Shrek

Owen made his debut on the Stuart-Hobson stage in the Fall of 2017 as Grandpa Joe in Willie Wonka. But despite rave reviews, he's since opted for the stage crew over the cast, working the sound board for Alice in Wonderland and Beauty and the Beast. It seemed an odd choice given we would watch him sing and act out every song during the shows while adjusting levels and cuing the music but he was adamant that he enjoyed doing sound (and besides, he didn't want to do a Disney musical).

But then they announced that for the Spring of 2019 Stuart-Hobson's players would be putting on Shrek, Jr. and since Pixar is different than Disney, Owen was on it. We perused the cast descriptions and discovered that Pinocchio called for a, "male with good falsetto voice or Soprano/Alto," at which point, it all seemed fated. Owen nailed his audition, and embraced the role of a puppet with an attitude.

Stuart-Hobson musicals are not your average middle school production. I'm not sure exactly what Ms. Perguson does to exact such performances out of a bunch of 11-14 year olds, but it's a pretty amazing sight to behold. Owen embodied Pinocchio and stole all his scenes. But it was also amazing to see Owen's best friend Adam as Lord Farquaad who's comic timing and delivery was incredible; Han, who Owen met at SWS and is the least ogre-ie kid you can imagine, made a fantastic Shrek; Alice, who was in Pre-K 4 with Owen but seems so grown up now, sang her heart out as Fiona; and Donkey, an eighth grader that had never been in a play but wanted to do one before graduating, emoted so much charisma and managed to do the splits twice while singing.

It was truly and amazing performance and we can't wait for you all to see the DVD.



(To see all the pictures, click here.)
(For video clips, click here.)