Lights! Music! Shrek-tacle!

If, even after a stroke, you'd still be able to sing the entire score of Assassins, or if you think God looks something like Elaine Stritch, Shrek the Musical (through September 21 at the 5th Avenue Theatre, tickets $28-$90) is probably not your cup of tea. We expected to be solidly in that camp at the opening night world premiere of the DreamWorks-based musical. Imagine our surprise when we loved it--and loved the bad guy the most.

Shrek the Musical achieves what Young Frankenstein didn't in its Seattle run: it captures the spirit of the movie version without having to hit every well-known catchphrase. Unlike the film, the musical's opening scene introduces us to Shrek's parents, who cheerfully tell him that this is a "big bright beautiful world…but not for you." Full of ogre tough love, they send 7-year-old Shrek off to find his way in a world full of villagers armed with pitchforks. It still ain't easy being green.

The show does have heart, thanks to the top-notch performances by its principle performers. Brian D'Arcy James' Shrek looks and sounds just right. We were in the second row and his prosthetic head looked dead-on perfect, though the makeup still allowed James' facial expressions and acting chops to come through. To his credit, he resisted the temptation to make the character a caricature. Don't tell anyone, but when he describes his secret longing for a non-ogre life in "Who I'd Be," we got a little misty.

As Princess Fiona, Tony Award-winner Sutton Foster proved they don't give out the Tony to just anyone. She was the total package: superb singing and dancing, and impeccable comic timing. Foster and James (not a wine cooler!) had real chemistry…even through the layers of green. Chester Gregory has the near-impossible task of not doing an impression of Eddie Murphy's Donkey, and was still finding ways to make the part his own on opening night.

As good as James, Foster, and Gregory are, the show is completely stolen by Chris Sieber's Lord Farquaad. Six-foot-plus Sieber spends the show on his knees as the diminutive despot, and delivers a comedic performance that had the 12-year-old Shrexpert next to us laughing almost as hard as the adults around her.

The show isn't perfect. It does try to play in the Sondheim sandbox occasionally--especially with "I Think I've Got You Beat," a not-so-successful attempt at Into the Woods-like patter. Theatre geeks will note an "insert Motown song here," then "insert country song here," and so on, musical-by-numbers pattern. That said, these are things that can be tweaked before STM heads off to Broadway to make a bazillion dollars in ticket sales and merch. And it will.

Special to Seattlest by Scott "I've Got Rhythm" Garrepy. Brian D'Arcy James as Shrek (top), Christopher Sieber as Lord Farquaad (bottom). Photos by Joan Marcus ⓒ 2008 DreamWorks.