Shrek The Musical to be released on DVD and Blu Ray

[ShyViolet]

http://variety.com/2013/biz/news/dreamw ... 200588463/

[Randall]

I'm actually pretty excited to see this. Looks like fun.

[Gleedaniel13]

It is more fun to watch videos that are on Blu ray. Excited to see the finish product.

[Randall]

I watched this with my girl this weekend, and really liked it a lot--- better than the film, for sure. The stage show has a more fully-rounded story, a bigger theme, great songs, and much better performances (I'm referring here to the film's stilted animation, not the voice actors). Not quite as good as Wicked, but it did remind me a lot of that show.

[Ben]

My interest in seeing this just shot up a little more. How did it translate going from the stage presentation to a "film" (or filmed) format? Does it kind of work? I'm never a big fan of these kinds of things (just wish I was there in person), but it can work sometimes. I'm going in blind on this (not even heard the score) and a little trepidatious: it's under $20 on Amazon at the moment...worth it?

[Randall]

I got it for $14.99, and for that it was totally worth it.

I thought it was shot quite well. They had enough cameras going to edit it into something more film-ic. Being there is always best, of course, but even then I wish I could have hard copies of some of the productions I've seen (Wicked being number one--- the version we saw was spectacular, especially for a travelling production; I doubt I could have been any more impressed by the Broadway production).

The score was very much to my liking. They give characters more of a backstory, all in the "let's skewer the Disney fairy tale a little" spirit, without becoming a one-note parody. My favourite part was the character arc they gave to the fairy tale creatures in general and Pinocchio in particular. There's a great message in there about "getting your freak on" and standing up to bullies.

At the risk of sounding cliche, it does "sag a bit in the middle", and revealing Farquad's father went too far, but overall I thought Shrek The Musical was pretty delightful.

And, as I said, I thought it put the film to shame. I was never a huge fan of the film, but the musical version is so much richer. And, watching the featurette afterwards, I was struck by just how shoddy the character animation looked (at least of the humans) in the film version--- it just can't compete with great performers.

[Ben]

Done!

[jimmy325]

The score was very much to my liking. They give characters more of a backstory, all in the "let's skewer the Disney fairy tale a little" spirit, without becoming a one-note parody. My favourite part was the character arc they gave to the fairy tale creatures in general and Pinocchio in particular. There's a great message in there about "getting your freak on" and standing up to bullies.

[Dan]

Not sure if anyone knows, but the musical is now streaming on Netflix.