The Darlington Fine Arts Department covered it all this year. Having a dark, historical drama in the fall and a happy, big, contemporary musical in the winter. 

“Shrek the Musical” is based on the Oscar-winning DreamWorks Animation film and book by William Steig. The musical was shown at the Rome City Auditorium February 14-16. 

This year, the musical was composed of 62 Darlington Students, with 27 actors, 12 musicians, and 23 techies helping with multiple backstage aspects.

“My favorite part of the musical is how much a person can grow from doing a show. It’s emotionally and physically exhausting, and you come away from it as a better person,” senior Leelee Barnes said. Barnes played the grown up Princess Fiona in the performance. 

“It was a very challenging task to tackle. But it was a very fun show to create; from silly accents to crazy costumes. No words can describe how much effort Ms. Daniel and Mr. McVety put into the production. The memories I made in this show will be ones that I remember the most after high school. And I can’t wait for what the next year has in store!” junior Owen Payne who played Shrek said. 

“I had such a fun time participating in the musical this year and it was by far one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done. We all got really close over the past couple of weeks and months and we spent so much time trying to make it the best we could. And shoutout to Ms. Daniel for being the best director in the world,” senior Makiya Mayes said. Mayes was one of the techies this year who helped with makeup and props backstage.

This musical took on new challenges that hadn’t been tackled before. This show had lots of intricate costumes for each actor (some actors had multiple costumes) along with lots of wonderfully designed props and sets. There were lots of posters, makeup, special effects, a 30-foot dragon puppet, and lots more.  

This show portrayed many aspects of fantasy and comedy but also shared a very important lesson on love and how you should never judge a person based on their looks but rather on their character and heart.