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During Shrekfest 2022, there was live music between events like onion eating and roar contests (a fierce competition.) There will also be an arts and crafts table where you can draw Shrek fan-art or try out specially themed crafts.They said they will provide more details, but according to their website, Shrekfest “is the ultimate celebration of love, laughter, and everyone’s favorite green ogre. Held annually by 3GI Industries, this free, all-ages event takes place on September 2nd at Humboldt Park in Milwaukee, WI. With thrilling games, electrifying live music, and a captivating movie screening, Shrekfest promises an unforgettable experience for all. Rain or shine, join us in the Kingdom of Milwaukee, armed with blankets, chairs, and plenty of onions. Get ready to dive into the swamp and immerse yourself in the extraordinary world of Shrekfest!”

I really wanted to hate Shrek rave. I thought this was going to be the last breath of a lame internet joke. Instead, the film’s fandom of nerds, normies and gays have breathed strange new life into this 20 year old franchise. Maybe the Instagram bio for the original Shrek Rave puts it better than I ever could: “COOL IS DEAD WHO CARES COME HAVE FUN”. And you know what? I did.The second layer of the fandom is the Shrek ultras. These lot sat through all four Shrek movies, both TV specials (Shrek the Halls and Scared Shrekless), and there’s a high chance that they caught one or more of the 441 Broadway performances of Shrek: The Musical. These lot aren’t wearing cheap plastic ogre ears – they’ve built animatronic donkey costumes or painted every inch of their body green.

It all started in March 2022, when Ka5sh, an LA-based content creator, threw a Shrek-themed party to raise money for his sister, who was the victim of a robbery and shooting in North Carolina. It ended up raising $10,000 and, predictably, videos from the event went viral on TikTok. The result? A country-wide tour that brought the party to 33 cities across America. It was only a matter of time before it washed up on British shores.I want to understand what this is all about and whether the future of UK nightlife is destined to be this weird and cringe – so I put on some green facepaint and headed to the UK’s first-ever Shrek Rave.

The performers whip through the best loved tracks – “Livin’ La Vida Loca”, “Holding Out For a Hero”, and that criminally underplayed ditty “All Star” by Smash Mouth. It’s silly, infectious fun. And to reiterate my previous point: camp as hell. As confetti falls from the sky and two of the three Little Pigs make out, I feel weirdly euphoric. Who knew that the enjoyment of Shrek – ironic or otherwise – could produce such sincere feelings of joy, nostalgia and belonging?Flying from the cocktails, we head into room two. Breaking down the event etymologically, if room one is the Shrek bit, room two is the rave bit. It’s dark and smoky from dry ice, and a bloke dressed as the Gingerbread Man is trying to buss gun fingers. It’s 5PM. The dance floor is packed. How did this become the hottest ticket in town!? Of course, neither this party or its original American incarnate own the trademark to the billion dollar franchise. But until someone takes a dodgy pill at one of these events, it’s the best free publicity that DreamWorks could ever ask for – they’d be mugs to shut it down. “Originally, we were going to do this as a brunch,” says Peter Preston, one of this event’s promoters, “but Shrek has such a good soundtrack. So we posted about the idea of a party here and got two million views within a couple of weeks. We had to do it.”

Without wanting to get bogged down in the behind-the-scenes politics of a novelty rave, there are now at least two rival promoters throwing Shrek-themed parties. Ka5Sh’s party has a single UK date at the Clapham Grand on March 3rd, while the one we’re at now – the deceptively named “Shrek Rave Official” – is playing 30 dates across the UK, before heading to Europe in early May.Maybe there’s more to Shrek Rave than meets the eye? For the first time today, I’m genuinely excited to get inside. Lucky for us, we’re ushered through the media entrance and get to skip the line (guestlist at the Shrek Rave – suck it!!).

