Shrek The Musical: further casting announced

DreamWorks Theatricals and Neal Street Productions, Ltd. have announced additional casting for Shrek: The Musical.

As previously announced, Shrek: The Musical will star Brian d'Arcy James as Shrek, Sutton Foster as Princess Fiona, Christopher Sieber as Lord Farquaad, Chester Gregory II as Donkey, John Tartaglia as Pinocchio and Kecia Lewis-Evans as The Dragon.

Joining these actors onstage will be Haven Burton, Jennifer Cody, Bobby Daye, Ryan Duncan, Sarah Jane Everman, Aymee Garcia, Justin Greer,Lisa Ho, Chris Hoch, Danette Holden, Jacob Ming-Trent, Carolyn Ockert-Haythe, Marissa O�Donnell, Denny Paschall, Greg Reuter, Noah Rivera, Heather Jane Rolff, Jennifer Simard, Rachel Stern, Dennis Stowe and David F.M. Vaughn.

Additional casting will be announced soon.

Shrek: The Musical will open at the Broadway Theatre on 14 Dec 2008, following previews from 8 Nov 2008.

The musical is to play an exclusive world premiere engagement at The 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle, 14 Aug to 21 Sep 2008, prior to it's Broadway opening.

An entirely new musical based on the story and characters from William Steig�s book Shrek, as well as the DreamWorks Animation film Shrek, the first chapter of the Shrek movie series.

Shrek features a book and lyrics by Pulitzer Prize winner, David Lindsay-Abaire (Rabbit Hole), music by Jeanine Tesori (Olivier Award-winner for Caroline, or Change and three-time Tony Award nominee).

Shrek will be directed by Jason Moore, who staged the Tony Award-winning Best Musical, Avenue Q, and be choreographed by newcomer Josh Prince.

Set and costume design by Tim Hatley and lighting by Hugh Vanstone.

Dreamwork Animations have released three box-office hit animation movies based on William Steig children's book written in 1990, about a young ogre who finds the ogre of his dreams when he leaves home to see the world. The name 'Shrek' is taken from the German and Yiddish word "Schreck"/"Shreck", meaning "fear, terror".

Shrek will be Dreamwork Animations's first theatrical production. The production was initiated by Jeffrey Katzenberg, Chief Executive Officer of DreamWorks Animation, and Sam Mendes, who has a long-term relationship with DreamWorks. Mendes, a big fan of the first Shrek film, suggested the idea of creating a musical to DreamWorks� Jeffrey Katzenberg around the time the second film was in production.

The musical is being produced by DreamWorks Theatricals (Bill Damaschke, President) and Neal Street Productions, Ltd (principals Sam Mendes and Caro Newling).