A love potion for Tiberias

Onstage with the Israel Opera soloists will be dozens of Tiberians of all ages - from singers and actors to local dance groups.

By HELEN KAYE
One of the Israel Opera's most resounding successes has been its community-based opera productions. They began in 2000 with Carmen in the Neveh Eliezer neighborhood of Tel Aviv, went on with The Barber of Seville and this year it's Donizetti's comic opera L'elisir d'Amore (1832) (or the Elixir of Love) that will have its gala opening in Tiberias on November 19. Onstage with the Israel Opera soloists will be dozens of Tiberians of all ages - from singers and actors to local dance groups. Elixir lends itself wonderfully to adaptation of place and time. It's the story of shy and naive farmer Nemorino (Yosef Aridan) who falls in love with pretty and rich village lass Adina (Ira Bertman). Add to the mix the braggart soldier Belcore (Gabriel Loewenheim) and a wily quack called Dulcamara (Vladimir Braun), stir briskly with some of the love potion - a.k.a. ordinary wine - he sells the besotted lad, and there's the recipe for operatic high jinks and a happy end. David Zebba adapted the opera, translated it to Hebrew and will conduct the Ra'anana Symphonette in Tiberias. The director is Dan Ehrlich. Previous Elixir productions have been in Ashkelon, Jerusalem's Gilo neighborhood and Afula, among the rest. The current production will also play in Tiberias schools on November 20.