I just returned from the second and final performance night of the Christian school’s musical, the culmination of a long weekend of work and practice. As I mentioned several months ago, after joining the staff of the Academy I was quickly swept into working with the administrator/director team as one of the vocal coaches (my years of show choir paying off!) The year’s musical was “The Fiddler on the Roof,” which, as a Jewish play in early 20th century Russian, may be a little odd in the middle of the Arab world. However, as our principal announced to the assembled audience for the past two nights, our production was dedicated to peace, tolerance, and the besieged peoples of all races, from Gaza, Chechnya, and the Congo.

Jad poses as he says, "But Lord, you made many poor people..."

Jad poses as he says, "But Lord, you made many poor people..."

Wajih’s son Jad played Tevye, and was definitely the star of the show with his booming voice and sweeping gestures – and his large, fake, gray beard. I was especially impressed with the dedication that the students dedicated to the show as the months went on – for a 3 hour play that required a long time commitment, they practiced long and hard, and (usually) without complaining!

We held the play near 1st Circle, in Al-Ahliyya Girls School. Because of the potentially controversial aspect of having a play that originally empathizes with Jewish struggles, we tried not to publicize the musical very much. Even so, we changed many of the words (an idea that the old theatre major in me was somewhat opposed to) to fit with our Arab-world setting. “May you come to be, in Israel a shining name,” became “…in History a shining name.” We changed the “Rabbi” into the “Teacher.” Everyone’s favorite though, including the mostly Christian audience, was changing “Mazel Tov” into “Alf Mabrook,” – literally, “One thousand blessings.” When Jon came onstage during The Dream Sequence, wearing his own big fake beard and leaping about in a comical fashion while saying “Alf Mabrook,” the audience dissolved into laughter.

The "teacher" gives "the proper blessing for a sewing machine"

The "teacher" gives "the proper blessing for a sewing machine"

For both shows, my friend Alexandria and I were sitting up in the front row, with her conducting and mouthing the words, and me sometimes holding up little signs with “smile!” or “louder!” written on them. I used to have one that had a sad face on it, but I was forbidden from using it because during the song “Anatevka” where they’re all supposed to be sad and depressed, they kept snorting with laughter when they saw me pantomiming a sad face. I guess I must have lost some of my ol’ heart-wrenching ability in the years since I was a theatre major. My other job was trying to provide support for things that broke onstage, but only under the cover of darkness. We had a wooden box that acted as a step that the set crew (which included Silas) used to carry things up and down, right in the front middle of the stage. As they were switching scenes once in the darkness, there was a sharp crack and I saw the dark blobs of people carrying things stumble. When the lights came back on, a corner of the box had snapped off and a nail was protruding upwards. Alex and I proceeded to spend the next 10 minutes of the scene hyperventilating, waiting for the lights to go off so that I could run up, flip the box over to a stronger side, and remove the nail.

Unfortunately, the two shows were over far too soon, and all of our months of work came to an end. All of the female directors (all but Silas and myself) were given bouquets of flowers from the administration, and Silas and I got something even better – huge tubs of nougat-filled chocolate. A win-win situation!

It was an honor to work with such a talented young cast!

It was an honor to work with such a talented young cast!