Are you ready for some Shrek?

The larger-than-life wise-cracking ogre and all his fractured fairy tale friends will be in Allentown’s Scottish Rite Cathedral, when Munopco Music Theatre presents the Tony Award-winning “Shrek The Musical,” weekends, Sept. 18-26.

The musical based on Dreamwork’s 2001 blockbuster “Shrek” movie opens Munopco’s 94th season.

“We are all so excited to be back on stage after the COVID-19 shutdown in March of last year,” says Darice Hoffmann, Munopco board president.

The musical, which ran on Broadway from 2008 to 2011 and was nominated for nine Tony Awards, faithfully recreates the hit animated film on stage with the addition of humorous songs by Tony-nominated composer Jeanine Tesori, whose cast recording of the show was nominated for a Grammy for best musical show album.

The movie “Shrek,” based on William Steig’s 1990 book “Shrek!,” was a huge hit for Dreamworks, and won the Oscar for best animated film in 2002. The unforgettable characters, including the cantankerous green ogre, voiced by Mike Myers, and Donkey, voiced by Eddie Murphy, became a part of pop culture. The movie spawned four sequels, television shows, a musical and is a hugely-successful franchise.

The musical features clever and catchy tunes, including “Freak Flag,” “What’s Up, Duloc?;” “Big, Bright Beautiful World,” “I Know It’s Today,” “Don’t Let Me Go,” and “I’m a Believer,” the latter The Monkees’ pop group 1967 hit and the only song from the film.

For theater buffs, the show features in-jokes about other stage shows. Look for references to “Lion King,” “Gypsy,” “Les Miserables,” “A Chorus Line” and “West Side Story.”

Munopco’s production of “Shrek The Musical” is directed by Daniel Petrovich, with music direction by Chris Hamm.

Rob Clausnitzer plays Shrek. Clausnitzer was last seen on the Munopco stage as Tommy Albright in “Brigadoon.”

He is joined by Shy Torres as Donkey and Monica Handwerk as Fiona.

The large ensemble cast includes Johnny Bertone, Kristofer Swanson, Sue Matol, Samantha Zosky, Angelina Dries, Emily Bellfy, Sean McFarland, Laura Jones, Michael Kirkland, Jaedon Muhl, Krystal Pierce, Elena Wenrich-Quinones, Lisa Suppan, Victoria Spruiell, Zoli Heft, Tessa DeJesus, Kathy Hontz, Bethe Sucro, Tony Kohl and Jacob Miller.

Performances are 7:30 p.m. Sept. 18, 24 and 25, and 2 p.m. Sept. 19 and 26 at Scottish Rite Cathedral, 1533 Hamilton St, Allentown.

According to Hoffmann, while the theater seats 760 people, Munopco is only licensed for the “Shrek” production for 150 people per performance so there is plenty of room to social distance.

The cast and crew will be wearing face shields.

Tickets: www.munopco.org, 610-437-2441