PacRep does a funny and zany Shrek musical aimed at kids and adults.

Shrek seems a natural choice for the Broadway treatment. The Dreamworks movie was musical to begin with, a kids concoction that had fun with fairy tales and was laced with sly adult jokes and pop culture references. Like when Shrek and Donkey first see Lord Farquaad’s enormous castle spire, Shrek quips to Donkey, “Do you think he’s compensating for something? Eh?” And Donkey doesn’t get it and kids won’t either, but we do.

Oddly (or not), on Thursday the audience at the Golden Bough Theatre was composed overwhelmingly of adults – both elder and 20-somethings. The 20-somethings I get: Shrek the movie came out in 2001, so this is a nostalgic revisitation for them. The absence of kids: It was a school night and PacRep’s musical is well over 2 hours long.

The premise of the story is the same. Shrek (Rob Devlin, playing it down and put-upon) wants to be alone in his swamp, but it’s inundated with fairy tale creatures by order of the diminutive Lord Farquaad (Scott McQuiston, playing it up and out the park) until Shrek agrees to fetch a princess, Fiona (Lara Fern), for him to marry. Shrek is befriended by the ingratiating Donkey (John Daniel, ambiguous and frisky) and the outcast fairy tale characters like Gingy the Gingerbread Man (puppeteer Corinne Walker, with a funny and winning solo), the big bad Wolf (Pete Russell, kind of tranny and kind of awesome) and the Blue Fairy (an understated Grace Baker).

The songs are new, and mostly memorable for their lyrical playfulness. There are some clunky parts, though. In the opening number Shrek’s and Fiona’s parents gleefully send them away at age 7, and Donkey sings “If you kill a man, I’ll bury the body,” which doesn’t seem amusing enough for adults to merit the confusion it could cause kids.

McQuiston, as Lord Farquaad, gets what seems to be an inordinate amount of stage time for an antagonist, but it’s time well spent. He’s done up in a costume with leg prosthetics that shrink him, which he uses to hilarious effect.

It’s all funny, playful, colorful and lowbrow (there are fart and burp jokes) entertainment, on a nicely realized set that alternates between swamp and castle, with lots of music and jokes and a requisite Broadway message about the value of being different.

SHREK THE MUSICAL plays 7:30pm Thursday-Saturday, 2pm Saturday and Sunday, through Sept. 28, at Golden Bough Theater, Monte Verde Street between Eighth and Ninth, Carmel. $20-$36; discounts available for students, children, seniors over 65, teachers, and active military. 622-0100, www.PacRep.org