Expect to see familiar faces in Shrek musical
On Thursday, a day before the latest musical by the Orpheus Musical Theatre Society was to open, the all-volunteer company was still looking for a few good cast members, the more famous the better.
The parts up for grabs, says Jenn Donnelly, the director of the Orpheus production Shrek The Musical, are simple walk-on cameos that involve no spoken lines, never mind any singing. She’s hoping that Ottawa celebrities will step into the bit part, which also won’t involve wearing a costume or even rehearsing, each night of the show, which runs until Nov. 26 at Centrepointe Theatre.
So far, Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson, Kitchissippi Ward Coun. Jeff Leiper and radio and TV personality Dylan Black are on board to appear in the family-friendly musical, which was first performed on Broadway in late 2008, Donnelly says. Watson is to appear in next Tuesday’s production.
Based on the 2001 animated film Shrek and William Steig’s 1990 book Shrek!, the musical “is a lovely show and it appeals to a lot of people,” Donnelly says. “It’s a modern fairy tale ... its themes are acceptance for whatever and whoever you are.”
The big-name locals will join a cast of nearly 30 and a backstage crew of 150 who are staging the musical for little more than the joy of making theatre. The 111-year-old Orpheus is Ottawa’s longestrunning theatre group and North America’s second-oldest amateur theatre company.
Donnelly points out that the very first Orpheus public performance on Jan. 15, 2007, was reviewed in the Citizen, and that the review was positive. The newspaper’s reviewer called the production “one of the most successful musical evenings that Ottawa music lovers have had the pleasure of attending for a very long time,” Donnelly says.
Cast as Shrek is Justin Hills, who by day is a manager of a sports store in Belleville. Hills and his wife are Orpheus members — they met through the company — but they left Ottawa when Hills got his job. Still, Hills auditioned, won the leading man’s role, and has made arrangements with work so that in recent weeks he could be in Ottawa three days each week for rehearsals.
“This is pretty much one of his dream roles,” Donnelly says.
Donnelly has been involved with Orpheus since 1993, but says that many of its volunteers have been with it decades longer, “including people who have been there almost their whole lives.” About 600 people hold different levels of Orpheus society membership, she says.
“We all have something to contribute to the group,” says Donnelly, who adds that Orpheus members enjoy socializing every Friday night after their theatrical duties are done. “It’s just a really nice bunch of people. Everybody works so hard and we all get great results.”
While Orpheus is a not-for-profit registered charity, the budget for its productions are considerable, breaking six figures, Donnelly says. Ticket proceeds cover theatre rental, the rent for Orpheus’s Fairmont Avenue building, fees for the production’s 14-person orchestra, rights and royalties for the production, and more.
Donnelly says because seats for Shrek The Musical are already 80 per cent sold, the production has already more than paid for itself. Beyond the break-even point, proceeds are used to fund upcoming Orpheus shows, she says.
Next year, Orpheus will be mounting productions of Grease and Mamma Mia! phum@postmedia.com twitter.com/peterhum