The Show Must Go On!

A quick post for whoever hasn't heard that Andrew Lloyd Weber with Universal is giving us a night of musical theatre every week. On Friday evenings at 7 pm BST (9pm Israel time) a movie of one of his musicals will be available on You Tube. Search: THE SHOW MUST GO ON. This week was Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. You can still watch it until Sunday night. (Tomorrow is Sunday for those who've lost all track of time.)

We watched it tonight after Shabbat. It was so clever how they staged it as a school production because, of course that's how we were all introduced to Joseph back in the 1970s.

The cherry on the cake was Donny Osmond playing Joseph. They called it puppy love, but I had a poster of him in my bedroom way back when. Richard Attenborough as Jacob was fun to spot. And when Potiphar's wife appeared I thought, "doesn't she look like Joan Collins?" In fact it was Joan Collins.

DD was surprised by Joseph's character at the beginning: "Wow, he's so arrogant. That's not what they said about him in Bible lessons at school.

She got a kick out of Pharoah: "He sounds like that old rock and roll singer."
Me: "Elvis Presley."
DD; "Yeah him."
Me: "He's supposed to. That's the point."

I did see her giggle when Joseph told Pharoah, "All those things you saw in your pyjamas, Were a long range forecast for your farmers."

But when they sang, Those Canaan Days... DD: "Why do they all sound French?"
Me: *sigh*

Anyway, I loved it. I sang along to the whole show. I remembered every line and every harmony. Every bap shwaddywaddy and every ahh-a-a. Finally it came to an end. I was still singing, "May I return, to the beginning." DD said, "Can I go now?"
Me: *sigh*

Summer Fun - R2BC

The Forest Pool, Jerusalem

We've managed to fit in lots of summer fun despite me having to be in college three days this past week. So here are my Reasons 2B Cheerful. If you came here via Michelle's Mummy from the Heart, welcome and here's to the power of the linky.

1
Cooler weekends
The weather here has been unbearably hot (up to 36 degrees) during the week but so far every weekend for the past three weeks it has cooled down to a manageable 28, and it will be 28 again tomorrow.

So far DD has been taken to a theme park one week, a fun fair another week, and to the pool with me the third week.

I am also grateful for the cool evenings and nights in Jerusalem. By 7 pm the heat is off and by 8 pm it's almost cold outside.

2
Pool
We had a lovely day by the pool in the Jerusalem Forest. We went with our Summer Holiday Family and some others so we were a group of five adults and seven children. The kids had a blast with a bouncy castle and a (very small) water slide to add to the fun.

The only downer to the day was that I bought DD swimming goggles from the kiosk there and one lens fell out after 10 minutes. They wouldn't replace them as I'd looked at them first and had been told that there was no guarantee. But 10 minutes! So we will be going back because it's a lovely pool but we won't be buying anything from the kiosk.

The Mermaids in the Lagoon

3
Peter Pan
We were invited to go and see the Jelly Workshop production of Peter Pan. Last year they did Return to Narnia and it was excellent and very creative. They hung coats in the entrance doorway so the audience felt like they were entering Narnia as they came into the theatre.

This year was just as creative and just as much fun. The workshop is a group of kids from 9 to 14 (? I'm guessing) who come together for three weeks in the summer, meeting every weekday for a number of hours. The director writes a basic play but they adapt it, make all the props and scenery, and finally perform the finished play for parents and friends.

It was lovely and DD is thinking about joining it next year.

I only took one photo so as not to interfere with the show - it's the mermaids in the lagoon. Very cleverly done.

I'm hoping this qualifies as a Cultured Kids event as I'm joining the linky over at Emma's A Bavarian Sojourn. 

R2BC - Summer Choices

Culture is cool peeps. 

This week's Reasons 2B Cheerful are back with Becky as Michelle is away. You can find the linky at Lakes Single Mum.

1
Hans Christian Anderson
We went to see the musical last night. One of my 5th Grade girls is in it so we've been looking forward to it for a long time. Being Jerusalem, I knew four of the cast and another four of the crew. We only knew three other families in the audience this time - it must have been a slow night.

We danced home afterwards, singing The King is in the Altogther and Wonderful Wonderful Copenhagen. We picked up pizza from the new favourite pizza shop that just opened near us. DD went to bed at 11.30 and neither of us got up for Stupid Friday at school this morning. (Friday school finishes at 11.45. I should say here that I don't teach on Fridays.)

