In today’s newsletter:
How does it feel waiting to hear back from colleges? Senior Matthew Taur checks in with some classmates who are in college admissions limbo.
Need more Farquaad in your life? Sophomore Andera McCarthy reviews a recent performance of Shrek the Musical at Segerstrom.
Plus, a new comic from senior Red De La Pena!

Hopes & Jitters
Seniors give a status update while they wait for college admissions announcements.
By Matthew Taur
As the fall semester wraps up, countless seniors are anxiously waiting for results of their college applications. As a senior, I applied primarily to the UCs and have been cautiously optimistic. I know many of my classmates are very nervous about college and if they will get in. I interviewed a few of them about their fears and aspirations. As expected, there were many mixed emotions. The feeling of being excited but also nervous is wholly expected with something so important.
Maia Helmar, 12th grade
Colleges applied to: UC San Diego, UC Davis, San Diego State University, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Majors: Animal science, biology, nutrition
Are you nervous? “Very nervous. Our whole future is ahead of us.”
Charlotte Warmington, 12th grade
Colleges applied to: Auburn, Boston College, Clemson, Indiana Bloomington, Purdue, Ohio State, Texas, Georgia, Illinois Urbana Champaign, Maryland, Michigan, Notre Dame, Wisconsin-Madison, Vanderbilt, Yale, UCLA, UC Berkeley
Major: Animal science
Are you nervous? “I have felt anxious throughout the semester and I have been nervous. However, I have felt better in recent times. Many of my friends have also been nervous, but they have held up well and are hopeful. Everything happens for a reason, so if you don’t get into a college, it obviously wasn’t meant to happen.”
Wyatt Gahm, 12th grade
Colleges applied to: Colorado, Washington, Oregon, San Diego State
Major: Management, with a minor in real estate
Are you nervous? “First semester, I felt the pressure of college expectations, but I believe that by the second semester, I will be able to relax at least a little bit.”
Niko Salomon, 12th grade
Colleges applied to: UC Irvine, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, San Diego State, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Majors: Accounting and Undeclared
Are you nervous? “Not really.”
Review: He’s Mean, He’s Green, Get Used To It!
The recent rendition of Shrek the Musical at Segerstrom was imperfect but enjoyable.
By Andera McCarthy
It’s a well-known fact that everybody loves parfaits. And since Shrek came out in 2001, everybody loves ogres (and donkeys) too. However, I’d say musicals are more like onions. Not everyone likes them, but some people love them, and you can smell it when they do. So, when you combine the two, what do you get? On Sunday, November 24, I went to the Segerstrom to find out.
The most noticeable thing, right from the first scene of Shrek the Musical, was their use of a puppet, closely resembling one of the aliens from Toy Story, to play young Shrek. Given that young Shrek is on stage for about two minutes and has no lines, it worked out alright, though it was a bit off-putting and distracting.
It was very easy to see who was controlling the puppet, to the point where I don’t really remember any of the first song other than Papa Ogre maneuvering his son’s head as he and his wife sang about how their son, now a whopping seven years old, had to move out and fend for himself. The whole time, I was just worrying what other characters would have puppet substitutes.
Thankfully, Shrek, played by Nicholas Hambruch, was a real human, but Young Fiona and Teen Fiona were also puppets. When trying to figure this out on the car ride home, the argument was brought up that it was possible they did not want to have to find child actors and pay for them, but the puppets definitely took more effort. They had to have two people animating the puppets and one person to sing for each puppet, and they would just sit awkwardly downstage.
There’s the possibility that this was an artistic choice, but I think I speak for my fellow audience members when I say you really could have just found some homeschooled thespian child who would happily take the role, making it less distracting and less creepy for all of us.
The second most noticeable thing from the first scene were the accents. If you’ve never seen the movie, first and foremost, why not? And secondly, each character has a very distinct voice, from Shrek himself, to Pinnochio (JRay Kuhn), and these actors had them down. Mama and Papa Ogre (Hope Schafer and Demetrio Alomar) sounded more Scottish than Macbeth himself, and the Gingerbread Man (Ally Choe) teetered artfully on the tightrope between vocal cracks and screaming.
Having seen other adaptations of this story before, including my younger brother’s elementary school play, in which he starred as Shrek, I can say that the accents are not mandatory to the story, but they certainly make it entertaining.
When training for his role as Shrek, my brother watched the Broadway production of Shrek just about every day. This meant he was the first to notice when they cut one of the best parts of the entire musical: Donkey’s song, “Don’t Let Me Go,” in which he serenades Shrek, persuading him that he needs Donkey to accompany him to Duloc. “I’ll treat you right, and never get shoddy,” he assures the ogre. “If you kill a man, I’ll hide the body. So what do you say? You’re not responding. I think we’re bonding!”
This song, aside from being my brother’s favorite, is a key part of the development of Donkey’s character. It’s the third song in the play, and it presents the protagonist’s sidekick as desperate, loquacious, and hilariously clingy. Though it’s not pivotal to the advancement of the plot, and its absence was only noticed by a true Shrek aficionado, it does set up nicely for Donkey and Shrek’s eventual (literal and metaphorical) crossing of a bridge together.
Additionally, what’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Lord Farquaad? Besides his fabulous bob, I mean. Much of the movie’s Farquaad jokes rely on the fact that he’s short, right? Wrong! In the Broadway musical, they have the actor for Farquaad running around on his knees with fake legs for comedic effect, but this Farquaad was on his feet, and about the same height as Shrek.
I think this is likely why they replaced the short jokes with narcissism jokes, which was a noticeable swap, but Donkey, played by Naphtali Yaakov Curry, made up for it with his delivery. They also tried to make Farquaad seem shorter in relation to Shrek with the magic of staging, which was pretty effective for the moment, but I think what really sold Farquaad’s height – or rather, lack thereof – was Timmy Lewis’s acting.
Through his mannerisms, expressions, and reactions, Lewis made it clear that height does not define a believable Farquaad. I have to say that Lord Farquaad was, hands down, my favorite character in this musical cast, and it seemed that the rest of the audience agreed.
There is a scene at the end of the musical where Shrek crashes the royal wedding, as Fiona and Farquaad are saying their vows, and confesses his love to Fiona. This is meant to be one of the few non-goofy, truly heartfelt scenes in the musical, and yet Shrek had to delay the beginning of his undying love-profession because everyone was cackling at the pure sass emanating from Farquaad as he sat down on the steps of the altar, crossed his pantalooned legs, and flipped his luscious locks.
This show only played at the Segerstrom November 22-24, but I’m glad I was able to see it. I would probably rate it about 7.5/10 onions. The story of Shrek, overall, makes for a great musical, being a perfect ratio of goofiness to important life lessons, like it’s okay to be green, and never walk behind an ogre because if they fart, you will probably die.