CREATING THE FAIRY TALE LAND OF ‘SHREK’

Story of the big green ogre and a community of ‘freaks’ made popular by the 2001 major motion picture hitting the Schmeckfest stage next week

Since they began in 1967, Schmeckfest stage productions have taken audiences around the world — from the Ukrainian village of Anatevka to the Land of Oz; from the rolling hills of Austria to a mysterious hamlet in Scotland; from the muddy waters of the Mississippi River to the Garden of Eden; and twice audiences have been transported to Iowa, first to River City and then to the Iowa State Fair.

This year, a brand-new destination is in store: a storybook land inhabited by a host of freaks.

“Shrek the Musical” will take the Pioneer Hall stage next week as part of the 63rd annual Schmeckfest set for Friday and Saturday, March 15 and 16 at Freeman Academy. The show will also be presented Thursday, March 14; curtain time is 7:30 p.m. all three nights.

It’s another new-look for a local musical tradition that cut its teeth and built its reputation on classic shows like “Fiddler on the Roof,” “The Sound of Music,” “The Music Man” and “Pirates of Penzance.” To that end, this year’s show is not your grandparents’ Schmeckfest musical.

But Joshua Hofer, who plays the title role in “Shrek,” believes it’s a good musical for Schmeckfest because — like “Godspell” of 2018 and “Into the Woods” of 2009 — it breaks the mold and demonstrates a willingness and ability to introduce different kinds of shows.

“It really opens up audiences to new things,” he said. “The classics are really valuable and we’ve done a lot of those, but they’re 75 and 80 years old. Theatre is a living medium reflecting the times when those musical were written, and newer shows like this connect with the younger generations, and that’s exactly what we need.”

Also going to bat for “Shrek the Musical” is the person who suggested it to the program committee that produces the shows — artistic director Iwona Lewter.

“I’ve always liked it and I wanted to do something that was different from your typical Schmeckfest musical,” said Lewter, who is the junior-senior high school chorus director and theater teacher at Freeman Public and is making her Schmeckfest directoral debut. “I kind of wanted to experiment — see how far we can go. And I guess we can go pretty far.”

“Shrek the Musical” is relatively new.

Based on the animated children’s movie that was released in 2001, it follows the trials of a green ogre named Shrek living in solitude in a swamp before being befriended by a group of fairytale creatures who were banished from the Kingdom of Duloc by Lord Farquaad (Evan Waltner). Shrek reluctantly agrees to accompany the gang back to their kingdom to confront their evil ruler and, along the way, encounters a number of other characters including a Donkey (Brennan Waltner) he rescues from Farquaad’s guards and a princess in Fiona (Clara Beseman), whom he falls in love with.

“Shrek the Musical” played on Broadway from 2008 to 2010 with a national tour beginning that year. It has been staged once before locally — by Freeman High School in 2015.

Lewter makes two clarifications about the production: The songs and attention to character development are both different from the movie, and “Shrek the Musical” is not something only children will enjoy. On the contrary, she says.

“The music is just amazing and the show has so much to it,” Lewter says. “Shrek says that ogres have layers like onions have layers; well, this musical has layers. It’s about embracing differences in ourselves and other people. It’s good to expose those differences and not worry about them. We’re not the same and we don’t all have to be the same. I don’t know that people think about ‘Shrek’ that way, but that’s really at the heart of the show.”

Lewter, who is also co-director of the Freeman Area Children’s Choir alongside Amber Bradley (“Shrek’s choral director), was approached about directing last summer and jumped at the opportunity.

“At first I was surprised; how would they know if I can handle it?” she says, noting that her local director resume includes only children’s and school productions. “I was also really honored because I saw how amazing the performance of ‘State Fair’ was last year. So I thought, ‘Yeah, sure.’”

And it’s been great from the get-go.

“I was a little worried that, because I picked this musical, not a lot of people would show up to auditions, but — yep — I was able to fill every part right away,” says Lewter, who has a degree in acting and musical performance from a musical theater college in her homeland of Poland, where she was a professional actor until coming to the United States.

She also music-directed performances for the Dakota Academy of Performing Arts at the Washington Pavilion and was an elementary music and theater director at elementary schools in Sioux Falls before coming to Freeman Public in 2019.

Lewter also discovered quickly how seriously the folks involved with the Schmeckfest musical take it. In fact, she was surprised at the first read-through/sing-through on Jan. 5 how many of the leads already knew their music.

“That was amazing,” she said. “It’s been great from the beginning.”

Flying the ‘freak flag’

This year’s musical is being prepared by a team of more than 120 men, women and children of all ages, from a cast of 40, orchestra of 11 and a production crew the number of which is well into the dozens.

Among them is local artist Michelle L. Hofer, who designed her first Schmeckfest musical set for “Cinderella” in 2006 and, since 2012, has been the visual mastermind behind every show except one and has, in more recent years, taken on lighting design as well.

