Heavily Disguised!

COLOR CARNIVAL

HEAVILY DISGUISED!

Believe it or not, these ladies are normally smart and trim!

Though, here, it appears their fashion-sense must be described as 'grim'.

They were the Gossips, in a play, a bit like a 'Greek Chorus'

Keeping the audience up-to-date; adding local colour for us.

I thought their costumes colourful, and their acting was just great.

Two Gossips, simply gossiping, over the garden gate.

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THE CHOCOLATE SOLDIER

George Bernard Shaw was a scholarly man who wrote for the educated;

His plays were political messages and very highly rated.

He wrote a play called 'Arms and the Man' which tells a pleasant story

Of a girl, and a soldier from Switzerland who's not covered himself in glory.

At the time she's engaged to another man, who has idealistic notions.

This soldier is a realist but he stirs the girl's emotions.

It may sound quite romantic but it was a serious play,

A satirical look at the attitudes of folk in the writer's day.

A composer by the name of Straus sent Bernard Shaw a letter

Asking if he could turn the tale into an operetta.

An operetta is a play with music as you know,

And it's not surprising that the answer to his request was 'No!'

However, Shaw relented, but he made some stipulations.....

None of his names were to be allowed and none of his conversations.

He washed his hands of the enterprise to the extreme extent

That he signed away all financial gain..... he wouldn't earn a cent!

He thought the musical rubbish; he decried it left and right

Until he heard how the people cheered in the theatre each night!

'The Chocolate Soldier' it was called; it became a terrific hit

And George Bernard Shaw, the writer, had no right to benefit!

He probably kicked himself, you know, for it cannot be denied

He'd missed out on a fortune because of his foolish pride.

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