Thinking green: ‘Shrek the Musical’ opens Thursday at BHS

BEMIDJI -- Lately Nate Anderson has been thinking green, but not about the environment.

“Lots of green lights, lots and lots of green,” said Anderson, lighting designer for the upcoming Bemidji High School Theater production of “Shrek the Musical.”

“There’s lots of scenes where Fiona has to quickly go from her regular form to her ogre form. Instead of her putting 10 pounds of green makeup, we decided to put her in a green light, so it gives the illusion that she's turned green,” Anderson explained.

“Shrek the Musical,” which includes the work of 77 BHS students, opens Thursday evening and runs through Saturday with four shows.

Holly Nelson, director, selected the musical last spring during the last week of the school year.

She first came across a costume that could be used for the show but quickly moved on after starting to the watch the movie version.

“I was so annoyed with Pinocchio’s voice that I couldn’t watch it and turned it off after 15 minutes,” Nelson explained, “But I kept coming back to the costume that I liked and eventually went back to it and it started to grow on me.”

While the musical does tell the same story as the 2001 film from DreamWorks Animation and have the same characters, there are some differences.

“It follows the timeline, for example, but none of the songs are the same expect for ‘I’m a Believer,’” said Carly Fuhrman, who plays Fiona.

Rather than making costumes by hand, Nelson made the decision to rent all of the costumes and put the financial resources into other elements used within the musical.

“I think the dragon is going to be a big thing,” Nelson said, “This dragon is like managing a bull in a china shop because it's huge and it's attached to one person with about seven other kids moving it around all of the chaos that happens on stage.”

The musical will be a show that all ages will be able to enjoy.

“Sort of like Saturday morning cartoons, it's enjoyable for the kids with humor for the adults,” Nelson said.

If you go…

What: Bemidji High School Theatre’s “Shrek the Musical”

When: 7 p.m. Nov. 5 -6, 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. Nov. 7

Where: Auditorium at Bemidji High School, 2900 Division Street NW

Cost: $7 for adults, $4 for students

Note: All seats will be general reserved; tickets are on sale now online at bemidji.k12.mn.us/bhs. Tickets are also available at the door.

1/3: Shrek, played by Tanner Garrigan, and Donkey, played by Calvin Sheffield act during a dress rehearsal of “Shrek the Musical.” (Maggi Stivers | Bemidji Pioneer)

2/3: Lord Farquaad is played by BHS sophomore Mitchell Shaw. (Maggi Stivers | Bemidji Pioneer)

3/3: Even Paul Bunyan and Babe, played by Joshua Bauer and Sydney Pribula, are included in the cast of fairy tale creatures in BHS Theatre presentation of “Shrek the Musical.” (Maggi Stivers | Bemidji Pioneer)