Camelot on the Couch: Mordred, the Snake in the Garden

What self-respecting drama doesn't have an evil villain? 

 Popeye and his Blutto.... Othello and his Iago..... Snow White and her evil stepmother.... Luke Skywalker and his Darth Vader..... The Roadrunner and his Wile E. Coyote....  the Transformers and the Autobots..... and so on and so forth.

Who can think "Thundercats" without going MUMMMMMRAAAHHHHHHHH?  We expect our villains to do mean, terrible things.

 
 Villains are violent, destructive; they lie, cheat, steal and kill. 

 (Or at least try to, until the Hero stops them.)  Villains are scary and awful and horrible (also, usually ugly).

Although not always.

 















Previous LOGON shows have featured some great villains.  In Oklahoma!, Judd tried to kill our Hero with a deadly kaleidoscope (extra points for creativity there, dude).  


Villains are often portrayed as wearing black... 

SO!
You might expect the story of King Arthur to have as a villain a big, evil knight - an antihero in coal black armor and an ugly visor on his helmet, a vicious hulk who goes thwacking about killing innocent damsels and small furry animals....  But you would be wrong.  The villain of Camelot describes himself as "free and happy little me".  And goes about unarmed. And throughout the play - strikes noone, tells no lies, steals nothing, doesn't even dip a girl's braid in the inkwell.  Yet he manages to completely destroy Camelot. How does he DO that?

The answer is: with psychological judo.  That is to say, Mordred doesn't have to DO anything bad TO anyone else.... he just sets them up to give in to their own weaknesses. Morgan La Fey likes Arthur, and doesn't like Mordred, yet Mordred gets her to trap Arthur behind an invisible wall... with a little bribe.

Mordred will not trick or force Lancelot and Gueneviere to do what they do..... he only provides the opportunity.  He opens the door.... but they walk through it, under their own steam and of their own free will.  Mordred will trap King Arthur into a no-win scenerio (think Kobayashi Maru),  assisted by Arthur's dogged determination to be civilized.... but - at least in the confines of the play - he never raises his hand against Arthur.   

Mordred is a most terrifying villain, not because he will destroy you - but because he will make it so very, very easy for you to destroy yourself.  And aren't we all, in the final analysis, our own worst enemies?

Here we go again, tra la

Welcome to the Kingdom of Logon!!!

When last we met, 'twas in the shtetl of Anatevka.  Long ago and far away.... Come with us now to longer ago and not quite so far away, to Merry Olde England.  This year, our 35th, LOGON is proud to present [may I have a flourish of trumpets, please?]:

CAMELOT!

King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.  Gueneviere and Lancelot.  Mordred the Evil, Merlin the Wise, Morgan LaFey the Magical [these dudes had a thing for the letter M, it would seem]..... passion, love, violence, dragons.....

OK there aren't really any dragons in the show.  Although they do get a few honorable mentions.

Illustrative portrayals  of dragons, such as which a Knight of the Table Round should be able to cleave  in record time  

We've been meeting since late August; auditions are over, the show is cast, and the chorus is well on the way to learning the music (which is beautiful, by the way!!). We're starting to block scenes, the first bits of costume are in. 

 Chain Mail, all the rage in days of yore

According to Wikipedia, "King Arthur is a legendary British leader who, according to medieval histories and romances, led the defense of Britain against Saxon invaders in the late 5th and early 6th centuries AD. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and his historical existence is debated and disputed by modern historians".  

In other words, we don't really know if there really was a King Arthur at all. The name of the castle/kingdom associated today with King Arthur - Camelot, from which our show takes its name - is actually mentioned for the first time in French romance literature of the 12th century (thank you again, Wiki). Why French, you may ask?  The Lancelot connection!  And thus doth Lancelot become the French Connection.  

Not this one, the other one

Take thy staff in hand, or mount thy noble steed, and journey with us .... to Camelot, where 


 "The rain may never fall til after sundown, by eight the morning fog must disappear......."

Welcome!Park your horse over there and come right in!

T minus 3 1/2 weeks, and counting

Here we go, folks, hurtling towards opening night (less than four weeks to curtain up!) - rehearsals are now four nights per week, the scenery has arrived at the rehearsal hall, costumes should be completed in the next few days.  You can feel the excitement - or is that anxiety? - in the steady hum and buzz throughout the rehearsal hours.  

What if I forget my lines, or leave my costume at home, or get laryngitis and can't sing?

We should all know our lines cold by now, but some of us (mostly me, actually) don't.  And neither do our erstwhile prompters, which can lead to some amazing dialogue.

