The hills are alive

July 10, 2008 - 4:58 PM by Jessica

Living in Jerusalem, and with more than my fair share of family and friends who are amateur actors, it’s not surprising that I would end up attending a generous smattering of local English language community theater. I’ve smiled through JEST performances of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown and Prairie Lights; considered Mercaz Hamagshimim Center Stage versions of The Vagina Monologues and Tick Tick Boom!; appreciated local Gilbert and Sullivan productions and clapped for the Hebrew University players and their annual shows.

It’s never Broadway, but then again, even Broadway doesn’t always satisfy. And there’s something to be said for seeing your loved ones on stage, singing their hearts out, acting their lines, performing for the community at large.

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But last night, I was truly astounded by a great production of The Sound of Music, produced by Yisra’el Lutnick and directed by Kim Glassman (who, in the small world that is Jerusalem, is the sister of a former camper of mine). It’s hard not to love any version of this old favorite, particularly when you can sing along to every song (“She climbs a tree and scrapes her knee,”) and even know most of the dialogue by heart. Yet this was an example of appropriate staging, fine choreography, good, strong voices and simple but significant sets that helped ’set’ the stage for Austria, circa 1938, and all by a semi-professional cast and crew, performed at the Jerusalem Theater.

And while the play was written by Americans, set in Austria and performed by American, Canadian, Israeli, British and South African actors, the final test was in the typically Israeli applause, which is in a uniform beat, rather than the more individual clapping that you come across in the States or Europe. When you hear that kind of applause, it’s the sign of an Israeli audience expressing their appreciation for what they’ve just seen and heard. Kudos.

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