"This is the part where you run away," says Shrek to the villagers in one of the earliest scenes of Shrekh: The (24 Hour) Musical. The villagers then run away, but we certainly don't. Despite the show's 2 1/2 hour runtime and a rehearsal period that lasted an unbelievably short 24 hours, the show was an enormous success. But before we get into the details, here's a brief background of the show's creation:It started as an idea to create a musical within 24 hours. The 24-hour musical has been a tradition at Brandeis for the past six years, an idea created by Hillel Theater Group and sponsored by Tympanium Euphorium. It's easy to see how it caught on. It unites directors, writers, actors and production designers alike in a singular event that doesn't try to pick favorites, but instead brings people together in a massive effort to put something they love in front of an audience. It's a daunting task, to be sure, with so little time to prepare and so much content to explore in terms of Shrek: The Musical. Some things were sure to go awry, but that's just part of the fun.

The show opens with a song between Shrek and his parents, as he was kicked out to live on his own at the age of seven. Despite some errors with the microphones and a falling signpost, this scene worked like a charm. The first of many cleverly disguised scene changes had the young Shrek, played by Herbie Rosen '12, walk behind a door and come out again, suddenly as an adult, played by Jon Widberg '12. Although this type of change may rudimentarily appear shoddy and haphazard, it's actually quite funny when one takes into account the speed at which the show was produced. Many scenes later mimic this trend, especially Fiona's entrance, in which during her song, "I Know It's Today," she is played by three different actresses who portray her at different ages but also sing at the same time. I suspect this was done not only to show her aging, but to give more of the actors some moments to shine.

The show took advantage of many mistakes, and used them to spontaneously fuel the show. The set design, though basic, worked well enough to create the mood of Far, Far Away, and the limited set pieces were used brilliantly. One such example is when Shrek and Donkey are crossing the bridge to the dragon's lair; this bridge is made up of three chairs, which the stage hands reorder every time the two characters proceed, to create a bridge effect. It's such a basic technique, yet the audience loves it. This is one of the best things about the experience: the audience is so engaged and appreciative, they actually cheer when mistakes are made. My absolute favorite part is when Fiona faces off with Shrek and proclaims, "You're just an Orc-Ogre!" Classic.

Another impressive aspect of the show is its actors, who again, despite the time constraints, give wonderful performances. Widberg plays the titular Shrek with a combination of droll sarcasm and forlorn aspirations. He manages to emulate something of Mike Myers' performance while still making the character his own. My only issue is with his singing voice, which was sometimes quite raspy and difficult to hear. But I don't blame the actor for this, as it must be insanely difficult to sing in a throaty Irish accent, and I believe his microphone was having some issues as well. In a show that took 24 hours to produce, this is an extremely minor complaint. Also brilliant is Yoni Bronstein '13 as Lord Farquaad, who brings a lovably sinister wit to the character, and makes me actually feel somewhat sorry for him when the dragon eats him. Abby Armstrong '13 is charmingly effective as Fiona, and definitely the best singer out of the bunch. By far, though, the real show stealer is Amy Thompson '11 as Donkey, who manages to be the spitting image of Eddie Murphy's computer-generated creation even though she looks absolutely nothing like it-truly an impressive feat. The rest of the cast is formidably talented, and I give a special shout-out to Jared Greenberg '12, who plays a truly hilarious Pinocchio.

The musical numbers work quite well, and the dances are incredibly choreographed, with only a few minor and easily forgivable errors. I've never seen Shrek: The Musical on Broadway, but I can't imagine they left anything out here, and the story flows wonderfully. I attribute this success to the three directors who worked on the show: Andrew Litwin '11, Robert Orzalli '11 and Julie Stein '11, who all collaborated beautifully together.

I had the lucky chance to speak to Litwin before the show, and when I asked him about his favorite aspect of the show's creation, he said that "the audience's reaction, and personally seeing the show for the first time along with everybody else" would be his greatest enjoyment. It is truly incredible that a show that had never before been watched by any of its creative team could be so successful. When I asked a member of the choir, Alli Cohen '12, how she felt about the process, she referenced the creation of the castle set piece. "Like the song it accompanied, first it was broken into parts. We didn't know how the overall product was going to look. But by the time we finished, it all came together beautifully." And so did the show itself.