Mendel: "Reb Lazar, don't shame Reb Tevya at his daughter's wedding!"

[silence]  [somebody calls out: LINE]

Prompter:  why should i listen to you, a man who breaks an agreement

Assorted: no, we said that already - no, that's later - no, that's after the chickens - who says that? didn't he say that before? that's Lazar's line. Where are we? Did we do that part already?

Sheindel:  "What's done is done"  [which is a good guess because somehow that line shows up at least three times in this scene, so - go for it, Sheindel!]



We should all know exactly where we are supposed to be on stage at every moment, but we don't.  Sometimes this can be a problem.

Note to self: it is not considered polite to drive your stiletto heel into the toe of that person who keeps shoving in front of you during the song. 

Second note to self:  remember not to start wandering around aimlessly when you forget where you're supposed to go.  Someone might stab you with their stiletto heel.

We just "met" the scenery last night, and since the cast is also most of the  stage crew, this led to some interesting developments at rehearsal last night (a fender-bender accident between a butcher shop and a barn, for example).

On a personal note, i've discovered that i look TERRIBLE in a kerchief.

Sort of like this, but without the 'adorable'

May have to wear sun glasses so that nobody recognizes me.  How about that, a cool/stoner version of Yente.

Now, lest you think all is total chaos (ha ha ha, what ever gave you THAT impression?), please check this out:  Remember a while back we talked about getting up at dawn to film a promo clip? Well, we finished it, and here it is. ENJOY!

http://youtu.be/3oyFXoQs1cM

Things really are moving along. We're seeing characters develop, we're seeing the dances starting to really take shape, we're seeing the director's hair go grey..... it's all very thrilling. Tickets are on sale and if you want good seats - actually, if you want any seats at all! - you might want to order your tickets NOW.   For further information:  http://www.negevlightopera.com/

Watch this space for more updates as we round the far turn and gallop/limp/stumble/charge into the home stretch....

and if you should notice me asleep in some corner, please don't wake me up. Thank you in advance!

Where are you from, Part II - or - Jewish Geography, anyone?

Remember when you went away to college, and your new neighbors in the dorm asked "Where are you from?"?   That was easy - you named your home town, and that was it.  I'm from Evanston, Illinois; here's a photo from my home town:

Ask me again why I moved to the Negev

Then you came to Israel, and when people asked "Where are you from?", you were an "American" [apologies to the Canadians, and the Mexicans, since we say American when we mean from the United States].

My [former] country tis of thee

Once you finally found LOGON and started coming to rehearsals, "Where are you from?" would again be more local - Ashkelon, Omer, Beer Sheva, the University [which is an entity separate from Beer Sheva, it would seem], Arad, a kibbutz, kishkeveldt......

Was going to post a map of Israel, but didn't want to get political, 

so here's a kitten 

HOWEVER - now we come to rehearsals for Fiddler on the Roof, and suddenly "Where are you from?" take on a whole new meaning -- where did your grandparents come from, or their grandparents - where is your family FROM?  This is about my 17th LOGON show, give or take an extravaganza or two, and never do i remember overhearing so many conversations about "back in the shtetle .....".  

So, dear readers, where are you FROM?  One of my grandparents came from Motele, same as Chaim Weitzman's family. My cousins claim that there was a strong strain of "genius" in Motele, but it sure as heck missed my family. 

Motele

 Photo credit:  Jeff Kronenberg

 Also Motele

Photo credit:  http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/motol/kushnerphotos.htm

Another grandparent came from Mariempoler, somewhere between Minsk and Pinsk.  From there, we have two souvenirs. One is a joke, based on the fact that the town was in a border area often disputed by Poland and Russia:  One guy says, "I hear we've been conquered by Poland again", and the other replies "Thank goodness, enough of those Russian winters".   The other remnant of our roots there:  a certain melody interspersed between the chorus and verses of "Ki Lo Naeh", sung in four part harmony around the table at every family Seder.  Ay yai yai yai yai yai yai yai yai ayyyyyyy.  That's it, all that's left.......

Anyone else from one of these places?  Maybe we're related!  Feel free to write where you are from in the comments section below - who knows, we could end up finding long lost connections.  And don't try to tell me that you're from Kasrilivke, enough of your narishkeit!!!

PS - for performance and ticket information for FIDDLER ON THE ROOF:  http://www.negevlightopera.com/

 

So, where are you from?

There is something very, very special about being in the cast of Fiddler on the Roof.  You could already see it in the first rehearsals of the fall, with a cast that is twice the size of last year's show. 

