Theater review: Bigger isn’t always better in Atlanta Lyric’s ‘Shrek’

Through Sept. 4. 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays; 2 p.m. Saturday (Sept. 3 only). $33-$58. Jennie T. Anderson Theatre (at the Cobb Civic Center), 548 S. Marietta Parkway, Marietta. 404-377-9948, www.atlantalyrictheatre.com.

Bottom line: More of a technical feat than a warm-hearted treat.

Under the enterprising guidance of Brandt Blocker (now in his 10th season as managing artistic director), Atlanta Lyric Theatre has built its reputation on the sort of gargantuan musical productions more commonly associated with those national touring shows that frequently visit the Fox.

In the case of director/choreographer Chase Todd's current staging of the Lyric's "Shrek the Musical" — a Broadway version of the popular animated movie (book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire, music by Jeanine Tesori) — that includes another massive and lavish array of imported scenery and costumes (credited to Los Angeles-based designers Tom Buderwitz and Kate Bergh, respectively), plus a few imposing appearances by a mammoth dragon puppet.

On the surface, at least, it’s a sendup of fairy tales, set “once upon a time” in a land “far far away,” and replete with cameos by everyone from Pinocchio and Peter Pan to Little Bo Peep and the Ugly Duckling.

Shrek (played here by Ryan Everett Wood) is an antisocial ogre who ventures off from his secluded home in the swamp to rescue a damsel in distress, the feisty Princess Fiona (Randi Garza). He finds a jovial sidekick in the jive-talking Donkey (Quentin Avery Brown) and a prissy nemesis in the little Lord Farquaad (Vatican Lokey, who spends the bulk of his time on bended knees).

At heart, though, “Shrek” is a happily-ever-after romantic fable with a sweet message to impart about “true love,” about how beauty is only skin deep, and how there’s more than meets the eye to both the ugly ogre and the pretty princess, proverbial opposites who attract and discover that their similarities exceed their differences.

But those sentiments are often overshadowed or dwarfed by the sheer spectacle of the rest of the show — if not by its raunchy sense of humor, too, which is heavy on the belching and flatulence jokes (with prerecorded sound effects designed by Daniel Pattillo).

The biggest and flashiest production numbers (music direction by Billy Payne, and featuring a canned instrumental track) spotlight Farquaad and his guards or villagers (“Welcome to Duloc,” “The Ballad of Farquaad”), that chorus of familiar cameo roles (“Story of My Life,” “Freak Flag”), and even that giant dragon (“Forever”).

The most memorable songs are wondrously delivered by the radiant Garza (her solo “Morning Person,” as well as “I Know It’s Today,” performed alongside Brittany Ellis and Mabel Tyler as younger versions of Fiona). Acting-wise, in large part unhidden behind a lot of prosthetic makeup (like Wood), not solely defined by a cumbersome costume (like Brown) and more than merely a sight gag (like Lokey), she manages to create the closest thing in the show to a fleshed-out character.

Although her Fiona might (literally) cut loose with the best of them, in her finest moments Garza also demonstrates how much more a bit less can sometimes be.