SUPAS & SUTCo’s Shrek The Musical: The 24 Hour Musical – 17 February 2026, Octagon Centre
Review by Jacob Bush.
Once upon a time, a bunch (and a rather large bunch at that!) of students from Sheffield University Performing Arts Society (SUPAS) and Sheffield University Theatre Company (SUTCo) gathered in Octagon Centre to discover the next musical they would be putting on. The brave production team reveal to the cast and crew that the show will be Shrek the Musical. Together, they set out on a daring quest to put this larger than life show on for an enthusiastic paying audience 24 hours later!
Given the significant lack of rehearsal and preparation time, this production of Shrek the Musical was remarkable! They were already off to a good start as the musical boasts catchy music by Jeanine Tesori and funny and fast-paced book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire. It is up there as one of the best screen to stage adaptations. Emilia Lodge took the helm of the production as director, alongside Assistant Directors Madeleine Hicks and Teagan Simpson. They did a good job at staging the production in this thrust setting. They led the cast to capture their iconic characters well (because all the characters in this show are truly iconic) and build believable on stage relationships with each other. The choreography from Stan Smith, who was assisted by Zara Walton, was energetic and filled the large playing space. The large orchestra under the direction of Coby Brown and Fraser Brown sounded wonderful – of a quality you’d hear in a professional theatre and never once distracted by any of the on stage mishaps. Sammi Yuen did an outstanding job at pulling together some fabulous costumes in such a limited time and Lucy Davies’ set worked excellently to take us to the numerous locations we find ourselves in.
Alfie Cowgill took to the stage in the title role and clearly had the time of his life. His stage presence was huge, he did an admirable job with the challenging score and his Scottish accent never wavered. He had the audience in the palm of his hands from the first second, garnering several entrance applauses, which meant when he clearly had forgotten lyrics or lines and was adlibbing, the audience lapped it up and it just added to the humour of the production. Throughout the show, Cowgill demonstrated consistently impeccable comic timing. Also demonstrating excellent comic timing was Alicia Adeleye as Donkey. Her performance was truly outstanding – up there with some of the best professional Donkeys who have been in this musical. She had a huge amount of energy, whilst also capturing the tenderness of the friendship between Donkey and Shrek beautifully. Whilst the part was originally written for a man, she made the songs her own and work perfectly for her voice. For such a wordy part, both in the script and lyrically, I was incredibly impressed that she was off book and almost entirely word perfect. Completing the leading trio was Eve Catanach as Princess Fiona. She brought to life the mix of traditional fairytale princess and unorthodox feisty woman very well. She blew the roof off with some powerhouse vocals and had a lovely relationship with Cowgill as Shrek. The professionalism of Cowgill, Adeleye and Catanach must be applauded – even when lines or lyrics were forgotten (and who could blame them – they’re huge parts!) they kept driving the story forward and never once broke character.
The camp, hilarious and villainous Lord Farquaad was portrayed by Evan Donninger who was a delight to watch. He (as did most of the cast in all fairness) showed off his strong comic timing. He walked the line between villainy and comedy very well. Abby Lever, backed up by a team of dancers, was wonderful as the Dragon. She delivered powerhouse vocals – Forever was a highlight of the show – and having a human play the Dragon on stage allowed her to bring in more tenderness and emotion to the relationship between Dragon and Donkey. The Dragon-Donkey kiss at the end got a huge cheer! Lever also excelled within the ensemble, giving full out energy and fabulous characterisation.
The remaining supporting cast was full of some wonderful performances. Syarifah Qistina Balqis was a delight as the Sugar Plum Fairy and Gingy. She gave some powerful vocals and delivered the iconic Gingy-Farquaad scene to perfection. Amy Chilcott’s dry delivery as the Wicked Witch was spot on and Luke Hookham’s Big Bad Wolf was wonderful fun to watch. Bethany Collins and Ellie Morissey both delivered strong vocals as Young Fiona and Teen Fiona respectively, leading to an outstanding rendition of I Know It’s Today alongside Catanach – it received one of the biggest applauses of the night. Charley Moffat gave a fantastic performance as Pinocchio – she did the voice perfectly, both when singing and speaking.
This year’s 24 Hour Musical, Shrek the Musical, was a joyous evening and it was remarkable how slick it seemed for such a short amount of time to put it all together. Let’s hope it’s not another four years before the next 24 Hour Musical from SUPAS and SUTCo!
