With a fairy godmother and a wicked witch, a boy who can fly and a girl in a red hood fleeing a wolf in a housecoat, Shrek the Musical packs in the fairy tale characters familiar from the festive season’s traditional pantos, but offers a vibrant, energetic – and very green – alternative.

The story is familiar from the animated feature, but with a tweak or two here and there and, ironically, an expanded role for the vertically challenged Lord Farquaad, played with deliciously camp relish by Gerard Carey in a scene-stealing performance.

As the curtain rose, the giant book on stage left us in no doubt that we were entering the realm of fairy stories, though Shrek the Musical, is a fable that turns tradition on its head to make the point that beauty is only skin deep, and true love and friendship have little to do with how you look.

Giving Shrek and Princess Fiona similar back stories – both abandoned by their parents at the tender age of seven – allows a neat shortcut to explain their almost instant compatibility (never mind what happens to her when the sun sets), and offers an opportunity for one of the show’s touching moments as Princess Fiona appears as a seven-year-old, a teenager and an adult to sing I Know it's Today. As the ogre Dean Chisnall gives his Shrek more charm and vulnerability than ferocity, and Bronte Barbe’s Fiona is a neat mix of feisty and fragile.

When Shrek discovers that his swamp has been overrun by fairy tale characters thrown out of Duloc by Farquaad, he is dismayed, determined to remain in isolation, hidden away from a judgemental world. So he strikes a deal with the diminutive would-be king who needs a princess to guarantee the crown: he will rescue the feisty Princess Fiona from the fire-breathing dragon and deliver her to Lord Farquaad in exchange for the deeds to his swamp.

But of course nothing goes quite to plan and with the arrival of the irrepressible Donkey, played with plenty of attitude by Idriss Kargbo, Shrek finds he’s not alone, and liberating Princess Fiona adds a further complication when he finds he’s been felled by love! After which, and with a major misunderstanding to overcome, it’s a race against time to find a happy ending.

There are plenty of stand-out moments in this show, even if the songs, while charming – I think I got you beat is particularly touching - don’t lodge themselves in your head. But what’s not to love about tap-dancing rats and talking gingerbread men, not to mention a truly magnificent dragon so huge she fills the stage as she belts out the very soulful Forever, accompanied by a quartet of Princess Fiona’s would be suitors in the stocks.

So the gargantuan green ogre gets the girl, the tiny king with big ambition proves how limiting a small mind can be and beauty is well-and-truly proved to be in the eye of the beholder.

There’s plenty in this show that hits panto buttons – Farquaad provides the laugh-out loud humour of a Dame and there’s a fairy tale ending of course – but there’s no audience participation …. Unless you count the irresistible urge to sing along as the entire company bursts into the iconic theme song (performed here by the Donkees rather than Monkees) I’m a Believer!

Shrek the Musical is at Wales Millennium Centre until Sunday, January 10. To book, call the box office on 029 2063 6464 or visit wmc.org.uk