As the lights dimmed and the theater grew silent in anticipation on the weekend of November 3, the opening scene of Bangor Area Middle School’s production of Shrek the Musical Jr. begins.

C.J. Fassl captivated the audience with an outstanding performance of Shrek that the crowd will never forget.

“Of course, C.J. Fassl, who played Shrek, was the heart of the show. He did a phenomenal job,” play director and teacher Mrs. Kranich said.

The comedy of the show was fantastic as Fassl combined with Jhonny Rojas whose portrayal of Donkey was genius. His sarcastic sense of humor and witty comebacks were hilarious.

“I think Jhonny Rojas really brought a lot of humor to the play. He played Donkey perfectly,” senior Allyson Heard said.

The love story is an untraditional, heartwarming tale thanks to Clara Oxford, who was casted as Princess Fiona, the musical was extremely relatable.

“Clara Oxford did a fantastic job playing the feisty Princess Fiona,” Mrs. Kranich said.

Every fairy tale has its villain, and in Shrek, the villain is none other than Lord Farquaad – played by Ryan Gambale.

“I liked his costume. His fake legs made the musical even better than it already was. He is supposed to be a mean guy, but you just couldn’t take him seriously when he looked like that,” freshman Katie Snyder said The musical flourished due to the gifted ensemble, the dedicated stage crew, and the talented production staff.

“It takes a lot of time and effort to put on a musical, especially when the kids aren’t that old. It’s really amazing what Mrs. Kranich and Mr. DiMinico did with the short amount of time they had to put on a show,” junior Austin Medina said.

Out of all the musicals Bangor Area Middle School put on, Shrek the Musical Jr. was the most difficult production, but was by far the most memorable.

“The show Shrek is a much more complex production than most of our previous middle school shows. Our costumes were incredibly detailed and ornate. There were some students who had to change costumes five or six times throughout the show!” Mrs. Kranich said.

As Shrek would say, “A perfect happy ending is how it should be” and the BAMS production of Shrek the Musical Jr. most certainly proved just that.