Community Corner
Diablo Theatre Company Presents Shrek Day at Broadway Plaza
Broadway Plaza shoppers are in for a free entertainment treat Saturday, September 7, when the fairytale cast of Diablo Theatre Company’s Shrek the Musical land at the center’s fountain, perform some of the show’s best-loved songs and lead everyone in—yes—a flash mob to the spirited song “Freak Flag.”
Shrek fans, young and old, are invited to dress up as their favorite fairytale character for this special cast appearance, starting at 11 a.m. at the fountain across the street from Nordstrom’s in downtown Walnut Creek’s Broadway Plaza.
Shrek the Musical, a stage adaptation of the Oscar-winning DreamWorks animated film, opens at the Lesher Center for the Arts Friday at 8 p.m. Shows also take place this coming weekend at 8 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. The show continues through September 28.
Broadway Plaza shoppers can win prizes and tickets to a performance of Shrek, a Tony-nominated musical that offers a hilarious, irreverent and family-friendly take on fairytale conventions. Saturday’s flash mob will accompany the song “Freak Flag.” Perhaps Shrek the Musical’s signature song, “Freak Flag” speaks to the show’s powerful messages about tolerance and accepting people regardless of differences.
An ensemble of fairytale characters—long maligned in the story’s land of Far Far Away and viewed as “freaks”—sing the song as a way to unite against an imperious aristocrat and demand respect and fair treatment.
Like the 2001 Shrek film, Shrek the Musical draws from a 1990 children’s book by famed New Yorker cartoonist William Steig. The musical stays true to Steig’s fractured fairytale vision where dragons are friendly, swamps are better than castles, and the true hero isn’t handsome or noble but a grouchy-on-the-outside, tender-on-the-inside ogre who is more or less content with himself and his life in a swamp.
For Diablo Theatre Company’s production, Kikau Alvaro directs and choreographs, and Brandon Adams is vocal director. The 22-member cast features well-known Bay Area performers: Jerry Lee as Shrek; Brittany Danielle as Fiona; Alex Alvarez as Donkey; and Chris Vettel as the villain, Lord Farquaad.
Shrek the Musical performs at the Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek. Tickets are $27.50-$53.00. For tickets, call 925-943-SHOW (7469) or visit www.lesherartscenter.org or www.diablotheatre.org.
We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here
