In Act 1 of “Shrek the Musical,” the song “I Know It’s Today” defines who Princess Fiona is — and who she’s not.
Says director Jason Moore: “It addresses what the princess has been doing in that tower for 20 years and what’s going on in her head.”
“It sets up her desire to wait for her handsome prince,” Moore says, “but it really reveals that she’s feisty and impatient and willful and all the things that waiting princesses aren’t supposed to be. That juxtaposition of ideas is what gives her character its interest.”
The song — one of the first written by Jeanine Tesori and David Lindsay-Abaire — is a sort of 3×100 musical theater relay in which we meet three Fionas: Young Fiona, played alternately by Keaton Whittaker and Leah Greenhaus; Teen Fiona, played by Westchester’s Marissa O’Donnell in her Broadway debut, and Princess Fiona, played by Tony-winner Sutton Foster.
“‘I Know It’s Today’ is Fiona’s song of hope,” Foster explains. “It shows her growing up, getting frustrated, waiting her whole life and going a little stir-crazy. Her mantra is ‘I know it’s today. He’ll show up today.’”
Adds O’Donnell, “Each time we see a new Fiona, she’s more agitated waiting for her prince to come.”
O’Donnell has been waiting for her Broadway debut for years. A veteran of local youth theater, the American Girls Revue and the 30th anniversary tour of “Annie,” she has played venues all across the country, including Madison Square Garden.
But not Broadway.
Until now.
Moore says O’Donnell stood out from the hundreds of young actresses he read for the role.
“She reminded me of Sutton before she sang any of the material,” he says. “She came in and she’s tall and she has a big smile and she owns her body. She was funny, quite smart and sweet, but not taking any crap from anybody, without being pretentious.
“She has that star special quality. You really want to watch every nuance of what she’s doing when she’s onstage.”
Brian d’Arcy James, who plays Shrek, has been watching from the wings, and he likes what he has seen.
“Marissa has a real quiet strength about her,” d’Arcy James says. “‘Poise’ is the word that comes to mind. I watch her every night sing her song because I make my entrance right after ‘I Know It’s Today.’ And it looks like she’s been doing this for 20 years.
“I’m really impressed by her and Leah and Keaton as well.”
The 14-year-old O’Donnell says she’s thrilled to be making her Broadway debut at last.
“Ever since I was little, this is what I wanted to do. I’ve wanted to be on Broadway. It’s the most amazing feeling to have it happen. Now I can say I reached my goal.”

Photo by Joan Marcus:  Keaton Whittaker as Young Fiona, left, Sutton Foster as Princess Fiona, center, and Westchester’s Marissa O’Donnell as Teen Fiona in the Broadway-bound production of “Shrek the Musical.”