Between the set itself, costuming and other requirements, Hofer believes the production value of “Shrek the Musical” will be the highest in the history of the Schmeckfest musical. The 31 pieces that will be used to transform the stage into the fantasy world of Shrek are more than she has ever had built, surpassing 2012’s “The Wizard of Oz” by three. And this year she’s taken on a new task — puppet design.

“Everything about this show is big, so one tries to economize where one can,” says Hofer. “So I have one large main piece that functions in four different ways, and even then I have more pieces than ever before.”

“Michelle is just awesome,” says Lewter. “I was told we can do anything and whatever I throw at Michelle she can handle. She comes up with great ideas and has a great imagination. The sky’s the limit.”

The scope and scale of the show will be seen elsewhere, as well, including in what will be a richly costumed production. Kris Carlson, who co-chairs costumes alongside Jill Hofer, says — like the set — “Shrek the Musical” requires another level of attention.

“It’s not the number of people in the cast, it’s how multi-cast every person is and how many costumes that creates,” she says. “And these aren’t pioneer dresses or soldiers. Every single one is a unique and fanciful thing that we had to create from scratch.

There’s not much overlap in our collection that exists with Shrek characters,” she continues. “There are lots of special-effect things and quick-change things; people should have fun picking out fairy tale characters they know.

“There’s a lot of fun, quirky, creative stuff.”

That will be seen in other areas headed up by Libby Miller with assistance from Aprille Birkey, who are charged with helping create characters through wigs, makeup and prosthetics — also a monumental task.

“I cannot recall a show, including “Wizard,” that has this type of bizzarro hair, makeup and prosthetic changes,” Carlson says. “And some of them happen very fast.”

As for those wearing the costumes and utilizing the set pieces created just for them, this year’s cast features a wide range of Schmeckfest musical veterans and first-timers, some of whom are children taking the stage with their parents.

Among the most seasoned actors involved are Janet Vargas (villager), Tim L. Waltner (Papa Ogre/Bishop) and Sonja Waltner (Mama Ogre/villager), who have been on stage a combined 61 times, as well as Monte Waltner (Big Bad Wolf), who has made an appearance on stage in every Schmeckfest musical since 1977.

Monte says seeing the level of involvement from a younger generation “is almost a relief; it’s nice to see other people taking up the mantle.”

And an ability to stage a show like “Shrek” shows just how far the Schmeckfest musical has come.

“The other day I was talking with some of the older cast members, who were in the shows with me when I was younger, about how we have taken this to another level,” he said. “There is a level of appreciation for what we are putting on for the people out in the audience that wasn’t there years and years ago.”

And Monte believes the audience will have as much fun watching “Shrek” as the cast and crew are having getting it ready.

“It’s different and not your typical Schmeckfest show,” he says, “but it’s colorful and will be well-received.”

Among the newcomers this year is Nadia Mudder (Gingy/Dragonette/villager), the principal at Menno High School who is joined on stage by her daughter, Audrey (Dish/villager), a sixth grader in Menno. Nadia is in her second year as principal in Menno and was urged to take part in the Schmeckfest musical by Lois Wollman, the school’s librarian who has been a regular on stage in more recent years.

“I’ve always loved theater; I was involved in high school and college and tried to get involved in community theater as much as I could,” said Nadia, who grew up in New Jersey, was the theater director in Wagner before coming to Menno, and most recently took the stage as Maria in “The Sound of Music” staged by Mitchell Area Community Theatre in 2021.

And being part of “Shrek the Musical” has been a thrill.

“There are some seriously talented people involved and I’m honored to be part of it,” she said. “Getting to know people in Freeman has been lovely. Everybody is so polite and kind and I’m amazed at how professional everyone is.”

And she notes how compartmentalized the approach is.

“You have all these different teams doing their thing,” Mudder says. “There’s the director and the musical direction and somebody working on sets, and you have people just doing costumes and just working on set design.

“It’s been an incredible experience.”

As for being on stage with her daughter, that has been pretty great, too.

“It’s kind of a dream come true,” she said. “I’ve always wanted my kids to love theater as much as I do.”

Opening night nears

Rehearsals have been intensifying in recent weeks. The cast and orchestra held their sitzprobe (a German word for “seated rehearsal”) Sunday afternoon in the Freeman Academy instrumental room and the plan was to introduce additional technical elements starting this week. Full runs will begin Thursday night with dress rehearsals taking place next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Ready or not, the show will open next Thursday and will usher in another “first” in the long history of Schmeckfest.

“It’s been a ton of fun,” says Joshua Hofer. “All of us get to come every night and sing good music and goof around and be loose. The challenge is you’ve got to show up every night and bring energy, but it’s been worth it. And it’s been very fulfilling to see a younger cast on stage and have Iwona and Amber lead us.

“They both have a lot of energy and have been great to work with. It’s neat to see.”