Broadway tours bring 'Shrek,' improv musical to Tulsa area this weekend
BY JAMES D. WATTS JR. World Scene Writer
Thursday, February 14, 2013
2/14/13 at 5:56 AM
Two very different Broadway shows will be in the Tulsa vicinity this weekend.
One is based on a beloved animated film. The other has yet to be written.
The first is the current touring production of "Shrek: The Musical," which translates the 2001 film about a gentle, green ogre who just wants to be left alone, a hyperactive donkey who manages to get everyone in trouble and the beautiful princess they try to rescue.
"Shrek" takes the story of the film - a satiric twist on classic fairy tales, with send-ups of everything from Pinocchio to the Three Little Pigs - and augments it with 18 songs by composer Jeanine Tesori and lyricist-playwright David Lindsey-Abaire, along with the Monkees' "I'm a Believer."
Perry Sook, who studied musical theater at the University of Oklahoma, has the title role, with Whitney Winfield as Princess Fiona, Jeremy Gaston as Donkey, and Christian Marriner as Lord Farquaad.
The tour will make two stops in northeastern Oklahoma. It will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at the Broken Arrow PAC, 701 S. Main St. Tickets are $20-$60, and can be ordered by calling 918-259-5778, or online at tulsaworld.com/mytix
The show will then travel north for one performance at 7:30 p.m. Monday at the Bartlesville Community Center, 300 S.E. Adams Blvd. Tickets are $16-$57, and are available by calling 918-336-2787, or online at tulsaworld.com/bcc
'Next Hit'
The other Broadway show in the region this weekend is "The Next Hit Broadway Musical," which could be just about anything the audience that will gather Saturday evening at Claremore's Robson PAC wants it to be.
This show, which has been playing around New York City since 2009, has a completely improvised evening, in which audience members are asked to write down titles to songs from an imaginary musical.
These are then taken on stage, cards are chosen at random, and the cast proceeds to create and perform that song from scratch, complete with the dramatic action that sets up said song, as an entry in a makeshift awards show.
The song that gets the most applause during the first act of the show becomes the inspiration for the second act, as the cast fleshes out the rest of the "musical" from which the award-winning song came.
The New York Times called it "hilarious," and the New York Post described the show as a prime example of "something that few improvisers anywhere have the talent, experience and wit to do successfully ... a spontaneity, wit and inventiveness that must be seen to be believed."
Show time is 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Robson PAC, 101 E. Stuart Roosa Blvd. in Claremore.
A catered dinner prior to the show is also available, beginning at 5:30 p.m. Tickets for dinner and show are $55 and can be ordered only by calling 918-923-4290. Tickets for the show only are $37, and are available by calling 918-596-7111 or online at tulsaworld.com/mytix
Original Print Headline: Broadway comes to town
James D. Watts Jr. 918-581-8478
james.watts@tulsaworld.com
Associated Images:
Perry Sook plays the title role in "Shrek: The Musical," with performances at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at the Broken Arrow PAC and 7:30 p.m. Monday at the Bartlesville Community Center. Tickets are $20-$60 in Broken Arrow and $16-$57 in Bartlesville. Courtesy photo
University of Oklahoma graduate Perry Sook stars as Shrek in "Shrek: The Musical." Courtesy photo
"The Next Hit Broadway Musical" has a completely improvised evening, driven by audience participation. Show time is 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Robson PAC in Claremore. Courtesy photo
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