Shrek: The Musical

Shrek in The Goodbye Song

During the summer of 2022, I was the music director Shrek: The Musical with the Champaign Urbana Theatre Company. CUTC is a community theatre company performaning in the Virginia Theatre in Champaign. This was the first time fully piano conducting the pit while also accompanying for rehearsals. I was fully in charge of organizing pit rehearsals and coordinating spaces, and grew as a leader by being in charge of the administrative work.

Piano conducting was an interesting challenge, as it required me to keep the pit together while also being a musical player on the piano. I found that the drummer is a second music director since the shape of the pit doesn’t allow eye contact with everyone all at once. Keeping a consistent tempo while being locked with the drummer was essential especially for a pop-heavy score like Shrek.

As a side note, it was quite intimidating especially as a young 20-21 year old being in charge of multiple musicians that were at least 10 if not 40 years older than I was, with multiple years with . However, I found that doing my communicating effectively and giving cues well allowed the pit to respect me regardless of my age.