You might have walked into the Emerald City. The art deco auditorium of Hammersmith’s Apollo is bathed in green light, the stage dressed with a curtain of ivy. But we’re meeting an ogre not a wizard and, this being Shrek, he’s in the outhouse taking a dump.
There’s plenty more toilet humour to come in this revival of Jeanine Tesori and David Lindsay-Abaire’s 2008 musical, based on the 2001 Oscar winner and William Steig’s book, now in London after a UK and Ireland tour. With booming narration, it is played at the volume of a pantomime and comes with panto’s random topical references (to Jude Bellingham and Baby Reindeer). There are some game performances – and Cherece Richards is on fire with a sensational singing voice as the Dragon – but the show becomes bogged down by its sludgy monotony and often unmemorable songs.
