Posted 8:46 AM by Gene

Branson East extrudes GENIUS:

"It looks like 'Tarzan' when you walk into the theater because it's all green and viney," says a source. "You get scared for a second, but it's a lot better than 'Tarzan.' It's decent. It's going to appeal to kids who like the movie."

Let's hope so; we wouldn't want a company partnered by LUKE SPIELBERG to engage in GLOBAL WARMING.

"There's this kid in a cute Shrek costume running around for a few minutes," one person says.

American Idol?

One of the fairy-tale characters proudly announces that he's "sold my memoirs to Stephen Schwartz" - the composer of "Wicked."

"They didn't get the joke in Seattle, but maybe they'll get it in New York," a source says, adding that, with all its inside musical-theater jokes, "Shrek" strays into territory well-mined by "Spamalot."

Who says it's a joke?

One source says the production could have been designed by Kenneth Feld, the peddler of such middlebrow fare as Disney on Ice.

Strap a pair of skates on d'Arcy James, one source says, and "you'd have 'Shrek on Ice.' "

LUKE!!!!! JEFF!!!!!!!!!!

DreamWorks seems to be playing it safe with its most valuable property. The company is so bent on making "Shrek" audience-friendly, it's encouraging theatergoers to e-mail comments to help the creators fine-tune the show.

At least nobody's writing "Close it out of town."

Democracy!