History Theatre / ShrekTheMusical

A recording of a performance of it is available on DVD and Creator/{{Netflix}}.

** While the Magic Mirror did appear in the Broadway show, he was cut out of the script for future productions. The scene has Gingy inform Farquaad about Fiona instead.

** The soundtrack and DVD are missing the song "Forever" because it replaced the original song "Donkey Pot Pie" between the original Broadway run and the U.S. tour. The song contains a lot of Dragon's motivations (she's annoyed that she's a glorified babysitter and no one will ever want to rescue ''her'') and the reason Donkey becomes attracted to her (in stating that Fiona's not his type, he declares he "likes a big, big girl").

* BigBeautifulWoman: A plot point with Dragon, oddly enough--in both versions of her song ("Donkey Pot Pie" and "Forever"), she laments that she's always overlooked in favor of the more traditionally beautiful Fiona. Donkey tries to charm her into letting him go by revealing that he actually ''likes'' big ladies, which prompts Dragon to believe he's flirting with her and fall in love with him. In some productions, the point is emphasized by having Dragon be represented by an attractive plus-sized actress as well as a puppet.

** In every production following the Broadway version, Gingy is the one who informs Farquaad about Fiona, not the Magic Mirror.

* DemotedToExtra: Dragon's role in the musical had shifted quite a bit throughout the show's history. In the tryout version, her role was significantly [[AscendedExtra larger]] compared to the first film, due to her romance with Donkey being much more established and fleshed out. Once the show hit Broadway, however, the scenes that helped develop their relationship were cut, and Dragon's stage time was reduced to the "Donkey Pot Pie" number, the chase sequence, and the scene where she bursts into the chapel to eat Farquaad.[[note]]The Seattle tryout was able to give Dragon more stage time by personifying her through her actress, allowing the character to appear without the giant puppet head. This wasn't the case in the Broadway production.[[/note]] Afterwards, the character [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse disappears before the finale]]. The show's current script, however, gives her a much more sizable role (not to the extent of the Seattle tryout, but not nearly as small as the Broadway iteration's).

* GoMadFromTheIsolation: Fiona in the play is... [[SanitySlippage a little eccentric]] due to being alone in her tower for years.

* NeverTrustATrailer: [[https://youtu.be/UPSPj3kx3Cc The commercial]] for the Blu-Ray/DVD release adds a lot of canned audience reactions to the show clips. Perhaps the most jarring edit is the addition of laughter after Shrek’s line, “You were expecting Prince Charming?”, a moment that isn’t meant to be funny.

** At the end of the reprise for "What's Up, Duloc?", Lord Farquaad "levitates" to the top of his castle and imitates the iconic "Defying Gravity" riff from ''{{Theatre/Wicked}}''. He even sings "nothing will bring me down" while the people below him reach out as if to grab him, just like in Wicked.

** In Seattle tryouts, "Story of My Life" was not included. Instead, there was a song which served as an extended ''Theatre/AChorusLine'' reference in which the fairy tale creatures "audition" before Farquaad, who is offstage beyond the fourth wall a la Zach in ''Chorus Line''. The Broadway version arguably kept this element in the choreography.

** The 2023 UK tour completely removes Farquaad's short stature, and all the jokes with it. However, it still retains the subplot regarding [[spoiled:his father Grumpy]], which was written specifically to explain the character's height.

* TheArtifact: Two instances in the filmed version of "Freak Flag".
** The line "But it's not a choice you make, it's just how you were hatched" is usually sung by Humpty Dumpty. However, the actress who normally plays Humpty plays a ''different'' character in this performance (Tweedledum), yet still sings the lyric as written, consequently losing the egg pun.
** "I smell like sauerkraut!" was originally a line written for the Gnome, but here, it's sung by (of all characters) the Mad Hatter, who replaces the Gnome.

