Arturo Hilario
El Observador
Cynthia Ana Rivera plays Mama Bear and the Dragon understudy in SHREK THE MUSICAL, coming to San Jose’s Center for the Performing Arts from December 17–22, 2024. Photo Credit: SHREK THE MUSICAL
SHREK THE MUSICAL cast member Cynthia Ana Rivera (Mama Bear/ Dragon US) has been in three versions of a Shrek musical in her life.
The first was in sophomore year of high school where the dancer thought it would be fun to perform in. After working on that show, as the Ugly Duckling role, she soon enough saw that a local theater was doing a teen theater adaptation of the musical, where she also got the show, and this time the roles of Wicked Witch and one of the three blind mice.
After these experiences, she felt secure in her legacy with Shrek musicals, thinking, “I will never be in Shrek again. I’m Shrek’d out.”
Well, here she is again, in her professional touring debut with SHREK THE MUSICAL, which recently stopped in San Francisco and will be headed to San Jose’s Center for the Performing Arts from December 17–22, 2024.
Because of a bit of opportunity and a bit of fate, Rivera found herself trying out for the all-new version of the hit musical, which even as a Shrek stage veteran was new to her. In the show, she plays Mama Bear and the Dragon understudy.
Now, follow along as she talks about her experiences with getting into the performing arts, working on the road, and what universal qualities of the loveable Ogre and his story will touch the hearts of audiences of any age.
More information on tickets and the show available at broadwaysanjose.com.
To start off, Cynthia, I was wondering if you could touch a little bit on your path to the performing arts and what were your inspirations to get into this type of career?
Absolutely. So I’ve danced my whole life since I was 3 years old, specifically salsa. My mom put me in salsa lessons when I was 3. I’m Puerto Rican.
And so she put me in salsa lessons to get me to be doing something, and it’s part of the culture. So I’ve danced my whole life. And when I got to high school, my dad’s favorite movie is The Wedding Singer, and he was on the Internet or Facebook or something, and he found out that they were doing it at our community theater. And he was like, “You should go audition.” And I was like, “I don’t know, that’s crazy.”
And he said, “Just do it.” So, I decided to head on over, and I auditioned, and I got the show, and it just kind of became my life. I literally auditioned for that, booked it, did it, and then they were doing more shows, so then I did that.
Then I started singing choir at school. I was still dancing, of course, acting. And then quite literally, I get to my senior year of high school, and think, “You can do this as a career? Wait, that’s possible?”
And so I looked into it, and then I auditioned for musical theater programs, and I ended up going to Western Connecticut State University. And they’re known for being one of the top musical theater colleges in the country. So I auditioned, got in, and that’s where I went.
I hope that there are little [POC] girls out there who come see the show and are like, ‘I wanna do that, mom!’ because I didn’t have that. In this industry where I’m constantly in rooms where I’m the only person of color, I’m the only brown girl, it’s insane because it’s 2024.
-Cynthia Ana Rivera
And, going back to when you first did a performance, what was it about it that called out to you and kept you interested in the arts?
I mean, I think it was a mixture of being able to dance, and sing at the same time because I would just do that all the time. But I also think it was like a vulnerability thing. Like, I feel like I was at such a transformative time in my life because I had just lost my grandma, in freshman year. And that’s kind of the reason why I fell into it.
It was such a transformative year in my life, and I needed an outlet, for all those intense feelings that I was having, dealing with the grief. And so being able to sing and dance and be able to emote in such a different way, is really what called me to it.
So it being your first national tour, how has that experience been?
It’s been so much fun. I think being able to hit the road with a bunch of people that I’ve never met has actually been so much fun and so cool to meet so many new people. And so, this tour specifically, we started out on a bus, and we have, like, 2-to-4-day stints. So, it’s, like, 2 days in a city, 4 days in a city etc.
So, it’s been incredible. I absolutely love it. I love the idea; I love to travel. It’s like, honestly, besides doing theater, it’s like the other thing that I want to do. So being able to travel the country and perform at the same time is just everything to me.
You mentioned you worked on the show twice in your high school era. Could you talk about your history with Shrek and how it went this time around booking the professional caliber version?
Funny story is after doing it those two times, I was like, “I will never be in Shrek again. I’m Shrek’d out.” But as a musical theater performer and someone who knows this industry, jobs are sometimes hard to get. And so after college I got an agent, and last summer I got an email from my agent saying, “Hey. You’ve been requested to be seen for SHREK THE MUSICAL. And I quite literally was like, “No! I’m not doing it.”
But then, I was like, “You know what? Look. I don’t really have a job lined up right now. I just finished doing a contract. Let me just do it. Let’s just see what happens.” So, I auditioned. It was a video submission audition. I auditioned, and I was like, “It’s out of my hands.” And then I get an email, maybe 4 days after I submitted my video. And they were like, “Hey. Do you want to come to in person callbacks? We really loved you. We want to see you for Dragon and ensemble.”