You can feel it in the intensity of the discussions about how certain scenes "should" be staged - many of us (at least those over 40!) have strong feelings about what does and doesn't belong in a scene of preparing for Shabbat, lighting the candles, or celebrating a wedding.  And this time it isn't intellectual, or theoretical, or artistic - it's visceral, meaning you feel it in your kishkes.... this is how it SHOULD be.  We know. We know.  We saw it in our grandparents, and heard about it in the family stories told around the Passover table, and remember it from the old men who always came to the morning minyan at the shul.  

Being in this show does something to my awareness, my consciousness.  In Tel Aviv a couple of weeks ago, went into a McDonald's (please don't tell anyone) and ordered an Egg McMuffin*.  Bit into it and was transported  back 35 years and 6,150 miles.... a taste of "the old country".  Then started thinking about what that means, "the old country".  And how my relatives must have felt, all those years ago, when they landed in the Goldineh Medinah - and left behind, forever, "the old country".  What tastes, what smells, what images would have reminded them of what they left behind?  How did it feel to them?  Did they grow nostalgic, and long for "home", or were they glad to be out of there, and never looked back? That entire generation is gone now, and we didn't ask them when we had a chance, at least not in my family.  Even more astounding, i never thought about it all these years - until here we are, standing in the cold with our bundles and our babies, singing goodby to Anatevka, sweet little village little town of mine.

Another story:  a couple of weekends ago, we all got up in the middle of the night and went out to Kibbutz Urim to film a video clip promo for the show.  We found a spot in the kibbutz with trees and a wooden shed in the background, and spent several hours shooting the clip.

There was one elderly gentleman who came out on his balcony when the music started, and spent most of the morning smoking a cigarette and watching us from above. He later told someone that when he looked out the window, and saw us all standing there in our costumes, he felt as though he had been transported back to his childhood.... the memories came flooding back.

And this, then, is what's so special for so many of us about being in this show.  We've been ancient Romans (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum), and flappers (Singin in the Rain), and soldiers (South Pacific), and cowboys (Oklahoma!) and Siamese princesses (King & I) and silverware (Beauty & The Beast) -- but in this show we're our own history.  This show is about us, who we are and where we came from.  This is about leaving a place you thought was yours, but wasn't, not really - and in that sense, it's about Jews from everywhere, and from all times.  Minsk or Pinsk, Aleppo or Cairo, Kundahar or Ethiopia, New York or New South Wales.... we are all from somewhere else.  Somewhere along the line, our relatives left somewhere.  And if they had not ...........

It is an honor and a privilege to be in this show, especially here in Israel. Home at last. Please come to see it, and be a part of it.  Please bring your children and your grandchildren. Tell them, "This is about us, when we went forth out of there".

* RELAX!  There is no meat, let alone ham, in an Israeli MacMuffin!!!

Sunrise, Sunset

Sunrise, sunset; sunrise, sunset; swiftly fly the days...... seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers, blossoming even as we gaze.....

LOGON first presented Fiddler on the Roof in 1996.  In fact, that was when i joined the group: my daughter Yael was cast as Bielke, the youngest and smallest of Tevye's five daughters.  I didn't really know much about LOGON at the time, but if i was going to drive her back and forth to rehearsals anyway, why not join the chorus, and .... but that's another story. 

Yael shared the role of little Bielke with Dahlia Landzbaum, who was herself the daughter of fellow cast member Dov. Over the years the Landzbaums have also contributed wife Iris and daughter Leora, while son Rafi has played in the orchestra; a regular musical dynasty that family... but that's another story.

Now, 19 years later...... Dahlia is married and a mother.  My daughter is about 5' 8" tall and.... well, here's a recent picture of her:  

Little Bielke.  And yes, that's her bike.

Arnie Gross played Sasha, the "Russian" who stands up on a table and sings the ringing solo which launches the frenetic dance scene in "To Life" (To life, to life, l'chaim.....).  At the time, his granddaughter Shavit Baruch wasn't even old enough to come see the show. This year Shavit will not only be dancing and singing with the chorus, she has a choice cameo role (which will not be divulged here!).  We have additional multi-generational families active in LOGON as well, but that's another story.

We grew up too.  Our musical director that year was a young fresh-off-the-plane immigrant named Michael Leinwand; he barely spoke a word of Hebrew but was an expert in Eastern European Jewish music.  We meet up now once a year, when he presides in Ashkelon over a huge festival of Yiddish music which brings together choral groups from all over Israel. 

