'Shrek' Is Broadway Bound

Oscar Winning Director Sam Mendes Plans Stage Version Of Hit Movie

(AP)  "Shrek," the tale of a lovable green ogre, was one of the biggest movies of the past several years. And its sequel was equally successful.

So what is left to conquer?

Broadway, says Sam Mendes, director of the Oscar-winning "American Beauty" and creative producer of the upcoming stage version of "Shrek."

Workshops of the musical will be held sometime in 2005, according to Mendes, whose Scamp Film and Theatre Ltd., will co-produce the musical, along with DreamWorks, which did the movies. No timetable has been set for the Broadway opening.

Jason Moore, who directed the Tony-winning musical "Avenue Q," is set to direct, while the book will be written by David Lindsay-Abaire, author of offbeat comedies such as "Fuddy Meers," "Kimberly Akimbo" and "Wonder of the World." A composer and lyricist are to been named.

"I know that they (Moore and Lindsay-Abaire) and their chosen collaborators will come up with something that is intensely theatrical, yet retains all the warmth, imagination and comic invention of the movies," Mendes said in a statement from London.