North High’s fall production of Shrek the Musical opened last night, November 3. Audience members of all ages loved the show and many will be returning to see the show again. Many audience members said Shrek was “hilarious,” and, “a lot of fun!”

Sammie Bonko, a junior at North who plays Fiona, has been working hard and preparing this roles since nearly the beginning of the school year. She tells that, “I feel ready to open.” The cast has been rehearsing for months and is ready to have an audience.

Cast members have been working very hard to be ready for the show and keep up with school work. Sammie says, “Rehearsals have been tiring, but a lot of fun.” Many hours of rehearsal may not sound fun, but now that the show is open, all of the work is worth it for cast members to put on this show.

The week leading up to opening night is called tech week. It consists of long hours at school, full hair, makeup and costumes, microphones, lights, and can be extremely stressful for the actors and crew. “Sammie explains, In tech week we run the show every night with full costumes and makeup to prepare for the show, it’s exhausting but fun!”

Many people are familiar with the movie Shrek, that the musical is based off of, but the musical tells the story though new songs and dances that are not seen in the movie. One song that is specific to the musical is called Morning Person. Fiona sings this song about , well, being a morning person along with the help of tap dancing rats and the Pied Piper. Sammie’s “favorite part of the show is doing the tap dance.”

Shrek has many different fairy tale creatures and requires lots of big, colorful makeup. Some actors use their regular makeup while some have air brushed makeup. Mason Wold, who plays Donkey, gets his show make up air brushed on and along with his costume, looks just like Donkey.

Mason says, “Opening night went really well! This show is a lot of fun and I’m exited to share it with an audience.” Shrek runs Thursday through Saturday November 3rd-11th. Sammie says, “people should come see it because it’s funny as heck!”