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All the pieces are in place for this big budgeted adaptation. It's very close to the 2001 movie in many ways with its own original score.

The endearing characters are well matched and there's stage magic in abundance, yet "Shrek - The Musical" isn't quite the sum of its parts.

What should be a towering blockbuster, falls a little short I'm afraid.

Still, kids love it and there's no denying some of its parts are splendid enough to turn "Shrek" into a big green money making machine.

It certainly looks just right. Hats off to the design team who did a fine job recreating the twisted storybook realm on stage.

The story, in a nutshell, concerns the anti-social ogre Shrek who's forced to leave his swampy paradise when he's invaded by a bunch of fairy tale creatures. They were banished by the evil Lord Farquaad and exiled to Shrek's swamp. So Shrek and his sidekick, Donkey, head over to the castle to straighten this out.

There they find Farquaad, a man of diminished stature, shall we say, who makes a deal with Shrek. He gets his land back if Shrek rescues princess Fiona from a firebreathing dragon and delivers her for marriage.

David Lindsay-Abaire's book is fairly faithful to the film, with a few key changes.

His opening scene is delightful and the adult oriented humor with the many references to Broadway shows are certainly appreciated. But somewhere along the way, the story adaptation fails to engage and Shrek drags a bit between the musical numbers.

Jeanine Tesori's score underwhelms too. The music isn't bad, it's just not great. And the show is sorely in need of a showstopper.

But there's still much to praise.

Director Jason Moore (of Avenue Q fame) knows well how to pace for humor and he shrewdly cast bonafide stage stars. Christopher Sieber rises beautifully to the task of playing the height challenged Farquaad while on his knees. Daniel Breaker, so excellent in the R-rated "Passing Strange" now finds himself passing gas with his costars and he almost steals the show. And Brian d'Arcy James and Sutton Foster are simply terrific. Both create adorably skewed individuals, making us love the human beneath their fairytale facades.

I also loved the show's re-focused theme -- that it's what's inside of us that counts.

One of "Shrek's" best numbers called "Freak Flag" celebrates our unique differences as the qualities that make us special.

It's a very worthy message from a beast of a show that I wish was a little more special itself.