ESTHER in Haifa

Tomorrow night the cast of Raise Your Spirits' "ESTHER and the Secrets in the King's Court" is getting together for a traditional cast party.
Well, maybe it won't be so traditional. We'll have the popcorn and pasta, but the entertainment will be unique. We're hoping to show clips of the performance of ESTHER by a girls' high school in Haifa.
The school licensed ESTHER (from its owners, Bible-Arts Productions) and decided to perform it in Hebrew. The opportunity to see ESTHER in Hebrew was too good to pass up, so one of my co-lyricists Toby Klein Greenwald, as well as our star, Avital Macales (who plays ESTHER) and lyrics translator Michal Yechieli traveled by train to Haifa for the event.
Haifa was like old Israel from a 1950s movie. It had an old movie-set feel. The terrain was ultra-hilly like San Francisco, and the view of the ocean was everywhere. And of course, if we were already there, we stopped off at the beach to pick up some sea shells (so we could say truthfully, we went to the beach in Haifa :) ).
We got off the train right next to an old storefront that declared it sold Camels cigarettes. I didn't even know they still sold Camels.
Time stood still here. Even the "extras" in the street were "period" folks.

We went to the Haifa's Bahai Gardens, which were closing. We looked down at the beautiful layered garden paths, chatted with fellow tourists, and even got to wish mazel tov to a bride and groom. Her sleeve was falling off, so I made her stop so that I could fix it. (A bride has to look her best, you know.)

We traveled to the theater, which held about 500. It was filled with mothers and sisters. We went backstage and met the cast from Ulpana Amit. The girls were so enthusiastic about our visit, they sang and danced back stage. I asked to meet my Haifa counterpart, Haman, and we posed for a photo together.
Avital met Haifa's ESTHER and they even sang, "Give me the courage!!" Avital sang it in English, while Haifa's star sang it in Hebrew - MAGIC!!
The show was adorable - just what you'd expect from a high school music with all the enthusiasm and good cheer there could be. And since the girls learned our show from watching our own ESTHER DVD, some of their characters' actions and expressions exactly mirrored our own.

It was just so strange watching someone playing me. I'm sure Avital felt the same.
The most memorable part of the evening was ESTHER's finale, "The Return." On stage together, we sing, "They'll come down from the mountains, they'll come from the skies...." Etc. etc. It is a song about the ingathering of the Jewish people from the four corners of the world.
In Gush Etzion, Raise Your Spirits sings the song in English and in Hebrew.
In Haifa, the girls sang "The Return" in Hebrew, Amharic (there are many Ethiopian students there) and in Sign Language. As soon as the music for the finale begin, the audience began applauding wildly. And when the girls sang in Amharic, they went wild. When they sang in sign language, I don't think there was one dry eye in the house. In fact, I think I probably cried my way through the entire production.
It's a strange, yet fabulous feeling to see a show you have written performed by an outside theater company. At first, it felt odd to hear ESTHER in Hebrew, but then it felt great.
I was beaming with pride, as I know Toby was. We just wished our third co-lyricist Arlene Chertoff had been with us, as well as our composer Rivka Epstein Hatten. That would have made it perfect.

I'm so looking forward to other schools performing ESTHER in Hebrew, English, or maybe even Amharic. You never know.

Jerusalem, Here We Come!!

ESTHER and the Secrets in the King's Court is on its way to Jerusalem. Yes, Shushan comes to Yerushalyim.
The excitement, the splendor and the song of the Persian capital will thrill Jerusalem audiences right before the holiday of Purim.
ESTHER's director Toby Klein Greenwald and production manager Eudice Spitz have been talking to the Municipality of Jerusalem about performing under the Jerusalem banner for quite some time. Now, finally, tickets are on sale through Bimot - http://tickets.bimot.co.il/calendar/2013-2-17.
Buy your tickets for Sunday, February 17. We'll be performing in the Gerard Behar Theatre, right in the heart of the city.
AVOID THE LINES
The last time Raise Your Spirits performed in the Gerard Behar, there was a ticket line all the way out of the plaza in front of the theatre, up the stairs and down the block. Seeing all the ticket buyers was exciting. We kind of felt like The Beatles or Spice Girls or Avraham Fried & Co.
But the lines were really long for our ticket buyers and friends. So, I suggest buying tickets in advance and missing the long line!
We can't wait to perform in Yerushalayim. Performing there has an excitement like nowhere else. And we're thrilled at the opportunity to welcome women and girls from all over the country to our show.
Yerushalayim - February 17 - welcome to Shushan.

Photo by FLASH Rebecca Kowalsky, wew.imagesthroughtime.com .