But then I notice the 10 foot inflatable ogres emerging from behind the DJ booth and the giant screens projecting psychedelic Shrek visuals in the style of that terrifying “Shrek is Love, Shrek is Life” copypasta video. Then there’s the cocktail menu: The star of the show is the ominously named ‘Swamp Juice’. It’s made of two parts vodka, one part pineapple and one part a mysterious alcopop called Blue Citrus, with a gummy worm dropped in for good measure. It tastes like a Wetherspoons pitcher of every off-brand liquor from Nisa Local. One glass contains the sugar intake of a small country. My teeth hurt.

By signing up, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy & to receive electronic communications from Vice Media Group, which may include marketing promotions, advertisements and sponsored content.The fourth layer of the Shrek fandom – the layer I didn’t know existed until today – is the gays. Looking around, this line is radiating queer energy. There’s drag versions of even the most irrelevant characters from the Shrek universe (Merry Man #4 anyone?) and I can tell half this line knows all the words to Ricky Martin. Who knew Lord Farquaad was a queen?

By now, the meme-ification of Shrek is a well-documented phenomenon. And this is its logical endpoint: Shrek Rave is what happens when internet culture spills out into the real world. Personally, I don’t find jokes about Shrek particularly fresh. And does a ten-year-old bit really warrant the takeover of Fire & Lightbox, a massive three-room club underneath the Vauxhall arches?

Have you ever seen Humpty Dumpty coming up on a pill? I have. That’s because I spent my weekend at the UK’s first ever Shrek Rave. You heard me: an all-day event inspired by the 2001 DreamWorks animated movie and its associated sequels and spin-offs.

Speaking of pills, more people are pinging in the rave room than I’d first expected. I’m getting tired of hearing jungle remixes of Eminem’s “My Name Is”, so I head back into the main room just in time for live performances from the West End cast of Shrek: The Musical. And you know what? The promoter is right: Shrek does have a banging soundtrack.It’s 4PM on a Saturday and I’m linking up with VICE photographer Yushy Pachnanda outside Vauxhall station. This is a weird time for an event to start. The Friday night heads are tucked up in bed, and the Saturday night crew won’t pick up a can for another couple of hours, at least.Shrek the Musical is at the Auditorium Theatre in Rochester from January 31 through February 5, 2012. Tickets are $32.50 – $64.50 and are available at Ticketmaster.com, 800-745-3000, and the Auditorium Theatre Box Office.Click here for details.

The thing to keep in mind (and to make sure your kids understand beforehand) is that this is not the movie. The storyline is close, but not exact, and the differences are not substantial enough to derail your young fan’s expectations. For example, the way Shrek and Fiona fall in love is different: In a movie, even a young person can appreciate nuance, but in a stage musical, that degree of subtlety is difficult, especially if the experience is meant to engage young people as well as adults. Also, except for the closing song, “I’m a Believer,” the songs are completely different in this stage adaptation than in the film. The songs are fun and mostly lively. No complaints there.

To provide parents with all of the information they need to help them and their kids get “out and about” to fantastic opportunities for fun, education, and cultural enrichment in our area.

Kids under the age of six are really too young to go this type of theater performance at all, even a super-kid-friendly one like this. Make sure your child can sit for 3 hours without talking before you decide to go. (We were unfortunately disrupted by a 2-year-old who really should have been home in bed.) The 6-year-old in front of us, though, pronounced the show “good!” My 13-year-old son really enjoyed it as well. Being a 13-year-old boy, he positively enjoyed the double entendres, of course, although they were minimal and not too risqué.

The cast of Shrek gives a stellar performance. Fiona and Lord Farquaad, portrayed by Liz Shivener and Merritt David Janes, were both remarkable. Shivener connects with the audience adeptly, and Janes’ ultra campy, over-the-top performance delighted young and old alike. Part of the fun was Lord Farquaad’s clever costume; little was done to disguise the fact that he spent most of the show walking around on his knees, which was both symbolic and clever physical comedy. As for the character of Shrek, portrayed by Lucas Poost…let’s just say that Mike Meyers is an impossible act to follow. Andre Jordan plays the role of the Donkey thoroughly in the Eddie Murphy vein, which is exactly what the audience wants. The kids were thrilled.Perhaps the most delightful character in the show was the Dragon, which was a giant puppet, manipulated by several puppeteers. Her voice was fantastic, and I wanted to cheer at the end of her number. I think maybe I did cheer.

