Here come the cows!

"It's called 'passion' -- learn it!" From Katie the hostess to Eliza the hostess (or was it the other way around?) regarding being over the top.

I got an e-mail from my friend Sally the other day. Not the usual "distributed far and wide, hey, gang, let's do this!" e-mail, this one was to a more select list. Why? Because it was an announcement for a show at Sally's daughter's school, so it went to the folks that Sally thought were more likely to decide to attend. Or at least not reply with rude jokes. And I'll happily attend an 8th grade play. I go to see the plays at my high school when they're not scheduled against something else (which, I admit, is rare).

So I went down to McLean on Thursday night to see "Here Come the Cows!" It's a melodrama set in the old west with an evil villians, a scheming dance hall girl, an innocent young heroine, a brave hero, a stupid sidekick, overdue rent money, a miser, a poor-but-honest widow, and some very (very) lame jokes. It had it all. And all for five bucks.

Katie and Eliza were the combination hostesses/warm-up act and they got the evening off to a good start. They came out in their dance hall floozie dresses looking as cute as a basket full of kittens and told jokes and made fun of each other and instructed us to boo/hiss the villains and say "awwww" for the sweet young thing. They showed us the light up "Boo" and "Awww" (or - as it actually said - "awe") and "Moo!" signs, all of which came in handy as the evening progressed.

I love watching these sorts of plays because the kids throw themselves completely into it. They're saving nothing for tomorrow. I won't ruin the plot by trying to describe it to you - especially as I don't think I could do justice to this particular plot - but it was great fun. And they served us soup at intermission because soup is a major plot point. There were nine different kinds of soup so I tried the turkey chili and the Italian Mountain soup. Both were very good. And the profits from the evening went to buy cows for Masai kids in Kenya. The set was pretty darned good with better set dressing and costumes than I would have expected. In fact, as I told Sally, I've adjudicated shows I didn't enjoy nearly as much.

Sally's daughter, Sarah, played the scheming dance hall girl, Trilby Tango with focus and charm. She was delightful.

Now if only I could get the "Moo Pah Pah" song out of my head....