Having a ball with 'Cinderella'

A co-production involving the Israeli Opera and hundreds of participants from Netivot and Tirat Carmel is coming to the grand Opera House in Tel Aviv.

By BARRY DAVIS
Cinderella 521 (photo credit: Courtesy)
Cinderella 521
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Over the years, the Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv has worked hard to make its productions accessible to sectors of the public that would not normally consider opera their cup of tea; or, indeed, be able to afford a ticket.
Part of that effort has taken the form of sending vocalists, instrumentalists, directors, producers and stagehands all over the country to work with locals on putting on operatic productions.
The Opera House cross-country production agenda, to date, has included performances of the likes of Bizet’s Carmen and Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore in places such as Ashkelon, Gilo in Jerusalem, Netanya, Ramle, the Neveh Eliezer neighborhood of Tel Aviv, Tiberias, Tirat Carmel and Netivot.
Earlier this year, one such synergy created a co-production of Rossini’s Cinderella, with the opera company enjoying a highly gratifying collaboration with several hundred participants from Netivot and Tirat Carmel. On Thursday (8 p.m.) the three parties will bring the production to the grand Opera House stage in Tel Aviv.
Director Shirit Lee Weiss says she has greatly enjoyed the process of working with the amateurs on Cinderella.
“This is a really special event. The opera has worked with both communities separately, but this is something else entirely. It is very exciting.”
Weiss has experience in working on operatic themes with non-professionals, but says the current project is in another league.
“I have worked with youth before, but the Cinderella production involves so many people, in so many age groups and from so many walks of life. For me, this is a first-time community opera experience.”
Weiss wasn’t joking when she mentioned “so many age groups.” The youngest participant in Cinderella is six, and the oldest is an octogenarian.
It is safe to say that the vast majority of the amateur team, from both towns, were not exactly brought up listening to, let alone performing in, opera. It would therefore be logical to presume that the non-professionals endured something of a steep learning curve en route to Thursday’s show.
Weiss has a different view on the amateur-professional divide.
“I look upon it as an experience. It’s true that, from time to time, I’d find myself giving a speech [to the amateurs] about who Rossini was and about the music and, particularly with this work, I had to tell them about how Rossini liked to have fun and even be a bit silly with the opera; and to explain to them why it is so appropriate for this work.”
Weiss also allowed the members of the communities to add their own artistic and cultural input to the proceedings, while staying as close as possible to the original plot and score.
“We wanted to put on a community production, but to use Rossini’s material only. We wanted to take this music, in different styles and forms, with the participants performing opera in their own way – through movement, playing or singing.
“It is Rossini’s music, but with some degree of adaptation to [performers’] style, in terms of the scales and musical arrangement, and the choreography. We have some improvisation with guitar, mandolin and saxophone, but all feeding off Rossini’s score.”
The local instrumentalists will also get a taste of the real thing, when they rub shoulders with their professional counterparts, literally.
“There will be amateur musicians from Netivot and Tirat Carmel in the pit playing with the Israel Opera House orchestra. The community musicians normally play in a [jazz] big band, so some of the music will be adapted to that style. The idea is to take things from the world of the community members and place them in the context of the opera. It is a lot of fun.”
Nineteen-year-old Netiva Ya’acobi from Netivot is certainly having fun with the opera. She is one of the actor-singers who play the lead character, although she has some logistics to deal with to get to rehearsals on time.
“There are seven people playing Cinderella, because they are so many of us in the production,” she explains. “One of them is a professional singer from the Israel Opera.”
For Ya’acobi the current production is both the culmination of a lot of hard work and compensation for a previous disappointment.
“I am in the army now, and the previous performance of Cinderella, in Netivot, took place on the day I joined the army. I’d worked on my role for quite a while and tried to get my mobilization date deferred, but I couldn’t manage it,” she said. But for the past three weeks Ya’acobi has left her base in Kiryat Malachi every day at 4 p.m., getting to the rehearsal by 5.
She had already chalked up a considerable amount of stage time as a member of the Netivot Municipality singing ensemble, and of the town’s representative theater troupe, before she joined the Cinderella team.
“This is much bigger than all of that,” she says. “We were taken to the Opera House in Tel Aviv to see a show, and I was blown away by the drama, the grandeur and the singing, and all the costumes. The costumes are amazing – I have to change three times during this opera.”
Ya’acobi’s parents are of Moroccan and Persian origin, parts of the world not generally known for their love of European opera music.
“It was all very new for them,” says Ya’acobi, “but everyone in Netivot really enjoyed the first local production of Cinderella. Now you can hear people humming parts of the arias in the street. My mother is also in the production, and having a great time, like me.”
While 17-year-old Naveh Hendry was not a total stranger to operatic music, he says he was still elated when he was asked to be in Cinderella.
“I play saxophone, jazz and classical, in the Tirat Carmel city band. But playing in an opera is something else. I like being asked to play different parts of the score,” he says.
Like Ya’acobi, Hendry was also suitably impressed with the pre-show behind-the-scenes preparations.
“We went to the Israeli Opera to get fitted out for the things we are going to wear in the show,” he recalls. “I went into the dressing room and suddenly I was surrounded by all these people bringing me shoes and hats and all kinds of amazing clothes.”
Even as a seasoned professional, Weiss says she has greatly enjoyed the process with her amateur colleagues.
“There is loads of action on the stage during the opera, and everyone brings their energies and colors to the show,” she notes, adding that in this production the art form is a living, breathing entity.
“There is so much excitement, for everyone concerned, and there are so many bonds being formed between all the participants. I definitely look forward to doing more of this.”
More information and tickets: www.israel-opera.co.il and (03) 692-7777. Tickets cost NIS 25, with all proceeds going to the Israeli Opera’s community activity program.