It's 5:20 p.m. on June 7. As Bill Damaschke climbs into a limo, he's taking care of business and working ogre time.

The chief creative officer of Dreamworks Animation is flying to London to supervise the launch of "Shrek the Musical," then possibly dropping in on European openings of the movie "Kung Fu Panda 2," which he also supervised.

Yet he wedges in 25 minutes to chat about the U.S. tour of the show about a glum ogre, cursed princess and sassy donkey, which comes to Belk Theater on Tuesday. Is he a micromanager or proud papa?

The latter seems likely. He supervised the song-filled "Shrek," Dreamworks' first foray into musical theater, at its Seattle tryout in 2008. He took it to Broadway that December, in time for America's economic collapse. It earned mixed reviews, ran for 13 months, then hit the road. Damaschke has never stopped tweaking it.

"Take the dragon," he said. "In New York, nine women together onstage created the body of the dragon, speaking in unison. But we felt (that character) didn't lift the show the way we wanted it to.

"So the authors wrote a new song for her called 'Forever,' and she's now a 35-foot puppet stomping around onstage, much more fluid and dangerous and beautiful. We took that dragon on tour and (put) it into the London run."

Damaschke hired creative heavyweights: Lyricist David Lindsay-Abaire owned a Pulitzer for "Rabbit Hole," composer Jeanine Tesori had been Tony-nominated for "Thoroughly Modern Millie," and director Jason Moore took a Tony for "Avenue Q."

Their job, says Damaschke, was to answer the questions you had while watching the Oscar-winning film of 2001.

"How did Shrek get out in that swamp? What did Fiona do in her tower all those years? Why does Lord Farquaad get so angry with people who are different? We didn't use Shrek's parents in the film, but they appear in the original (William Steig picture) book, and they're in the show.

"Those questions were the basis for songs. A movie uses close-ups (to) peek into what a character thinks. In a musical, songs convey those hopes and dreams. Because at its heart, this is a small story about three characters on a journey."

Damaschke, who has a B.A. in theater from Illinois Wesleyan University, understands the language of a stage show.

He spent nearly a decade as an actor before becoming a production assistant at Disney in 1994. When Disney animation chief Jeffrey Katzenberg quit to help start Dreamworks in 1994, Damaschke went along. He rose through the ranks to produce "Shark Tale" (getting an Oscar nomination) and "Kung Fu Panda" before taking his current job.

"One of the things that surprised me was how similar a Broadway show is to an animated movie in the creative process. We workshop the material and develop it over years to get it right. Animation has countless details in every frame that have to be worked out, and you have the same kind of discussions for the fairytale world onstage."

Of course, there's one big difference: Animated characters will do whatever you ask.

"Yeah, I've said that, too."

Disney has 75 years of film hits to convert to stage shows, but Dreamworks owns few candidates for theatrical venues. So Damaschke's redefining the word "adaptation."

He's forming a partnership with Global Creatures, the team behind "Walking with Dinosaurs," to convert "How to Train Your Dragon" into an arena show. He and former Cirque du Soleil director Franco Dragone are developing a show that could use "Kung Fu Panda" characters in a celebration of Chinese culture and martial arts.

"We take the long view on every project," he says. "An animated movie is a five-year investment in creativity. So we think, 'What other ways can we tell stories with these characters - film sequels, direct to video sequels, TV shows, theater, arena shows?'

"But we have no agenda to turn every animated film into something else. That depends on a great creative idea and a strong audience response. Sometimes, a movie is just meant to stay a movie."