It's the Journey that Counts

On Thursday, January 24, Raise Your Spirits takes to the road and brings its latest production, "ESTHER and the Secrets in the King's Court" to the stage of the new Cultural Center in Kiryat Arba, south of Gush Etzion.
It's the first time this production of ESTHER has left its home stage of the Gush Etzion Community Center. It's an exciting journey that everyone is looking forward to.
But this isn't really the journey that will make ESTHER an unforgettable experience for its cast of more than 60 women and girls. The journey that has been unforgettable has been the one we have taken together since the beginning of the summer, the one that changed each of us from individual talented people :) to a family of performers.
The journey that really counts for our Raise Your Spirits cast is the journey from me to us. Most people think that actors are a bunch of selfish hams (well, hams maybe, but selfish doesn't have a place in Raise Your Spirits dialogue).
The journey that counts has had its milestones - the first time we saw the benefits of harmonizing correctly, the first time we understood that our dance looked best when we pulled together, the first time we each rooted for someone else more than ourselves, the first time we cheered when a cast member "got it right", the first time we saw the shine in the eyes of our little Shushan children, the first time an understudy got on stage and made us proud.
Our journey from a cast of an excellent show to a tight united family has been the one that counts, the one we will always remember. Our cast will always remember it, and so will our audiences.
We've been together on a regular basis for more than seven months now. That's a long time. We've gotten to know one another pretty well, and the familiarity breeds quite a lot of love and laughter. 
To the "Cast of the Queen" as ESTHER's director Toby Klein Greenwald says, or "Queenies" in the words of production manager Eudice Spitz, you will light up the stage in Kiryat Arba and bring tremendous pride to everyone involved in ESTHER, to our audience and even to our Forefathers in the City of Hebron.
Enjoy the journey.
If you'd like to join us on Thursday night, contact 02-996-1666, then dial "0" for the secretary. Tickets are 58 NIS.

Snowing on ESTHER

ESTHER snowperson with little
Dvora Hurwitz tens years ago.
Photo by Hilary Hurwitz.

Ah, snow snow snow snow. Snow blanketed Gush Etzion and Efrat today, in addition to other places around Israel. Families spent the day playing outside and making the most of the white fluff. Smiles and laughter were everywhere.
Our Raise Your Spirits production of ESTHER and the Secrets in the King's Court had a full cast rehearsal scheduled for this evening in order to refresh ourselves in preparation for Sunday night's performance in Matnas Gush Etzion at 8:15 (January 13). But we were snowed-out. The snow accumulation and icy roads have made it impossible for us to get together to sing and dance. We're all pretty disappointed.
But this isn't the first time ESTHER has been snowed out.
In 2003, our original ESTHER and the Secrets in the King's Court was supposed to play in Ra'anana. The theater was totally sold out, and our fans in Ra'anana were very excited that we'd be performing there.
However, it snowed the night before, and we in Efrat and Gush Etzion were totally snow-bound. Even though the weather was lovely in Ra'anana, we couldn't get there.
Our friends in Ra'anana couldn't believe it. "The sun is shining here," they said. "But we're covered with snow here, and no traffic is moving anywhere nearby," we replied.
It was difficult for them to believe that we really couldn't make it to Ra'anana that night.
So I called my Raise Your Spirits neighbors and invited them to my home for some Show and Tell for Ra'anana. We even had the help of some of our kids.
We dressed up in whatever RYS costumes I had in my house. As founder of RYS and producer of JOSEPH and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and ESTHER and the Secrets in the King's Court, I had quite a collection of memorable outfits in my office.
Then we went out into the snow. We snapped a few photos and sent them off to Ra'anana. "This is why we can't come to Ra'anana tonight."
They finally understood. why ESTHER had to be postponed, and we performed in Ra'anana to an appreciative and sold-out audience at a later date.
Back to the Future
Our 2013 cast of Raise Your Spirits takes the stage IY"H on Sunday evening, January 13th, and then again on Thursday evening, January 17th. The snow will be cleared by then, and everyone's invited to Matnas Gush Etzion for our 8:15 PM performance.
These are ESTHER's last two performances in Gush Etzion. Join us.

The photos above include costumes from the 2002-3 production of ESTHER and the Secrets in the King's Court and the 2001-2 production of JOSEPH and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Thanks to Hilary Hurwitz and Izzy Katz for their photography.

Hints of ESTHER in the Weekly Torah Portion

Haman FALLS upon the bed.

This week's Torah portion , Vayechi, is one of the most emotional readings in the entire Five Books of Moses. An ailing Jacob, gathers his strength one more time, blesses his grandchildren, and shows us his a glimpse of his greatness and majesty one last time as he tells his children what awaits them and their ancestors throughout Jewish history.