We grew as a company, also:  in 1996, we "imported" the Holit dance troupe from Beer Sheva high school Makif Vav to dance for us; now, as for the past many years, we do our own dancing. For better or for worse......

How we often look to our poor choreographer.......

In 1996, Alan Cohen played Perchik the student and won the heart of Tevye's second daughter;  this year he will be the "old widower" Lazar-Wolf the butcher. Yours truly sang and danced in the chorus as a "daughter"; this year i'll be portraying the fossilized old widow Yente the Matchmaker.  Quite a change, right? Of course right!  

Sunrise, sunset; sunrise, sunset; swiftly fly the years...... one season following another, laden with happiness and tears......

Many of the participants in our first Fiddler are no longer with us.  Some left Beer Sheva (i still miss you, Phyllis and Harvey Narrol!!), some left Israel - our Hodel, Estelle Kunoff, to become a professional cantor (cantress?) in the States - and some left us completely.  Kinneret Lichtenstein/Laor, assistant to the director. Margo Tepper-Shotz, who did the programme as well as sing with the chorus. Marcus Myerowitz, our brilliant Lazar-Wolf.  The incomparable Paul Hare.  All gone, may their memories be for a blessing, and they are all missed very much.

On the other hand (that's another quote from the show, folks) - there is not a little continuity from that first show.  I'm counting 14 returning cast members, and we also have some of the same support and professional staff:  Melanie Lombard still with us on costumes, David Waldmann still with us on the musical side (he did the playbacks back then; this year he'll be doing them as well as filling the roles of musical director and conductor), Annie Molcho on makeup and the stalwart Cyril Simkins as our translation techie.  

If you'd like to see some pictures from the 1996 production, hop over to http://www.negevlightopera.com/   and go to LOGON Shows & Cast Lists.  If you want to see some previews of the 2015 production - WATCH THIS SPACE!  Surprises may be in store......  but that's another story.

LOOK! UP IN THE SKY! IT'S A BIRD? IT'S A PLANE? IT'S A FIDDLER ON THE ROOF !!!!

Welcome, or welcome back, to Stage Whispers - unofficial blog of the Light Opera Group of the Negev (LOGON to our friends and fans).  Greetings from beautiful downtown Beer Sheva.

When last we met, LOGON was right in the middle of touring the country with "Man of La Mancha".   Then came Passover, and then whooooooosh it was the end of August and whoopsy daisy here we go again, the LOGON season has begun.   

We're already through the workshops, through those first music rehearsals, and even through the auditions.  Roles have been assigned and we've even started to block out the first scene.  Suddenly it hits me:  in about four and a half months, the curtain goes up on our first performance and THERE'S SO MUCH TO DO!!!!

Is it time to panic yet?

If you've never been involved in something like LOGON, it's going to be hard to imagine what the next few months will be like for us.  Learning the lines, the action on stage, the dancing - that's the easy part.  There are sets to be built, costumes to be designed and sewn, a backdrop to be painted, posters and tee-shirts to be printed, ticket sales to arrange, rehearsals to be scheduled and rescheduled and rescheduled again because Shmulik's mother in law is having a party for her 57th birthday.....  

And this year we are hoping for a considerably larger orchestra than last year.

Not pictured: the LOGON pit orchestra

(photo credit: TheBloggess.com)
Now, it may seem simple to you. You may ask, aren't there professional staff to take care of all these things?  Well, I'll tell you:  no, actually, not really!  We have our musical director, our stage director, our choreographer and our costume designer, but aside from that, LOGON is a do-it-yourself operation from top to bottom.  Nobody's gonna do it for us if we don't do it ourselves!!!

That do-it-yourself spirit

SO, here we go again.  Why, you may ask, do we do this - year after year after year?  Suffer through the agony of auditions, rehearse endlessly, put our lives and our families on "hold" while we break our backs shlepping scenery and props and each other halfway around the country to put on a show - and remember, we pay for the privilege, even if we only help out backstage!!!!!!!   -- and then do it again, for about 35 years now?  Well, THAT I can tell you in one word:

It's a TRADITION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Actually, that's three words.

And because we love it.

And by now you have probably guessed that this year LOGON will be performing - for the first time in 19 years - FIDDLER ON THE ROOF.

Welcome to Anatevka!!!!  Watch this blog for frequent updates and insights and anecdotes and the unfolding of the tale - as LOGON presents, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF!  

And awayyyyyy we go........


PS:  If you'd like to know more about LOGON, you're welcome to go back and read the posts from last year.  Also:  you can find photos of previous shows on the LOGON Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/NegevLightOpera or on our website:  http://www.negevlightopera.com/past-shows/