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At the Theatre at The Sol Goldman YMHA
Previewed by David Roberts for Theatre Reviews Limited
More than fifty-three years after the founding of the state of Israel, peace between the Jewish nation and its Arab neighbors seems as distant and precarious today as it did back then. From the moment in 1948 that the United Nations voted to partition Palestine and create the state of Israel, the Middle East has been a hotbed of wars and terrorist acts on the part of both sides.
"A Glimpse of The Light," a stage musical set immediately preceding the United Nations declaration, will be presented for sixteen performances, July 10 to 22, in the theater at The Sol Goldman YMHA at 344 East 14th Street in Manhattan. The performance schedule is as follows: Tuesdays at 7 PM; Wednesdays at 2 and 7 PM; Thursdays at 7 PM; Fridays at 2 PM; Saturdays at 8:30 PM; and Sundays at 2 and 7 PM. Tickets for the Actors Equity approved showcase production are $15 and may be purchased by calling 212/780-0800, Ext. 278.
"A Glimpse of The Light" is the dynamic story of the birth of Israel as told through the tears and, yes, the laughter of a group of Holocaust survivors who brave the dangerous seas and the power of the British Navy in an attempt to reach the promised land of Palestine. Coming out of an unspeakable horror, they chose to live instead of to die. To build, out of barren rock and soil, a nation. To shed their shtetl mentality but never to forget it. And to become determined participants in the greatest Jewish adventure since Biblical times.
Created by Ben Finn, a retired New York City educator and composer, the musical is a story of a small group of adventurers who embark on a desperate voyage in a ramshackle ship, hoping to elude the British Naval blockade set up to prevent "illegal" entry into Palestine by Jewish refugees. For many survivors of the Holocaust, life's renewal could only be found in Palestine, and for this group it is a bittersweet voyage, commingling memories of the recent tragic past with recollections of happy life in the shtetls (small towns) of Eastern Europe before the onset of World War II. All the while, the light that is Jerusalem beckons to them, like a beacon of hope, toward a sunnier future.
Directed and choreographed by Miriam Fond, A Glimpse of The Light begins aboard the ship and continues in the Israeli kibbutz of Yad Mordechai, where the joy of finally realizing a lifelong dream is tempered by Arab hostility to a Jewish state. The new settlers must grapple with the reality of their vanished old world amid the struggle to create a new one. For them the shtetl is forever gone as, for the first time in 2,000 years, a Jewish state thrusts itself upon the world stage.
The cast includes Steve Cancel, Ana Carole, Paul Haber, Ci Herzog, Kelly McCormick, Dara Seitzman, Justin Wilcox and Robert Zanfini. Ben Finn composed the music and wrote the book and lyrics. The Musical Director is Dennis Deal. The sets are by Paul Rigby, and the costumes by Inbal Gildin. The lighting design is by Cindy Shumsey. The Stage Manager is Dick Delahanty. The musical is produced by Nat Habib fpr Seaboard Productions.
Ben Finn, a native of Brooklyn, is a World War II veteran who spent 32 years as a teacher in the New York City School system, seven of them as a four-time award-winning scriptwriter for WNYE-FM, the NYC Board of Education's radio station. Over the years he has written eight full length musical plays and 15 one-act plays for children. His musicals have been produced in New York City, Long Island, Rutherford, NJ, Atlanta, GA, and Orem, UT. A Glimpse of The Light was originally presented for a limited engagement at The Queens Theater in the Park in 1998 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the state of Israel.
Miriam Fond has staged many Off Broadway and Cabaret productions in New York, including "What's A Nice Country Like You Doing In a State Like This?" with Betty Buckley, Priscilla Lopez, Andrea Martin and Martin Short; "Has Anybody Here Found Love" (Manhattan Theatre Club); "A Crowd of Two" (American Place Theatre) and Ben Bagley's "Shoestring Revues." Her regional and summer theater productions include "Sleuth," "Jacques Brel," "I Love My Wife," "The Sound of Music," "Fiddler on the Roof," "The Fantasticks"and many others.