Are you still wondering what made Alexander great and what finally turned his armies back from India, ending his days of conquest? The answer is Woman, Not Trojan, but the girls in the back tent, the campfollowers who organized the first labor union to agitate against Alexander's woman-inspired decree that their men marry Persians to ensure peace between lands. The leading lady is Berenice, whose town is sacked by the Greeks, and then gets sacked herself. The leading man, Alexander, is really two men since he gave up the sceptre long ago and became a mystic, If this all sounds like soft-shoe, it may not be too far from Menen's intention; but his achievement is a little less than sustained entertainment. Only his satire of the Indian Academy, when the Greeks visit the oldest university in the world, merits the length of the routine. Soft-shoe is light dancing, easily followed, easily forgotten, and sometimes fascinating while in motion.
