Jeremy Siegel: It’s now been more than 20 years since the world was first introduced to the ugly and anti-social but lovable ogre known as Shrek.

Mike Myers [as Shrek]: For your information, there’s a lot more to ogres than people think.

Eddie Murphy [as Donkey]: Example?

Mike Myers [as Shrek]: Example?

Siegel: Voiced by Mike Myers alongside Eddie Murphy as a talking donkey and Cameron Diaz as a princess, the animated movie centered on a big green monster with big protruding ears and an even bigger heart.

Mike Myers [as Shrek]: People take one look at me and go, "Ah! Help! Run! A big, stupid, ugly ogre."

Siegel: Tomorrow night, Shrek is coming to Boston, not the movie or its many sequels, but the musical inspired by the film, which takes a magical animated creature and brings him to life in person on the stage. So how do you turn an actor into an ogre? Today we’re going to find out.

Nick Hambruch [as Shrek, singing]: I thought love was only true in fairytales.

Hambruch: Hello, my name is Nicholas Hambruch and I play Shrek on the Shrek National tour.

Bridgit Crider: Hello, My name is Bridgit Crider and I am the hair and makeup supervisor for Shrek on tour.

Siegel: Nicholas and Bridgit are the two people who make a real life ogre possible, which Bridgit says is actually not as tough as you might expect.

Hambruch [sung]: And I saw her face!

Crider: Transforming Nick into Shrek, it’s a pretty easy process. It’s not that hard. [Laughter]

Siegel: To make it happen, Bridgit says they have this thing called a cowl, which is basically like a mask combined with a hat that they drop down over Nick’s head to transform his human-shaped noggin into an ogre head — weird tubular ears and all.

Crider: He puts it over his head and it just covers his neck and it’s already pre-painted. And then we pretty much glue it on him and do a little special effects.

Siegel: And on top of that: green paint. Lots and lots of green paint. Like so much that Bridgit and Nick didn’t know how to answer when I ask them how much green paint they use on a daily basis.

Crider: That’s a lot of green.

Hambruch: I was going to say, don’t go in my dressing room after the show. It looks a bit like an ogre crime scene in there.

Siegel: All jokes aside, it is a lot of work that requires a lot of time.

Hambruch: My makeup call is about an hour and a half before performance, so we take about 30 minutes to get that cowl, you know, glued on and set and looking just right. And the rest of the time I’m sitting there in the makeup chair getting the green look on.

Siegel: And getting all of that on is something that takes talent and experience. Bridgit has been in the industry for decades, honing her skills with hair and makeup. It’s an art. But she’s humble and gives Nick all of the credit for bringing everyone’s favorite ogre to life.

Crider: It’s a pretty easy process because he’s easygoing to work with. He basically does the rest as far as creating his own character, because he is Shrek.

Hambruch [as Shrek]: Once upon a time there was a little ogre named Shrek who lived with his parents in a bog by a tree. It was a pretty nasty place. But he was happy because ogres like nasty.

Siegel: For Nick, becoming Shrek is a project that dates all the way back to his childhood.

Hambruch: I mean, I definitely grew up with the movies. I had the VHS, I had the DVDs. The characters has always been a part of my life.

Siegel: With that connection, Nick says, comes the pressure to get it right because everybody knows the Mike Myers performance.

Mike Myers [as Shrek]: Ogres are like onions.

Eddie Murphy [as Donkey]: They stink.

Mike Myers [as Shrek]: Yes. No.

Eddie Murphy [as Donkey]: They make you cry?

Mike Myers [as Shrek]: No.

Eddie Murphy [as Donkey]: You leave them out in the sun. They get all brown, starts sprouting little white hair.

Mike Myers [as Shrek]: No. layers. Onions have layers. Ogres have layers.

Siegel: The Scottish voice. It is iconic and a lot to live up to.

Hambruch: For me, I’ve always said that if you try too hard to be a one-for-one replica, then people are going to put your performance under the microscope and it’s going to be really hard trying to stay in it.

Siegel: But Nick says if you’re true to yourself and give a performance that begins with who you are, the audience is happy to play along — especially for a story that’s all about being yourself, unapologetically.

Hambruch: The thing about Shrek is that he’s really on a journey of self-love, which I think is a really important thing about this whole show.

Siegel: Oh, and having a master artist with buckets of green paint helping you look the part? Yeah. That helps too.

Hambruch [as Shrek, singing]: That’s who I’d be. I could be a poet and write a different story.

Siegel: Shrek The Musical plays tomorrow night and Saturday at the Emerson Colonial Theater in Boston. You’re listening to GBH News.

Hambruch [as Shrek, singing]: The moon would help with spelling and night would dot the "I’s." I’d write a verse, recite a joke. With wit and perfect timing. I’d share my heart, confess the things I yearn. And do it all while rhyming. But we all learn, but we all learn.

Actor Nicholas Hambruch arrives at hair and makeup about an hour and a half before he takes the stage every performance night. The task at hand: Transforming him from a human actor to an iconic ogre — green skin, tubular ears and all.

“The thing about Shrek is that he’s really on a journey of self-love, which I think is a really important thing about this whole show,” Hambruch said.

On Friday night, “Shrek” is coming to Boston as a live stage musical inspired by the film, which takes a magical animated creature and brings him to life on the stage.

It’s been more than 20 years since the world was first introduced to the ugly and anti-social but lovable ogre. Voiced by Mike Myers alongside Eddie Murphy as a talking donkey and Cameron Diaz as a princess, the animated movie centered on a big green monster with big protruding ears and an even bigger heart.

The movie then inspired a musical, which had a short run in Seattle and made its Broadway debut in 2008.

But how do you turn an actor into an ogre?

Bridgit Crider, the show’s hair and makeup supervisor, said it’s not that hard.

“Transforming Nick into Shrek, it’s a pretty easy process,” she told GBH News.

To make it happen, Crider starts with a cowl — basically a mask combined with a hat — that drops down over Hambruch’s human-shaped noggin.

“He puts it over his head and it just covers his neck, and it’s already pre-painted,” Crider said. “And then we pretty much glue it on him and do a little special effects.”

Getting the cowl just right takes about 30 minutes. On top of that: green paint. Lots and lots of green paint.

“Don’t go in my dressing room after the show,” Hambruch said. “It looks a bit like an ogre crime scene in there.”

All jokes aside, creating Shrek requires a lot of talent and experience.

Crider has been in the industry for decades, honing her skills with hair and makeup. It’s an art. But she’s humble and gives Hambruch credit for bringing everyone’s favorite ogre to life.

“It’s a pretty easy process because he’s easygoing to work with. He basically does the rest as far as creating his own character, because he is Shrek,” Crider said.

For Hambruch, becoming Shrek is a project that dates all the way back to his childhood.

“I definitely grew up with the movies,” he said. “I had the VHS, I had the DVDs. The characters [have] always been a part of my life.”

With that familiarity with the film, he said, comes the pressure to get it right.

“For me, I’ve always said that if you try too hard to be a one-for-one replica, then people are going to put your performance under the microscope and it’s going to be really hard trying to stay in it,” he said.

But if you’re true to yourself and give a performance that begins with who you are, the audience is happy to play along — especially for a story that’s all about being yourself, unapologetically.

“Shrek: The Musical” plays Friday and Saturday at the Emerson Colonial Theatre in Boston.