrek as well as the romantic side. Not sure if it was the heat of the lights but by the finale, the green pallor seemed to have faded a wee touch. But not the performance!

Jon Salt plays Donkey. Now this is a character that any actor would long to play because of the comedy value. The wise cracks and the wonderfully comic facial expressions made Jonny one of my favourite Donkeys. It was lovely to hear the audience right behind him when Shrek told him to go, treating the slow walk exit like a panto exit for the underdog. A great fun character.

Helen Perry is Princess Fiona. Now one thing that I know about Helen is that she has a gorgeous voice; full of power and control and knows how to bring the fun out of this character, especially in the duet with Shrek in "I Think I Got You Beat" and also in the song "I Know It's Today" where she gets to sing with her younger selves.

Playing Lord Farquaard is Martin Counter; and here is another wonderful comedy character. I do not wish to spoil anyone's illusion or burst a bubble but Martin is pretty nifty on his knees but looks like the intended cartoonish character to a knee, sorry to a tee. Brilliant costume as always for Farquaad and some brilliant throwaway comedy lines.

The Dragon is played by Cat Howourth, well the voice of the Dragon that is. What a vocal range Cat has and gorgeous as Cat is to look at and see her sing, for me, she slightly distracted me from watching the magnificent dragon puppet, and I was watching her sing and not the Dragon, operated by Andrew Buxton, Scott Mill and a third person whose name I couldn't spot in the programme. It was a lovely distraction all the same.

The role of Gingy is played by Lindsey Greasley, and here is another character that I love, due to the attitude. She wouldn't melt in a cup of coffee very quickly - I wonder though is Gingy male or female as a Ginger Nut, or both! Great feistiness provided by Lindsey.

This is a very big cast, ideal show for a big company like this one, so here's the rest of the characters that you can see onstage.

Rachel Wallace (The Queen of Hearts), Georgina Bateman (Pinocchio), Lucy Gazzard (Queen Lillian/Boy Duloc Dancer), Ollie Hand (King Harold/Guard/Knight), Chris England (Captain Of The Guard), Reema Frost (Little Pig/Duloc Boy Dancer/Rat), Clementine Morley (Little Pig), Stephen Mura (Little Pig/Knight), Louise Simcox (Mama Bear), Charlie Torry (Papa Bear/Boy Duloc Dancer/Guard/Knight), Jonty Banks (Mad Hatter/Guard/Knight), Cassie Barratt (Ugly Duckling/Boy Duloc Dancer/Rat), Emma Chadwick (Peter Pan/Girl Duloc Dancer/Rat), Julie Cook (Hansel), Brian Counter (White Rabbit), Melissa Crane (Puss In Boots/Girl Duloc Dancer), Heidi Hand (Fairy Godmother/Boy Duloc Dancer/Rat), Charlotte Hanser (Tweedle Dee/Greeter), Ellen Horton (Gretel), Hilary Leam (Humpty Dumpty/Blind Mouse/Mama Shrek), Phil Stanley (Papa Shrek/Thelonius/Bishop), Eleanor Mallinson (Sugar Plum Fairy/Rat), Debs McPherson (Wicked Witch/Blind Mouse), Jake Perry (Big Bad Wolf/Guard), Angela Plant (Tweedle Dum/Girl Duloc Dancer/Rat), Gary Rowley (The Shoemaker's Elf/Guard), Lisa Scott-savage (Pied Piper/Boy Duloc Dancer), Olivia Thompson (Red Riding Hood/Girl Duloc Dancer/Blind Mouse/Rat), Roxie Tucker (Tinkerbell/Girl Duloc Dancer/Rat), Rachel Wallace (Queen Of Hearts/Girl Duloc Dancer/Rat), Andrew Buxton (Guard/Dragon Operator) and Scott Mill (Guard/Knight/Dragon Operator).

And then we have the Junior Cast of Faye Barratt (Reen Fiona/Alice In Wonderland), Ebony Counter, Hannah Oldham and Jess Simcox (Baby Bear/Young Fiona/ Duloc Dancer/Grumpy Dwarf) and Millie Simcox (Young Shrek/Teen Fiona/Lost Boy).

Well, I did say that it was a BIG cast!

Directed by Phil Simcox, and assisted by Helen Oldham. All I can say is that they must have had a massive job on their hands with a cast this large, but they did an outstanding job.

And talking of mountainous jobs, I imagine that after this week, Stage Manager Steve Cole, will need more than one large drinks! What a job he has done making sure everyone was where they should have been, when they should've been.

Tom Bond is GCMT's Musical Director and he creates a big sound, to match the big cast. I don't know why but the whole sound seemed to coated in a hue of Celtic, and I loved this universal sound.

A wonderful musical soundtrack including some really catchy and beautiful songs, including "Big Bright Beautiful World", "Forever", "Who I'd Be", "I Think I Got You Beat", "When Words Fail" and the irritatingly catchy "Freak Flag", as well as the closing "I'm A Believer".

The choreography is by Jackie O'Brien, again a sterling job as there's lots of choreography in this almost three hour, with interval, production.

This is a really colourful show, not only with the incredible costumes, but with the Lighting Design by Jamie Vella and operated by Phil Simcox.

The Sound Design was by Harry Greatorex, operated by Phil Simcox and Chris Banks. There were issues with the sound mics on Wednesday night with some of the radio mics not working or working on and off. Lord Farquaad's mic kept cutting out throughout which meant that anyone over half way back would have missed some great comic lines. This may just have been faulty connections on the radio mic box, but not even these beyond control things could mar this production for me.

Loved the scenery, especially the wedding scene. The scenery was provided by UK Productions in Surrey.

So many things to mention and so many people to praise for this thoroughly entertaining piece of musical theatre, and you certainly get your money's worth!

BSL Signer, Sophie Probert, will also be signing on the Saturday evening performance.

Good Companions Musical Theatre will also be raising funds for Derby Kids Camp throughout their run with Shrek.

"Shrek The Musical" will be flying their freak flag at Derby Theatre until Saturday 5 November, but the whole week is SOLD OUT, but it may be worth making a move and calling the box office to see if there are any ticket cancellations, just in case.