And I was like, “Oh, okay. You know what? I would do the show if I was Dragon.” So, I went to these in-person callbacks, and I did it.
And I felt really good about it. And I was like, “Wait. Maybe, like, I do wanna do this again.”
I was directing a musical, Mean Girls, at a high school in Connecticut. And I was in rehearsal, and I get a call from my agent. And so I called my agent, and she’s literally like, “Hey, Cynthia. You booked SHREK THE MUSICAL as Mama Bear/Dragon Understudy. Are you good with that?”
And I freaked out. I literally freaked out, and I was like, “Absolutely. Yes. I’m doing this. This is where I wanna be for this next year.”
What can people expect when they step into the theater to see a Shrek musical? Do you need to know much about the film or the story beforehand?
No. I think that this is such a universal story, that you see quite often where there’s someone who is kind of an outcast and treated poorly and not accepted for who they really are. It’s like a typical hero story.
So I don’t think that you necessarily need to know the movie in order to be able to understand it. But, again, like, it’s just, like, that story that everyone loves and holds close to their heart where someone is not accepted, and then you have these people who are trying to teach you that it is okay to be accepted, and you go on this journey to save the day. Also, it’s just such a fun musical, and I do think that it touches everyone’s heart whether you’re 5 years old or 82 years old.
I do think that it’s such a fun story that you can come and sit there and you can enjoy. Like, you’re gonna laugh. You’re gonna cry. You’re gonna sing. It’s such a good story.
So you have two roles within the show, Mama Bear, and Dragon. Can you touch on those roles and your experience with them?
Absolutely. So, because this is a reimagined version, we all, everyone in the show besides Donkey, Lord Farquaad, Fiona, and Shrek, start the show off as storytellers. Yeah. And then we become our fairy tale creatures. And my fairy tale creature is Mama Bear.
And in the story, Mama Bear is one of the fairy tale creatures who gets exiled from Duloc and has to basically live in Shrek’s swamp because Farquaad is basically like a dictator and doesn’t want anyone who is weird or strange to be living there. And so, Mama Bear is one of those fairytale creatures who gets exiled, but then helps Shrek realize that it’s okay to be different and Shrek gets them back on their land. And then for the Dragon understudy, as an understudy, you basically have to learn another track, on top of the one that is your current track. And so, if the person in understudy gets sick or calls out or has a swing out, you have to go on.
And I love the fact that I’m the Dragon understudy. It’s such a fun role. It’s so fiery and feisty, and it’s so cool to be like that on stage.
Being Latina, how has that experience been for you to be on stage? As you know, you go back a couple decades, the people on the stage that are portraying the major characters would probably be white actors. How do you reflect on that, and to be a role model for children that are watching the show and showing that the stage could be a career path?
Absolutely. So I love this question because growing up and doing theater, I didn’t see people who looked like me. Specifically, because of financial reasons, often, people cannot afford to see shows and see the big shows on Broadway. So I would have to go to community and regional theater, which I’m so grateful for, obviously. I’m so grateful to have been able to see any theater at all, but I never saw myself on stage growing up.
And so now being the person on stage so little girls can see in a production that is affordable and still is a professional production means the world to me. I hope that there are little [POC] girls out there who come see the show and are like, “I wanna do that, mom,” because I didn’t have that. In this industry where I’m constantly in rooms where I’m the only person of color, I’m the only brown girl, it’s insane because it’s 2024.
And it just it really touches my heart when I am that person. And it’s something that once I’m done performing, I wanna get into casting because I promise you the rooms will look very different than what they look like now!
And final question, why should people go out and see SHREK THE MUSICAL when it comes to San Jose from December 17–22, 2024?
I think that people should come see the show because it’s just it’s just a show that is relatable to the world that we are living in today. It’s a show that, again, if you are 5, if you are 82, you are going to enjoy it. You are going to find something that you relate to. It’s going to make your day better, honestly. It’s going to make your day better because you’re going to go in and you’re going and us performers and us crew are putting on the show for you and doing this show that is just visually so beautiful.
Like, costume is beautiful. The set’s stunning. It’s just a beautiful show, visually. But deeper than that and more than that, the story is just a story that is so beautiful and so that we see time and time again, but we still, no matter what point we’re at in our life, need to hear it to be reminded that it’s okay to be different. It’s okay to be weird. It’s okay not to be in the status quo.
And I feel like that’s something that we as humans need to hear often because sometimes we fall into these traps and we’re like, “Oh, God. I need to fit in. I need to fit in. I need to fit in. I need to change.” This is a story that’s like, all about not being normal and not being that person that is gonna fit in. And I feel like that’s something relatable. And, obviously, the story changes as you get older, but it’s still something that you’re always gonna understand as human beings because it’s an innate feeling that we all have.