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Is Shrek The Musical primarily for kids? Emphatically not: There were plenty of people in the audience without kids; in fact, I heard someone in a group of women complain that perhaps the kids were enjoying themselves a little too loudly. But in my opinion, Shrek the Musical might just be the perfect candidate to introduce your child to Broadway musicals if they have never been. There are plenty of double-entendre jokes that will please adults but sail right over kids’ heads. Kids will love the costumes, upbeat music, puppetry, and bathroom humor…but most of all, they will respond to the brilliantly-executed physical humor that pervades the show.

I’ve seen a lot of shows in both my capacity as KidsOutAndAbout.com reviewer and as mom of four artistic children: Broadway musicals, Disney on Ice productions, serious theater, you name it. I have witnessed the whole range of production quality, from wincingly awkward to authentically uplifting. Shrek the Musical is based on the movie “Shrek,” which is based on Shrek, the book by William Steig. So, technically, it’s not only derivative, it’s second-derivative. I was skeptical that Shrek the Musical could live up to the rest of the productions I have seen from the Rochester Broadway Theatre League.Shrek is a story about inner beauty and being true to who you really are. Ogre meets princess, who harbors insecurities over her looks by night. Competition over bodily emissions leads to mutual attraction. Competition from a prince/evildoer causes confusion and misgivings. Princess flees, then returns, for a life-changing kiss that reveals her true self.

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All three Shrekfest contests — onion-eating, roar and costume — are judged by Shrekfest’s organizers. The number of people able to participate in each is limited, so attendees should sign up at the merchandise/sign-up table when they arrive to secure a spot.Some costumes that have been memorable to Duffrin over the years have included Pinocchio with a growing nose, a half human/half ogre Princess Fiona, and his personal favorite: When someone came dressed as Doris the ugly stepsister from “Shrek 2” for the first time.

“Come party with us,” said Grant Duffrin, Shrekfest’s co-founder and director. “Bring a fold-out chair, grab a beer, and listen to some awesome music. We’re going to do some fun games, like the onion-eating contest, which is everyone’s favorite. And then at the end of the night, we’re going to watch a fantastic movie.”

But in 2017, after Duffrin had a few Shrekfests under his belt and also laid more groundwork for the project, he tried to make “Shrek Retold” a reality once again. This time, it gained the traction it needed.X-Ray Arcade currently requires proof of full COVID-19 vaccination or a negative COVID test result within 72 hours for all events, the event’s Facebook page said.For “Shrek Retold,” more than 200 creatives, including animators, filmmakers, cartoonists, artists, puppeteers and musicians, recreated scenes from the movie.

There will be a livestream via Twich that will feature live footage from the event, as well as bonus elements that aren’t included in the physical fest. In 2014, he said he reached out to creators and asked if they wanted to help remake “Shrek.” But, he was mostly met with no-thank-yous, no responses or confusion. A Shrekfest afterparty will be held at Indeed Brewing, 530 S. 2nd Street, on Saturday “to continue the celebration of love and life,” the event’s Facebook page said.”What is it about ‘Shrek’ that seems to have so completely captured the imaginations of my generation, generations below me and generations above me?” he said. “I truly do not know what it is, but I completely agree that it does have some sort of power.”

“You’d be surprised how difficult it is to eat one onion in one sitting,” he said. “Very few people can do that. But the people who can, we find them.”Those online exclusives include an art show with fan-submitted artwork at 5 p.m.; a film festival with Shrek-inspired short films, music videos and cartoons at 6 p.m.; and at 8 p.m., a showing of “Shrek Retold,” an immensely popular scene-for-scene crowdsourced remake of “Shrek” that 3GI was behind.