Purim pleasures This year the annual Purim Adloyada parade on March 4 in Holon is going international, boasting 4500 participants from all over, including China, the Philippines, Egypt and Jordan. There'll be dozens of colorful and imaginative floats, many with live shows, actors and dancers. For instance, China is sending a couple of dragons accompanied by performers in authentic costumes. Italy's contribution is a huge chef surrounded by 10 real chefs making "da pizza". Uncle Sam is coming from the US and from France we'll see Napoleon drinking from (what else?) a bottle of Napoleon Brandy. There'll be marching bands, circus folk, acrobats, Indians (the Wild West kind), and some 200 foreign students who'll march in their national dress. Leading the parade will be a float with Esther, Mordecai and Haman. The fun starts at noon and will end at the municipality with a big dance party, performances and fireworks. Holon will also host an event in the Israeli Children's Museum. Workshops creating masks, hats, mobiles and more will be set up for kids on Saturday, March 3 between 10am and 1pm, and on Sunday and Monday between 10am and 4pm at the cost of NIS 20. Jerusalem Post staff Kids get operatic "Get 'em young" is a motto that applies to the arts as well, and the Israel Opera has been enchanting kids for years. This Purim youngsters 3-8 can go to the foyer of the Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center at 11:30 a.m for two programs on March 4 and 5. One is "The Bat", Johann Strauss's light hearted frolic has a masked ball and lots of mistaken identities at its heart. The other is "Let's Sing Opera," an interactive program that shows kids the way opera works. Both programs are hosted by Michael Eisenstadt and there will be a fancy dress competition at the end of each. Jerusalem Post staff Noa Tishbi to wed Aussie star Noa Tishbi, an Israeli actress in Hollywood, is getting hitched. Australian Andrew G, host of Australian Idol, is the lucky guy to win Tishbi's hand. The attractive pair have been a couple for several years, maintaining a long distance relationship between Los Angeles and Sydney. A wedding date has yet to be announced. Jerusalem Post staff ITP nominees announced Sophocles's Antigone, a joint production by the Habima and Cameri theaters, leads the list of nominations for the 2006 Israel Theater Prize. It boasts ten nominations, including Best Production, Best Director, Actor and Actress. After that, the nominations are fairly evenly divided. For instance, the Jerusalem Khan and the Cameri again both received six nominations a piece for, respectively, The Summer and A Flea in Her Ear. The Cameri leads the pack with 26 nominations in the ITP's 19 categories, followed by Habima with 20 and Bet Lessin with 14. It has to be said that three of those 14 are all local offerings up for Best Production and Playwright: Caf Arava, Tea, and Apples from the Desert by, respectively, Goren Agmon, Roni Pinkowitz and Savyon Librecht; three out of five nominees for production and three of four for playwright. Unhappily, the Gesher, Haifa, Beersheva and Yiddishpiel theaters are meagerly represented with only one or two nominations. Beersheva is up for Comedy with Last of the Red Hot Lovers. Yiddishpiel's The Journeys of Benjamin III is in the Musical category. All Gesher has this year are nods for costume and lighting and Haifa (which went through much turmoil last year) received a nod for movement. Commercial theater is also represented by an entertainment category. Veteran producer Yakov Agmon will be presented with a most richly deserved lifetime achievement award for his enormous contribution to local theater. IDF Radio's weekly Friday morning culture magazine Bilui Na'im with Muley Shapira will receive a Special Tribute. The awards ceremonies, to be filmed live, will be at the Haifa Theater on Friday, March 30 and broadcast on Channel 2 on April 4. The MCs will be Shlomo Bar-Abba and Best Supporting Actress nominee Maya Dagan. Helen Kaye Watts up? Naomi and Liev expecting Naomi Watts is pregnant with boyfriend Liev Schreiber's baby. News of the Australian actress's pregnancy was released Sunday by fashion-design firm Escada, which created the yellow gown Watts wore to the Academy Awards. The dress "set off her most precious new asset, the baby she is expecting with long time boyfriend Liev Schreiber," the company's press release read. Schreiber confirmed the news on Late Night with Conan O'Brien Monday, saying, "Yes, I'm going to be a dad." Watts, 38, and Schreiber, 39, co-starred in last year's The Painted Veil. He's currently in rehearsals for a Broadway production of Talk Radio, slated to open March 11th. AP

News of the Muse

Israel Theater Prize nominees announced.