MIDNIGHT PLAY An acting troupe performs a special show for the moon when she comes down for a visit. Features split pages that can be flipped to combine different characters and costumes. For those inclined to muse on the secret life of the moon (``Where is the moon when he is not in the sky?'') this unusual picture book offers a romantic answer: at the theater. One night, while the actors are sleeping, the clown sees a sliver of moonlight across the theater floor. Inspired, he climbs up to the moon and invites the moon to visit their stage. ``The moon sits in the theater and his gentle light spills onto the stage. One by one the players wake up.'' And so the midnight play begins. Pacovsk's (The Flower King) avantgarde artwork (sophisticated, clownish figures with bulging eyes and bright red noses) is enhanced by fancy paper engineering. The moon is cut out from the cover and first few pages, creating a window into the book; and a die-cut moon is fastened to the book's spine by a length of twine, so that it can be inserted into any of the cut-out moon ``holes.'' The actors themselves are featured on tri-cut pages, so that heads, torsos and legs can be rearranged in various configurations. Absurd yet fun; the high price tag, however, will deter all but the truly ``moonstruck.'' All ages.                                                                                                                                                                                 Publishers Weekly