Why the Donkey role challenges Surrey actor in ‘Shrek’ musical, in New West
Published 9:56 am Wednesday, April 8, 2026
Chris Francisque says he’s trying his best not to act or sound like Eddie Murphy in his portrayal of Donkey in Shrek the Musical, Royal City Musical Theatre’s spring production, April 17 to May 3 at Massey Theatre in New Westminster.
Murphy, of course, was the wise-cracking, hilarious vocal star of four animated Shrek movies starting in 2001, with a fifth expected in 2027.
“I would say this is probably one of my more challenging roles,” Francisque says, “not only because of the singing but because people only know one version of Donkey, which is Eddie Murphy’s version. The challenge for me was to do something different.”
Francisque says he purposely did not watch any Shrek movies recently.
“I’ve seen them,” he said, “but I didn’t want to basically refresh my memory with Eddie’s version because I’m trying my hardest to kind of unlearn a lot of that. I mean, he brought the character to life, but I’m trying to make it my own performance without it sort of looking like I’m mimicking Eddie Murphy.”
A Surrey resident, Francisque joins in the family-friendly fun of Royal City’s latest big-stage musical, an adventure for the beloved green ogre and cast of fairy tale misfits in the Kingdom of Duloc.
Born and raised in Montreal, Francisque found his way to Surrey. On local stages, he made an award-winning debut in Surrey Little Theatre’s production of Truth and Reconciliation in 2015.
“That’s what started me on the path of my professional acting career,” said Francisque, who does a lot of TV commercials now.
Staged musicals are new to the Clayton Heights Secondary grad.
“This is my first show with Royal City, and furthermore it’s the first musical that I’ve ever done,” Francisque reported. “It’s a completely different beast, and not something that I’d sought out. It was Chris (Adams), our director, who saw me in a show I did in 2019 called Superior Donuts, and he remembered me from then.”
For playing Franco Wicks in Superior Donuts, staged in Kitsilano, Francisque won a Jessie Award for best supporting actor.
In Shrek the Musical, he sings six songs in what he calls a “comforting” show.
“You can bring your your family to it, have a good time, and for people who haven’t seen the musical production before, there’s the added element of music in this, that extra layer of depth,” Francisque sings. “Audiences can rediscover Shrek in kind of a different way than they’re used to seeing. There’s good music in this.”
Every spring, Royal City Musical Theatre shows entertain close to 10,000 people at Massey Theatre, on multiple dates.
Tickets for Shrek the Musical start at $38.50 on royalcitymusicaltheatre.com, or call 888-655-9090.