Shrek the musical was a flashy spectacle that agitated social movement and the pursuit of happiness. There were many aspects that helped build these points, such as spectacle, an enticing plot, and through the use of other literary devices, such as allegory, to appease to the older audience while still entertaining the younger audience, all which will be looked into and explained in detail. There are multiple appearing plots that later intertwine into one, with everyone facing nearly the same type of problem. Pinocchio has a brief monologue in the middle of the musical, setting a more serious tone and explaining how fairy tale characters only wait for things to change, without actually attempting to do something about it. While there are certain degrees to this social laziness, everyone suffers from it, from the other fairy tale characters not doing anything about their land being taken, Fiona waiting years for a hero, and Shrek not explaining his feelings. These are the more significant cases, and we see how all this is played out, right from the beginning as the inticing incident displays both Shrek’s and Fiona’s similar situation at age 7. From there on, it’s all rising action as we get exposed to the problems previously mentioned. Throughout this though, spectacle is used to further the plot/ take notice of significant parts of the piece. Even with the fairy tale characters, the setting was very realistic, and the use of a spinning floor helped portray the movement of life and advancement in the story. There were always music pieces to signify advances of plot, and these were almost like brief monologues pertaining to the situation of the characters singing, from Shrek and Fiona singing about how they want true love, how the Dragon has no one to love and how she feels the Donkey is her true love, even as he expresses that that is not the case. Even with all this going on, there is still time for jokes, many with adult connotations, to be played, which help the audience relate through good humor, step back and understand that this problem can be for anyone. From the smallness of the King that Shrek and
