Patrick Fergus
@Fergus5Fergus
Crowds of friends, families and members of the Springfield College community funneled into the Fuller Arts Center over the weekend as the Best of Broadway club performed “Shrek: The Musical.” As their main show of the spring semester, the club had been rehearsing for months, and finally showed off their hard work in front of an active crowd.
Sal Fazio starred as the title character, and did well at portraying the grumpy but caring lead of the production. With so much time on stage, Fazio and his castmates worked tirelessly to memorize every line, move and scene.
“Taking that time to put in the work, it definitely helps,” Fazio said about the process of getting off-book. “Everyone’s put in so much work, whether it’s during rehearsal or outside of rehearsal…seeing it come together [is] rewarding.”
His chemistry with his partner in crime the Donkey, played by Elijah Colon-Mendez, was a highlight of the show, with Mendez nailing the goofy persona and impressive comedic timing.
Other performances included Maegan Boucher as Princess Fiona, Madison McDonough as the Dragon and Amanda Simpson as Pinocchio, all bringing dynamic and vibrant performances in their own right. Zachary Wildman, who was scooting across the stage on his knees for the entirety of his performance as Lord Farquad, was another standout comedic performer.
The fairytale ensemble brought together the story, with many students who played recognizable faces like Peter Pan and the Mad Hatter. Many members of the ensemble played two, even three different parts.
Sloane Rivers, who played the Baby Bear, as well as a couple of other roles, said the selection was deliberately a more well-known show like Shrek.
“I think it’s super uplifting and super funny,” Rivers said. “We’re not a super well-known club on campus, so we definitely wanted to choose a show that would bring in an audience, so we could reach a larger amount of people.”
The club went through the task of acquiring the rights for Shrek, which was their number one option during the selection process.
“We picked it at the right time,” said Rivers. “We have to pay for the rights, and with it being Dreamworks, it can be a little bit harder.”
Rivers also co-directed the production with Mackenzie Doyle.
Luckily for the audience, cast and crew, they didn’t have to deal with canned background tracks of the songs. A live pit was set up on the left of the auditorium, directly below the stage, and was led by Daniel Monte, accompanying the cast on the piano.
All together, the months of singing, dancing, memorizing lines and becoming their characters paid off, as the cast and crew delivered a memorable weekend.
Photo by of Patrick Fergus/TheStudent