Heartwarming / Shrek: The Musical

• During "Big Bright Beautiful World", we see a young Fiona waving to a young Shrek.
• Young Fiona reading fairy tale books to her dolls and envisioning her prince. Quickly segues into TearJerker as she gets older, no prince comes, and Fiona starts to Go Mad from the Isolation.
• Adult Fiona's response to hearing Shrek calling for her. She's singing a soft reprise of "I Know It's Today" but on hearing that someone has finally come, does a little Happy Dance, and sets the room for True Love's Kiss to take place. Even with Shrek ruining the moment by shaking her awake, Fiona's joy that she has a rescuer is infectious.
• There's also a subtle bit with Donkey and his lines in "Who I'd Be": "You're all alone. You need a pal; my calendar's open. You need me... " When he first sings this in "Don't Let Me Go," it's pretty obvious he's just trying to appeal to Shrek so the latter will let him tag along. But then he sings a reprise of this after learning how alone Shrek actually is, so you know he really means it now.
• Not to mention the song "When Words Fail" from the second act, where Shrek is trying to get up the courage to tell Fiona how he feels about her and worried that he won't be able to phrase just right and she won't know how he feels . It's a rare moment of nervousness, anxiety, and personal insecurity from a character who has kept up this appearance that he doesn't care what the world thinks of him. And by the end of the song, he decides that it doesn't matter if words fail him, because Fiona will understand all the same.
• The "Big Bright Beautiful World" reprise. Here's a guy who's spent most of his life being cynical and grumpy pouring his heart out to the woman he loves.
• The message behind "Freak Flag" (and to an extent, the entire show itself). The showstopping Eleven O'Clock Number is really about the importance of being yourself and embracing what makes you unique. The message gets even stronger when you consider the song to be a sort of pride anthem (''I'm wood. I'm good. Get used to it!").