Its commentaries also include several references to Megillat Esther, the story that Raise Your Spirits has brought to the stage this season.

In Chapter 48:2, a frail Jacob hears that his son Joseph has come to visit him, "So Israel exerted himself and sat up on the bed."

The Torah commentator the Baal HaTurim explains that despite his illness, our patriarch Jacob was able to rouse his strength once more and sit up upon the bed. Yet in Megillat Esther 7:8, we read that after Haman was revealed as the evil nemesis of the queen and her people, "Haman fell upon the bed" of Esther. This teaches us, according to the Baal HaTurim, that "even when they are weak, the righteous can strengthen themselves", but even when they are the peak of power, "the wicked will fall."

May it be so in our days, IY"H.

Further, the Sforno also speaks about the same phrase. Israel strengthened himself on the bed to give honor to the king (the pious Joseph). But the opposite was true in Megillat Esther 5:9, when Haman the king-wanna-be walked before the King's gate, Mordechai would not stand up or move before him.

Mordechai with Esther.

Lastly, it is interesting to note that the great Jewish leader Mordechai is called Mordechai HaYehudi.

That was because of the blessing that Jacob gave to his son Yehuda (49:8-12). Artscroll's commentary says, "So admired will you [Yehuda] be by all your brothers that Jews will not say, I am a Reubenite or a Simeonite, but I am a Yehudi. Thus we find that Mordechai, in the Book of Esther, was known as a Yehudi, even though he was from the tribe of Binyamin.

So often, our Torah portion and our commentators speak about Esther. It's a great feeling knowing that even in our fun production, we are connected to our Jewish heritage.

Sold Out Smash and Other Excitements

Tonight we take the stage again in Raise Your Spirits' smash-hit "ESTHER and the Secrets in the King's Court".
It's exciting to know that our audience members come from (not just all over Israel, but) all over the world - Paris, London, Johannesburg, Los Angeles.
It's even more exciting that they'll be able to purchase our DVD and our newly minted CD to take along with them.
This ESTHER CD is already a classic. We've heard from the pros that this CD is better than anything we've created in the past ten years.
When we created our first ESTHER CD a decade ago, it was instantly so popular that we received a flood of emails telling us that women and girls just COULDN'T STOP listening.
And on Purim, homes from Melboune to Seattle, from Zurich to Buenos Aires were filled with our music. What a great feeling for everyone involved in Esther!
So tonight, not only do we perform live, but we're excited that our audience members will take our performance home with them too.
Friends, as you listen to the CD, think of the women and girls of Efrat and Gush Etzion who send you a hug with every song. Well, my "sons" and I are sending you a "Grrrrr."
If you're not able to get to the theater in Gush Etzion, you can order the CD or DVD on line - www.raiseyourspirits.org.

The Making of the ESTHER CD

We spent our Chanukah, not only vacationing with our families, but working in the recording studio of Amit Benatar in order to create the ESTHER CD.
Raise Your Spirits' "ESTHER & the Secrets in the King's Court" has been such a tremendous success, B"H, audiences have clamored for more and more and more.
One more was added performances. We have just arranged them.
Another more was an ESTHER DVD. It's done and selling amazingly well.
And the latest more has been an ESTHER CD to play in your car, on your computer and while you're going through your busy life.
The ESTHER CD has all the great music of the show, plus all kinds of added touches to make it even more super-terrific.

We had such a great time in the recording studio. We entered, saw Amit's state-of-the-art sound board, plus the headphones (like a pilot wears), and a gated microphone (you've gotta sing to the gate). Suited up in this show biz paraphernalia, we really felt like Taylor Swift or Frank Sinatra (can those two names be said in the same sentence?).
The words to our songs were on a music stand, but it's easier and more natural to sing without them.

B"H, we knew them. Well, I sorta knew them. For some reason (nerves??), I was throwing "s"es all over the place. I only need three takes on those S-mistakes. I needed more for my Haman GASP when the King tells Haman to parade Haman's arch enemy Mordechai through the streets of Shushan. G-A-S-P!! (You get it?)

We sang our songs harmonized with one another, and those disembodied voices that were in our earphones.I even got to do the tap dances I do, as Haman, in the show. To accomplish the tap, I brought my metal-bottom tap shoes, of course, and my own wooden stage. (Well, it's important to always be prepared. :) )
Thanks to talented CD project coordinator Avital Macales, music director and pianist Gayle Berman and music magician Amit Benatar (who arranged composer Rivka Hattin Epstein's music, along with co-arrangers Paul Salter and Mitch Clyman) whose recording studio was our home for the week.
The CD is going to be powerful and packed with joy too. You'll love it. We'll let you know as soon as it hits the streets. POW!