''Shrek The Musical'' (music by Jeanine Tesori, book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire) is an adaptation of the Creator/DreamWorksAnimation film ''WesternAnimation/Shrek1'' as a stage musical. It opened on Broadway in 2008 after a trial run in Seattle. Multiple touring productions followed, and it is now available for independent productions.

''Shrek The Musical'' (music by Jeanine Tesori, book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire) is an adaptation of the Creator/DreamWorksAnimation film ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'' as a stage musical. It opened on Broadway in 2008 after a trial run in Seattle. Multiple touring productions followed, and it is now available for independent productions.

** Gingy also, to a lesser extent. The character is still presumably male in the stage musical, but he's traditionally played by a female actor who carries him around like a puppet. The role definitely calls for a girl's voice to sing those notes.

* WelcomingSong: "Welcome to Duloc/What's Up, Duloc?"

** "Freak Flag"

* CanonForeigner: A handful of the fairytale creatures in the show never actually appeared in the films. These include [[Literature/AliceInWonderland the White Rabbit, the Mad Hatter, Tweedledee and Tweedledum (in some productions)]], Literature/TheUglyDuckling, [[Theatre/TheNutcracker the Sugar Plum Fairy]], the Gnome, and [[Literature/TheELvesAndTheCobbler the Shoemaker's Elf]].

* AdaptationalSpeciesChange: The little Duloc dolls who greet Shrek and Donkey were originally animatronics, blatantly parodying Disney's ''Ride/ItsASmallWorld''. The show portrays them as fully-sized humans ''dressed'' like dolls.

** When Pinocchio tells Peter Pan to grow up, the latter replies, [[Theater/PeterPan1954 "I won't grow up!"]]

** Robin Hood and his Merry Men (which is ironic, since they're the only characters that actually have a musical number in the film).

** During the show's tryout performances in Seattle, one of the fairy tale creatures, the Wicked Witch, mentions selling her rights to [[Creator/StephenSchwartz Stephen]] [[{{Theatre/Wicked}} Schwartz]].

''Shrek The Musical'' (music by Jeanine Tesori, book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire) is an adaptation of the film ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'' (Creator/DreamWorks, 2001) as a stage musical. It opened on Broadway in 2008 after a trial run in Seattle. Multiple touring productions followed, and it is now available for independent productions. Despite sounding like a stupid idea to most people who first hear of it, it's actually a strong, faithful adaptation that keeps most of the movie's dialogue and includes some genuinely great music.

* AdaptedOut: Robin Hood and his Merry Men (which is ironic, since they're the only characters that actually have a musical number in the film).

* CallForward:
** Puss in Boots makes a quick cameo during "Travel Song".

* TheMusical: Shrek The Musical

A recording of a performance of it is available on Creator/{{Netflix}}.

* BeastMan: Donkey.

* BoomerangBigot: [[spoiler:Lord Faarquard is half dwarf.]]

* TakeThat:
-->'''Gingy:''' It's time we do what we should've done a long time ago.\\
'''Gnome:''' Stop mailing all those sweet but slightly threatening fanletters to WesternAnimation/{{The Little Mermaid|1989}}?

** "The Ballad of Farquaad" details his backstory and his [[UnreliableNarrator supposed]] FreudianExcuse.

** "Freak Flag" has a bit of a "gay pride" element to it (possibly trans too, depending on how you interpret the Big Bad Wolf's character), especially with Pinocchio's closing message of "I'm wood, I'm good, ''get used to it!''"

* FreudianExcuse: Lord Farquaad's backstory is delivered in "The Ballad of Farquaad" about [[MissingMom his mother]] that died when he was young and his [[ParentalNeglect distant father]] that [[ParentalAbandonment left him alone in the woods]] when he was younger. Subverted later when it turns out that his past [[UnreliableNarrator wasn't as hopeless as he made it out to be]].

'''Grumpy:''' ''Abandoned'' you?! You were twenty-eight! ''[[BasementDweller And living in my basement!]]''

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