The Israel FestivalFingers TheaterJerusalem Theater, June 1Oh, oh, oh, oh! What fun! What delight! What total professionalism enhanced by an overall sense of fun, delicacy and a delightful attention to detail. The “girls” dancing the Charleston in Chicago wear beaded dresses, the “lady” tangoist wears a rose in her hair and a lacy camisole, the Riverdance “Irish” wear tops of (what else?) emerald green, “Michael Jackson” is resplendent in leather and “Carmen” trails a Spanish train and carries a fan. Why the quotation marks? Because the performers are fingers, mainly the index and second finger, but sometimes the whole hand. The eight hands and 40 fingers belong to the four incredibly talented – unfortunately unnamed – performers of Georgia’s Fingers Theater, who, for an hour or so and with hardly a word, enchanted the audience with their magic digits. The fingers were the legs. Bare, encased in boots, shoes or sneakers they performed a variety of dances from Georgian folk to Hava Nagila – yes! – four black-clad “hasidim” performed a spritely hora. The “Cossacks” wore furry hats and executed their traditional amazing leaps with brio. The tango dancers oozed sensuality. The Carmen segment managed to be both menacing and tender. Michael Jackson strutted his stuff with all the panache of the original and let’s not omit a very funny martial arts fight between two samurai. The show ended with a rousing cancan for which the fingers all wore flounced skirts and finished with the traditional splits. More please.
