Page 3 - Omar!

“No matter, it’s water over the dam. The results in this case are a
pile of complaints, crank letters, and threats of violence to the cast,
crew, and management of this theatre.”
“Oh?” Fey arched his unruly eyebrows interrogatively.
“Most of them may be disregarded. The Old Empire has presented
controversial works before. And, as you say, a few pickets in front of
the box office can pay off.”
“So?”
Robert Baron stared at the small stack of paper in his well-
manicured hands.
“Well, this time there are so many kinds of protest, and of such
diversity and intensity, that we—that is, the trustees—feel that the
simultaneous assembly of all potential demonstrators in front of the
theatre would be disastrous. The chief of police agrees with me. I saw
him last night at my club and told him what was brewing.”
“How interesting,” said the director, leaning back against a bolster
in front of the window. Sooty sunlight formed a penumbra around
his coiffure. “Just what is it about Omar! that’s raising all the fuss?”
The realtor grimaced.
“First, let me say that there’s nothing personal in this. I’m not on
the committee that selects road shows for the Old Empire. I suppose
they try to achieve some sort of balance for the season: something
avant-garde, a drawing-room comedy or English murder-mystery, an
American classic, ballet, musical comedy, whatever. So I’d never seen
this—this synopsis or libretto—before yesterday. And the whole
thing is dumped in my lap. Last year the chairman had it easy. Just my
luck.” He began fiddling with his pinky ring.
“Ah, yes, we did have a pile of them in the lobby during rehearsals.
Perhaps the printer delivered them prematurely.”
Baron scrutinized the other’s bland countenance.
“Is it true that the whole thing is concocted from some ancient
Oriental manuscript?”
“No, not quite. Medieval would be more like it. Omar lived in the
late eleventh and early twelfth centuries, in Persia. And as for
manuscript—well, only copies survive. What the composer used was
a nineteenth-century rather loose translation. I suppose it seems
rather bizarre, but opera has always cannibalized the past for story-
lines. And you must be aware of the paucity of ideas in the theatre
these days—plays based on movies, musical comedies celebrating

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