Excitement building for Shrek musical this weekend

Chase County Schools music department and director David Rushing are preparing for four performances this weekend of the musical Shrek.
Performances are scheduled for 7 p.m. on Friday, 2 and 7 p.m. on Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday in the CCS auditorium.
The doors will open 30 minutes prior to show time, and the cost of admission is $5 for everyone, Rushing said.
 There are 45 characters portrayed by 35 students.
“The ages of students performing in the play range from elementary to high school. There are five elementary students, eight students from 6th to 8th grade and the rest are high school age,” he said.
Lead roles will be played by Nickolas Rau as Shrek, Arturo Miscles Gamboa as Donkey, Lucy Spady as Fiona and Mason Tyerman as Lord Farquaad.
Auditions for the musical were held in the fall, but because of several obstacles, including COVID complications, the musical production was scheduled for spring rather than earlier in the school year, said Rushing.
“Beginning second semester, we have been working pretty much non-stop on the musical,” he added.
“This is my first head director position for a musical,” he said.
There are two to three student crew members and one student director tasked to help with the production, Rushing said.
All cast members will be helping backstage when not on stage performing, he continued.
“Jodie Liess is the co-director of the production with Agnes Strand assisting, and Jill Bauerle and the Krutsinger family have been helping with sets,” he said.
“We owe a huge thanks to Ann Strand who came in and measured each cast member so we could order costumes,” he continued.
Rushing said it has been really exciting trying to get the show ready.
“The biggest challenge has been finding time where all the students can be at rehearsals. With the huge age difference between cast members and all the other activities these kids are involved in, we have been struggling to get everyone here at one time for a full run through,” he said.
Another challenge they have been dealing with was learning the light and sound boards and getting the mics to work, he explained.
“The last week or so, the kids have really stepped up, and the show is really coming together. We are all excited for this weekend,” he added.
“We have had a lot of fun preparing this show and getting it ready for performances. I have learned a lot about directing a musical and all the work and organizing it takes,” Rushing said.
While it has been challenging at times, Rushing said he is confident the performances will make up for all the hard work and obstacles they have faced throughout this year.
“We can’t wait for everyone to come see it,” he said.
Shrek synopsis
Shrek is a young ogre who was sent away by his parents at the age of 7.
He was forced to fend for himself as most everyone is afraid of ogres and don’t want anything to do with them.
One day his isolated swamp was overrun by many fairy tale creatures, and they told him they were dumped there by Lord Farquaad.
Shrek decided to go see Farquaad to get his swamp cleared so he could go back to his life of isolation.
When Shrek meets Farquaad, he is given a quest to go rescue Princess Fiona from a dragon-guarded castle and bring her back to become queen.
Donkey and Shrek go on this quest together and rescue the princess.
On their long journey back to Duloc, Farquaad’s kingdom,  Shrek and Fiona find they have a lot more in common than they thought and they start making a strong connection.
Fiona was also sent away by her parents at a young age for a more similar reason than Shrek had thought.
Once returning to Duloc, Shrek tries to stop Fiona from marrying Farquaad.