PIGMALION

Juliet the piglet knows she is destined for the stage, but there's a problem: she suffers from stage fright. Learning that the dashing porcine director, Monsieur Le Cochon, is to direct a production of George Barnyard Shaw's "Pigmalion" in her small town, she attends auditions for the role of Eliza Piglittle ("Somewhere in zis very rrrroom is zee lucky piglet who will be my star," Le Cochon intones) but she cannot summon the courage to try out. When the auditions are over, she recites Eliza's lines from her hiding place in the balcony and lands the part. In a disturbing, if not outright confounding, twist for a story about facing one's fears, Juliet, too shy even to appear at rehearsals, avoids the stage until opening night—when, of course, she brings the house down. Newcomer Berman refines screenwriter Leznoff's punchy story line with deft gouaches, placing the tale somewhere in the south of France and dressing Juliet and her friends in Provençal skirts and shawls. Monsieur Le Cochon sports Hollywood-issue sunglasses, a red cape and beret, and Berman has special fun with the lighting in the theatre scenes; they look like Toulouse-Lautrecs with pigs. With all the entertainment this volume has to offer, it's a pity the message here rings hollow. Ages 4-8. (Apr.)