Tel Aviv to stage free park performance of ‘Kazablan’
1966 musical starring Elad Levi comes to Ganei Yehoshua as the annual Opera in the Park summer event
Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center
“Kazablan,” the classic Israeli musical, will be performed at Tel Aviv’s Ganei Yehoshua Park on September 4, as the annual free Opera in the Park summer event for the general public.
The show, written by Yigal Mossinson and first adapted for the stage in 1966 by director Yoel Zilberg, is considered an adaptation of “West Side Story” or “Romeo and Juliet.”
“Kazablan” was first filmed as a movie in 1964 as a Greek-Israeli-American production, telling the story of a man and woman from different cultures who fall in love; Kazablan, an Israeli from Morocco, and Rachel, an Ashkenazi Jew from Europe.
The 1966 musical was a more whimsical telling of the story, starring Yehoram Gaon in a breakout role.
(Gaon, now 85, is currently the subject of an exhibit at Jerusalem’s Tower of David Museum, “Yehoram Gaon — The Exhibition.”)
The free outdoor Tel Aviv performance will feature singer and actor Itay Levi, who starred in a Habima production that ran for more than 250 performances across the country.
The production is a collaboration between the Tel Aviv Jaffa municipality, national theater Habima, and the Israeli Hour Theater.
“Kazablan in the Park is much more than a show,” said Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai. “It’s a celebration of Israeli culture, a story that reminds us of the power of art to raise questions about equality, acceptance of the other, and to create human connections across sectors.”
The outdoor staging, directed by Eldar Gohar Groisman, will feature a wide-ranging cast of actors and dancers, with LED screens to make the stage visible to the audience sitting in the park.
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