Tucked away into a small room just offstage of Allan Hancock College’s Marian Theatre is a winged, red-scaled, and lipstick-wearing dragon, ready for her big number.
Well, the dragon is really a puppet held up by wooden scaffolding, awaiting the five puppeteers who will help spread her leathery wings and soar onto the set of the Pacific Conservatory Theatre’s (PCPA) production of Shrek The Musical.
The puppet, like the character, is a she, explained PCPA Prop Shop Supervisor Erin Finnegan.
“This is Melissa, she is our dragon for Shrek. She guards Fiona in her castle,” Finnegan said. “She can sing, she can dance, she can fly, and she’s a force to be reckoned with.”
Melissa is complete with lit eyes, long curly eyelashes (which can bat on command), spreadable wings, whipping tail, and contracting and retracting spine.
The massive puppet—which spans 24 feet from snout to spiked tail—is actually rented by PCPA, explained Production Manager Jeff Allen. The massive piece would have taken too long for the conservatory to craft from scratch, he said, but all the other puppets in the show were made in-house.
But that doesn’t mean PCPA didn’t put its own twist on the character, explained Finnegan, who oversaw custom modifications on the big red dragon.
“We enhanced the tail for tail-whipping functionality for the sassy dance,” she said. “And we stabilized the harness for a lot of what we wanted to do with it, which is pretty intense.”
Anyone unfamiliar with Shrek—either through the books, DreamWorks films, or the Broadway musical—will be surprised at the scope of the satirical fairy tale story. Just about every storybook character makes an appearance—from the Gingerbread Man to the famous puppet Pinocchio—all of whom pester and annoy the title ogre, Shrek (played by PCPA’s Eric Stein).
PCPA’s Prop Shop created the rest of the puppets meant to portray the variety of characters not covered by the costumed actors. There’s quite a number of them, so many members of the ensemble crew are cross-trained in puppetry, Allen said.
“It all depends on who does what when, as to who gets what puppet,” he said. “So it’s not just one person or one puppeteer. The cast has lots of action with the puppets.”
PCPA Resident Artist George Walker is playing a number of characters in the show, Allen and Finnegan explained, including several puppets. He is the lead puppeteer in the production, and the puppeteer guiding the head of the dragon.
Walker gave guidance to the ensemble students helping to man the hulking beast, offering tidbits and choreography on how to make a large animal-like puppet convincing with so many actors “pulling the strings.”
But before the resident artists or student ensemble could begin rehearsing with any of the other puppets, they had to create the puppets. The summer season attracted 76 technical interns to PCPA, Finnegan explained, many of whom wanted the experience that a production like Shrek The Musical could offer to their professional development.
“In our shop, this season makes a huge difference,” Finnegan said. “When you get to a show like Shrek, it’s hours and hours of development, trying it, failing, and then succeeding from that. It’s all magic that hasn’t been done before, and we have to have the resilience to keep on going until it works.”
The end result will be quite the spectacle. Shrek The Musical is going to be colorful, bombastic, and hilarious, Finnegan said. From the dastardly Lord Farquaad (Michael Jenkinson) torturing the Gingerbread Man, to the love scene between Donkey (Nathan Andrew Riley) and the Dragon, the show will have lots of laughs and music. And in just about every scene, Finnegan said, there will be a masterfully manipulated puppet adding to the fantastical tale.
Arts Editor Joe Payne wants his own dragon. Contact him at [email protected].
