Area Attractions: Shrek at the CTC (MN)

Disclosure: This post is part of a three-part series about a blogger preview event I attended.

If you're from Minnesota, you may know that the Children's Theatre Company is putting on Shrek the Musical through June 15. It was so popular that before the production even started, they added a week. I had a chance to talk to the choreographer and view part of a rehearsal, and I definitely think people will enjoy it as much as they think they will.

The lead, Reed Sigmund, has carried off every role I've seen him do quite well. He has no problem poking fun at himself either (his bio states "Reed Sigmund (Shrek) is pround and honored that he possesses all the qualities deemed necessary to portray a hideous and flatulent ogre"). He stars next to his wife, Autumn Ness, a lovely lady who plays Fiona. If you go see it, pay special attention to the staging - with pieces built just for this production and movement that has to deal with ramps, stairs, and large holes in the floor, the actors still manage to move around effortlessly. Each actor really manages to take on the movement of their character, too, from the stiff-armed gingerbread doll to the wooden puppet Pinocchio.

If you liked the movie, this promises to be an excellent production. We haven't been disappointed with any CTC show. You can try for the $10 tickets available at the box office each Sunday for the following week, but as popular as this show is, those will be hard to get!