“Shrek the Musical,” a hilarious adaptation of the original film can be seen at Murry’s Dinner Playhouse, off Colonel Glenn Rd., now through August 13. 

The musical told the story of Shrek, how he became the grumpy ogre, his recruitment by Lord Farquaad to rescue Princess Fiona from her tower and their love story that defied all odds. 

Technical difficulties and bad sound mixing ruined the first few scenes. Mics were not turned on properly and the audience could barely make out what the actors were saying. 

Nonetheless, we learned the reason behind Shrek’s grumpy disposition – he was abandoned by his parents at seven years old to make a life for himself.

We then flash to Fiona’s life at the same age, when her parents locked her away in a tower to wait for her handsome prince to rescue her. 

Fiona graces the stage singing “I Know It’s Today,” a song about her hope that prince charming will rescue her that day as a young girl. Ironically, two more Fiona’s come out, representing her aging in the tower alone but still hoping that day will be the day she’s rescued. 

The song got increasingly funny as the ladies said how many days they’d been waiting, with the last one being over 8,500.

All three joined together to finish the song, but the middle Fiona annoyingly tried too hard to overpower her counterparts. 

The audience is then taken to Shrek’s swamp, where the rest of the fairytale creatures are dumped by Lord Farquaad. He considers the fairytale creatures to be freaks, and thus casts them out of his city. 

Shrek is outraged at the idea of house guests and sets off to Lord Farquaad’s castle to take back his land. As he travels, he runs into a talking donkey that completely steals the show. 

Fiona and Shrek had good voices and acting skills, but Donkey was the true star. He sounded just like Eddie Murphy, who voices Donkey in the movie, and added pizzazz and charm that rivaled broadway. 

The fairytale creatures were also amazing and their costume designs were one of my favorite parts of the show, especially Pinocchio’s growing nose.

As Shrek and Donkey set out to save the princess, they are greeted by a beautiful dragon that guards the tower. Her sensual, deep voice and flaming pink outfit caught the attention of not only Donkey but the whole audience. 

Both the dragon and Donkey’s talents combined made them exciting to watch and a great pair, as the dragon finally finds someone to love in the four-legged goofball. 

There were many laughs after Fiona and Shrek met, sharing their love for being gross and not at all lady-like through a farting and burping competition. These stupid-silly moments had the audience roaring with laughter. 

These moments paired with the talented voices of the cast made for a hilariously enjoyable show that brought a huge smile to everyone’s faces. 

Dinner before the show wasn’t anything to write home about and the drinks were a bit on the pricey side with most cocktails being at least nine dollars or more, the chocolate brownies were scrumptious though. 

For $50 a person, which includes dinner and a show, I’d say it was reasonably priced. Tickets were even cheaper if you decided to get dinner somewhere else beforehand. 

All-in-all, I would highly recommend Murry’s Dinner Playhouse for date nights, family nights or any night that you could use a good laugh and great entertainment.