Ruby Reads Playbills

Just to spice things up a little for Bessie and Bea, I thought I'd get my column in on time... (before 10 counts as on time, doesn't it? Really, what civilized work can be done before then?)

I do love summer, and am ever so sad to see it spin its final days. There has been much to savor this season, from barbecues with friends and artsy events to festivals where one could feast their senses: music (blues, jazz, folk, Weird Al, and all points in between); world culture; art; and theatre.

With the latter in mind, I thought I would do a wee change from "Books That Should Have Been" to "Plays I Should Have Seen". Such a surfeit of choice! My mind first began to wander this way when I saw an advertisement for Genghis Khan's Guide to Etiquette. Who *wouldn't* want to know the ins and outs of pillage and plunder?! I bet there's a correct order and everything. One wouldn't want to lose face by improper form during conquest...

There are so many other plays that should have been, but two that most suit my mood (and boggle my mind) would be SUCH fun to write advertisements for (pardon my dangling participle ... mixed company and all, you know). The first? Yet another rendition of that perennial favorite, The Sound of Music. I have been fortunate enough to see it in a variety of circumstances, but there is one genre that has not yet adapted it, and it is one which I would most like to experience: imagine Maria and the children depicted entirely by... mimes.

The second? This one would clock in rather longer, including several intermissions, and need a much bigger budget for costumes. But who wouldn't benefit from an evening in the open air, hearing War and Peace declaimed in the dulcet style of... Bollywood?

It gives one pause...

Until next Wednesday, duckies. Ruby intends to spend one last lazy summer afternoon blowing bubbles and shopping for school supplies before next week's review of Textbooks That Should Have Been. Ta ta!
Love, Ruby