More than 80 students at Cranston West are gearing up for the high school’s annual fall musical, running this weekend for three performances. This year’s selection is “Shrek the Musical.” Based on the hit DreamWorks film, the show debuted on Broadway in 2008.
When an ogre’s swampy solitude is interrupted by the sudden arrival of a gingerbread man, Pinocchio and a slew of other fairytale characters, grumpy Shrek sets out to regain his peace and quiet. This inadvertently kicks off a comedic adventure involving a princess with a secret, a villainous nobleman with a Napoleonic complex, a dragon, a pied piper and a fast-talking donkey named Donkey.
The brat green ogre first appeared in the animated 2001 film, which featured the vocal talents of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz and John Lithgow. The film won the first-ever Oscar for Best Animated Feature and was so commercially successful that it spawned several sequels (Shrek 5 is currently scheduled for 2026) and a Broadway musical, which received eight Tony Award nominations. With book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire and music by Jeanine Tesori, the show keeps the movie’s quick pacing and kid-friendly humor. But the script has enough jokes in it to keep adults entertained, too.
“Shrek the Musical” is the first production at Cranston West to be overseen by Jared Santurri, a longtime Cranston teacher who joined the school’s English department last year. This fall Santurri took over the theater program from Nancy Vitulli, who retired this spring after teaching at West since 1995.
To direct the musical, Santurri enlisted his old collaborative partner David DiMaio, with whom he started the after-school drama club at Hope Highlands Middle School. They ran the program together for seven years before Santurri moved to Cranston West.
For this show, Santurri acts as a producer and handles technical direction while DiMaio directs the on-stage action and handles the musical elements. “I’m an English teacher that loves theater and he’s a music teacher,” Santurri said. “So we make a great team for musicals.”
The pair spent several months deciding what show to produce this fall, gradually narrowing down a long list of possibilities. The show had to be a real ensemble piece with a lot of flexibility in who could fill each role, since Santurri was new to the program and didn’t already know all the students.
While Shrek is the title character, Donkey and Princess Fiona and little Lord Farquaad also get substantial time in the spotlight. Donkey and many of the supporting characters are also not gender specific, making it easier for high schools to cast if they don’t know the demographic ratio of students in the program until after the play has already been decided.
“’Shrek’ is a great story with great music,” said Santurri, “and it’s fun doing something that’s appropriate for all ages. It’s also a very familiar story. It’s got a lot of laughter and recognizable fairy tale creatures.”
More than 30 students are in the cast, with several playing five or six different characters.
“The show has a lot of quick costume and makeup changes offstage, and we have over a hundred costumes,” Santurri said. The production also involves facial prosthetics for Shrek and Donkey, so the team backstage will be very busy this weekend.
Many more students were involved with the production, from the lighting and sound crew to set and prop construction. Two students will also be in the orchestra pit, performing with a band composed mainly of adults.
So why “Shrek?”
“I’m a musician turned theater person,” says DiMaio. “For me the music always comes before the story.” While previously unacquainted with the show, DiMaio perked up when he heard “Who I’d Be” on an internet showtunes station. This is the song that ends the musical’s first act, sung by the three lead characters. After hearing it, he played the whole cast album and really liked what he heard.

“’Shrek’ is a story with an overall theme of inclusion in a world where everybody is different,” DiMaio says. The show’s second act even features a song called “Freak Flag” where Gingy the Gingerbread Man, Pinocchio, the Three Little Pigs and all the fairytale characters sing about celebrating themselves even when the world doesn’t understand them. It’s a gentle reminder to be nice to people, even the ogres that just want to just be left alone.

FOR PRODUCTION – CREATE PULL OUT BOX

“Shrek the Musical” is performed in two acts. General admission tickets are $12 and can be purchased at the door or at https://chsw.booktix.com/.

Cranston West Alumni Auditorium
80 Metropolitan Ave. Cranston, RI 02920

Show Times:
● Friday, Dec. 13, 7:30 p.m.
● Saturday, Dec. 14, noon and 7:30 p.m.