2
English Summer Camp
The summer holiday is long here in Israel - 9 weeks for 1st to 6th Grade and 10.5 weeks for High School. 1st to 3rd Grade get a free summer school for the first 3 weeks of  July so thus far we've only had to deal with 6 weeks at home.

There  are all sorts of camps and programmes for 1, 2, or 3 week periods. There are sports camps, art camps, cooking courses, sewing, science and computer camps, drama, music, and just plain all round fun. Some children are booked solid from July 1st till the end of August.

As we have August pretty much covered with visitors and short trips, I told DD she could choose one Summer Camp in July - I didn't mind how long it was. Some of the camps are very pricey and can cost hundreds, even thousands of shekels. But I only have one child so I was happy for her to pick whatever she wanted. She didn't pick anything. She wanted to do a self-defense course, which I am in favour of, but the courses for her age group are all in August overlapping with dates that we'll be away.

Then she came home from school and said that all her friends are going to the English Day Camp at school. I asked about it last year and I was told that it wasn't suitable for children who already know English. This year they changed their minds and decided that it is suitable for English speakers. It's 3 weeks, Sunday - Thursday, 8am till 1pm, total cost 600 shekels. Woohoo! Sorted. And as it's just down the road from  us at school, DD can go and come home by herself. She can even let herself in if I'm held up at my college where I'll be teaching a Summer Course.

3
Five Weeks Left
Only five weeks to go until the summer holidays start on July 1st. I'm counting the days. OK, I still have loads of work to do, reports to write, my summer course to prepare, and run it during July, ... But you know, always good to have something to look forward to. And I actually like the pressure of finishing everything off in a set amount of time. The Panic Monster and I are old friends.

4
Healthy Choices
With the undeniably summer weather that's upon us, DD and I agreed that instead of the weekly allowance of sweets and chocolate for her on Shabbat, we are buying a whole watermelon instead. To be eaten in place of snacks thoughout the week. The watermelon actually costs more than the sweets and chocolate but it also lasts longer so, "Yeah Us!"

Theater In The Rough - R2BC

Rubbish photographer strikes again. 

Well they made a point of saying that they spell theatre the American way so I've done the same for SEO purposes and also because it's annoying when someone writes my name Rachael instead of Rachel.

Last night we went to the annual Shakespeare in the park production by Theater in the Rough. It was the penultimate performance. We'd been planning to go every night (10 performances in all) since the first night, but somehow something came up on all the other days.

This year was The Taming of the Shrew. I read the synopsis to DD before we went. We've previously seen Richard III and A Midsummer Night's Dream. Both were excellent and easy to follow even though they both have complicated plots. I thought this production would be a doddle compared to the others as the plot is quite straightforward. DD was a bit shocked by it. "He treats her like a slave!" Well yes.

I'd forgotten about the changing places and pretending to be other people. Those bits weren't in our Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb (originally published in 1878 but my Wordsworth edition is from 1994). So it did have the complicated Shakespeare twists but this production was further complicated by a switching of the genders.

As the whole play is the antithesis of feminism, they had men playing the women and women playing the men. They didn't want to dress in drag so they wore modern clothing with a nod to the character. For example the women wore their everyday jeans, trousers or leggings but with a jacket or a waistcoat. And the men wore their trousers and t-shirts but with a girl's blouse on top. This meant that, unlike in previous productions with elaborate medieval costumes, everyone looked the same and it was very difficult to keep in mind who was who at the beginning.

And after that my battery died

After a bit you get to know the characters and sort it all out - but it required some concentration. DD sat with the programme and matched up the pictures with the players. She loved the performance as it was full of humour which she found quite hilarious.

She didn't like the fact that we moved around the park for different scenes. "Why can't they just let us sit and enjoy it instead of moving about all the time?" She asked out loud. Some people around us, especially the older people, agreed with her but actually it adds to the special atmosphere. As the whole audience walks between scenes the actors are still playing in character and you feel like you're in Padua with them, rather than just watching a play.

It's very laid back. Some of the actors are our friends and we were waved at from the 'stage' and exchanged a 'hello,' whilst moving from scene to scene. They always announce at the beginning that if you miss a few words during the performance, don't worry about it, "it's Shakespeare, there are plenty more where they came from." As I said, all very friendly and laid back.

All in all, the whole production was superb and well worth seeing. Last performance tonight at 5.30 pm in the park behind The King David Hotel. 

This is my Reasons 2B Cheerful post this week. I've be joined the linky with Becky on Lakes Single Mum