arts & entertainment Lovable Ogre William Steig's Shrek has transitioned from children's book to animated films and, finally, to the musical theater stage. Ai Lukas Poost as Shrek, Andree Jordan as Donkey and Liz Shivener as Princess Fiona in Shrek The Musical; the family show includes pop culture and Broadway references that adults will enjoy. Suzanne Chessler Contributing Writer "Bill liked doing Shrek. He said he had never done a book about a monster so he thought he would. I remember that he said hrek, William Steig's celebrated a monster should be green and ugly but his monster character originally created would be funny — because everything he for a 1990 children's book, has one did was funny. Jewish connection. Shrek is the Yiddish word "Bill laughed his way through it and for fear. finished very quickly. He loved the ending. The name, certainly asso ciated with reac- Shrek, thrown out of his house by his family, tions to monsters, also has went on to great adventures come to public attention and married the woman of through four films and now his dreams, someone just as the stage. Shrek The Musical ugly as he was:" runs Feb. 28-March 11 at The musical, with Detroit's Fisher Theatre. book and lyrics by David Jeanne Steig, widow of Lindsay-Abaire and music the writer-cartoonist, talked by Jeanine Tesori, is based about Shrek, her husband on the book as well as the and her own creative proj- first of the movie series. ects during a recent phone The play tells the story conversation from her of a swamp-dwelling ogre Boston home. who goes on a life-changing The dust jacket for William "I think that Bill rather Steig's children's book Shrek adventure to reclaim the naively assumed that no deed to his land. Joined one would recognize the by a wisecracking donkey Yiddish word': explains Steig, whose profes- (Andree Jordan), Shrek (Lukas Poost) fights sional projects include writing a group of a dragon, rescues a princess (Liz Shivener) children's books illustrated by her husband and learns about friendship and love. during the 33 years they were together. "I loved the character Shrek in the book, S and the film was fairly close to that charac- ter," says Steig, 81, whose husband died in 2003 at age 95. "They did make changes; they prettied things up. I asked Bill how he liked the film, and he said, `They did their thing; I did mine: "I suppose the theatrical Shrek is a third thing, and I wish them well. I've seen two or three of the films, and they are interesting. I'm sure the theatrical Shrek is very exciting!' The Jewish Museum included Shrek drawings in a 2007 exhibit titled "From the New Yorker to Shrek: The Art of William Steig." Featured were content from his other children's books (Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, Dominic, Abel's Island and Doctor De Soto, among them), which he began writing and illustrating at age 60; cartoons from his many years at the New Yorker; and his sym- bolic drawings. Just last year, Abrams ComicArts released Jeanne Steig's book of remembrance — Cats, Dogs, Men, Women, Ninnies & Clowns: The Lost Art of William Steig. It is filled with unpublished adult work of her husband, the son of Jewish immigrants who settled in the Bronx. (Steig created 13 collections of draw- ings for adults, starting with About People in 1939.) "I really wanted Bill's unpublished draw- ings to be seen by the world': says Steig, who has since given her husband's artistic holdings to institutions where they will be preserved, shown and traveled. "A lot of it was important to Bill, and it was a treat to get it all bound together and be able to write about him a little bit, which I always like to do. "I had a couple thousand drawings to choose from and had scans of all of them. I sorted them, divided them into characters and came up with six categories." William Steig recalled his own childhood in When Everybody Wore a Hat, the one pic- ture book that references the Jewish neigh- borhood where he was raised by socialist parents whose political orientation became their son's. His artistic interests were picked up by his three children. "Bill never lost his childhood," says Steig, the mother of two. "He was never childish in the least, but he had a wonderful sense of humor that was childlike. He connected wonderfully well with children because he never condescended to them. "If an editor told him that he was using an awfully big word, he'd say, `Kids will like it. If they don't understand it, they'll like it anyway. If they don't understand it, they can look it up. "I never heard a kid complain about his vocabulary. They all liked it. That meant that the adults who read to them liked it, too. I respected that so much." Jeanne Steig, whose work time now is spent with artistic projects incorporating found objects, wants her book and the col- lections she has given away to inform the public about her husband. All of his work is generous — brilliant, funny and free,' she says. "Even if ifs funny, there's something tender about it. He loved people and didn't like caricature because he thought it was cruel. "We never anticipated the popularity of Shrek, which is marvelous. It wasn't a book that was quite as important to Bill as some of the other books he did, and we never thought it would take hold the way it did!' But, she adds, "I hope he isn't remembered only for Shrek" ❑ Shrek the Musical runs Feb. 28-March 11 at the Fisher Theatre. Performance times are 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays, 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sundays and 2 p.m. Saturdays. $29-$79. (313) 872-1000; www. broadwayindetroit.com . P WS Nate Bloom Special to the Jewish News it OMR Oscars, Part 2 IC Here are the nominees in the English- language feature film categories (other than technical fields), all of oihk which are nominated for Best Picture. Igo The Descendants is the sole Best Picture nominee without a Jewish connection. The Oscar for Best Picture goes to the film's producers. 114 • The Artist – Producer: Thomas Langmann, 39, son of the late French Jewish filmmaker Claude Berri (born Claude Langmann). The film's director, Frenchman Michel Hazanicius, 44, 42 February 23 • 2012 is nominated for three Oscars: Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Film Editing. • Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close – Producer: Scott Rudin, 53. • The Help – Producer: Michael Barnathan, 53. • Midnight in Paris – Producers: Letty Aronson, 68, and Stephen Tennebaum, 75. Aronson is the sis- ter of Woody Allen, 76, nominated for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. • Hugo – The film's Oscar- nominated score is by Howard Shore, 65, who won three Academy Awards for his music for the Lord of the Rings trilogy. • Moneyball – Producers: Rachel Horovitz, 50, and Michael DeLuca, 46. Horovitz is the daughter of play- wright Israel Horovitz, 72, and the sister of Adam Horovitz, 46, of the Beastie Boys. Jonah Hill, 28, scored a Best Supporting Actor nomination; Stan Chervin, 54, and Aaron Sorkin, 50, are two of the three writers up for Best Adapted Screenplay. • Tree of Life – Five-time Oscar nominee Emmanuel Luzbeki, 48, born and raised in Mexico, is up for Best Cinematography. • War Horse – The film was co-pro- duced by Steven Spielberg, 65, also the film's director. New Flicks Opening Friday, Feb. 24: Wanderlust, a comedy directed and written by David Wain, 42, stars Paul Rudd, 42, and Jennifer Aniston as a Manhattan couple whose lives hit the skids when George loses his job. Rampart, a drama about an L.A. police officer (Woody Harrelson) whose life spi- rals downward when he is accused of roughing up a suspect, reunites Harrelson and co-star Ben Foster, 31, with Israeli-born director and co-writer Oren Moverman, 45 (The Messenger). ❑ Contact Nate Bloom at middleoftheroadl@aoLcom.