SHREK THE MUSICAL To open on Sunday 12/14/08 at the Broadway Theatre

DreamWorks Theatricals and Neal Street Productions, Ltd. are pleased to announce that SHREK THE MUSICAL will open at the Broadway Theatre on Sunday, December 14, 2008. Preview performances begin on November 8, 2008 following a pre-Broadway run at Seattle’s The 5th Avenue Theatre, August 14 to September 21.

The following casting has been announced for SHREK THE MUSICAL: Tony Award® winner Sutton Foster (Princess Fiona), who is currently starring as Inga in Broadway’s Young Frankenstein; Tony Award® nominee Christopher Sieber (Lord Farquaad), who is currently in Broadway’s Spamalot; and, Kecia Lewis-Evans (The Dragon), who was most recently seen on Broadway as Trix in The Drowsy Chaperone.  Additional casting, including the title character and his friend Donkey, will be announced soon.

SHREK THE MUSICAL is an entirely new musical based on the story and characters from William Steig’s book Shrek!, as well as the DreamWorks Animation film Shrek, the first chapter of the Shrek movie series.  SHREK THE MUSICAL features a book and lyrics by Pulitzer Prize® winner, David Lindsay-Abaire (Rabbit Hole), music by Jeanine Tesori (Olivier Award-winner for Caroline, or Change and three-time Tony Award® nominee), and is directed by Jason Moore, who staged the Tony Award®-winning Best Musical, Avenue Q and Jerry Springer – The Opera in Concert at Carnegie Hall.

SHREK THE MUSICAL is DreamWorks Animation’s first venture in legitimate theater. The production was initiated when Sam Mendes, a big fan of the first Shrek film, suggested the idea of creating a musical to DreamWorks Animation’s Jeffrey Katzenberg around the time the second film was in production.  The musical is being produced by DreamWorks Theatricals (Bill Damaschke, President) and Neal Street Productions, Ltd (principals Sam Mendes and Caro Newling).

Other members of the SHREK THE MUSICAL creative team include Tony Award®-winning set and costume designer, Tim Hatley (Monty Python’s Spamalot, Private Lives, among others), three-time Olivier Award-winning lighting designer, Hugh Vanstone, whose Broadway credits include Monty Python’s Spamalot, Bombay Dreams, The Blue Room and Art, and sound designer Peter Hylenski (Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me and upcoming, Cry-Baby).  The choreography is by newcomer Josh Prince, and Tim Weil (Rent) is serving as music director.

ACTOR BIOGRAPHIES

SUTTON FOSTER (Princess Fiona). Broadway: Inga in Young Frankenstein, Janet Van De Graaf in The Drowsy Chaperone (2006 Tony® and Drama Desk Award nominations, L.A. Ovation Award), Jo in Little Women (2005 Tony®, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations), Millie in Thoroughly Modern Millie (2002 Tony®, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Astaire Awards), Eponine in Les Misérables, the 20th anniversary of Annie, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Grease. Other New York: performed concerts at Carnegie Hall (NY Pops), Lincoln Center (American Songbook series), Town Hall, Joe’s Pub; Actors’ Fund benefit performances of Funny Girl and Chess. TV: Disney Channel’s “Johnny and the Sprites,” HBO’s “The Flight of the Conchords.” Proud Equity member.

CHRISTOPHER SIEBER (Lord Farquaad) received a Tony Award® nomination for his work in Spamalot and later opened the show in London. Other Broadway: Chicago, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Into The Woods, Beauty & The Beast, Triumph of Love, and A Christmas Carol. Also, New York City Opera production of Cinderella. Off-Broadway: Avow, The Boys in the Band, and Pal Joey. Regional: Randy Newman’s Faust, Paper Moon at Paper Mill, Company, and The Boys From Syracuse at Reprise!. TV: “Pushing Daisies,” “Johnny and the Sprites,” “It’s All Relative,” “Two of a Kind,” “Sex & The City,” “Ed,” “Guiding Light,” “All My Children,” and “Another World.” Mr. Sieber has not appeared on “Law & Order.”

KECIA LEWIS-EVANS (The Dragon) was most recently seen on Broadway as Trix in The Drowsy Chaperone (original cast recording). Broadway: Once on This Island (original cast recording), Ain’t Misbehavin’, Big River, The Gospel at Colonus, Dreamgirls (dir. Michael Bennett). Off-B’way: Dessa Rose (Lincoln Center/NY Drama Desk nominee), From the Mississippi Delta (Circle in the Square), Once on This Island. Regional: Polk County (McCarter Theatre, Berkeley Rep/Bay Area Theater Critics Award), Smokey Joe’s Café (Civic Light Opera of South Bay Cities), Dreamgirls (CLOSBC/2000, Ovation Award winner), South Pacific (CLOSBC), Raisin (ICT, Long Beach/L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award nominee), The King and I (Sacramento Music Circus). TV: Guest-starring roles on “Crossing Jordan,” “Kate Brasher,” “Law & Order,” “The Hughleys.”