Taking over America
In celebration of American Independence Day, a group of teenagers in Tel Aviv presents the popular musical ‘Hamilton’ about US presidents
Many Israelis love the US, but a few have decided to take this connection to Uncle Sam one step further. A group of Israeli teenagers between the ages of 12 and 18 decided to stage a production of the popular musical Hamilton on their own without any outside funding.
They accomplished this feat in a very original and amusing fashion.
The musical premiered on Wednesday at the Park Theater at Hayarkon Park in Tel Aviv, an additional performance was staged on Thursday and a third will be staged on Saturday night.
The 27 teens who were involved in the endeavor paid out of pocket (about NIS 150 each, for a total of NIS 5,000) and preparation for the play lasted months.
The executive producers, Alma Orliansky, Zohar Berlal and Yonatan Avidor, had planned to stage only one performance, but after all the tickets sold out within a week, they decided to add additional performances for those who hadn’t managed to get hold of tickets by July 4.
Avidor, who hails from Herzliya, and plays America’s fourth president in the show, said that, “We’re for sure going to lose money, but we don’t care. Our parents taught us that the joy we receive from putting on the play is more important than making money from it.”
Berlal, who hails from Pardes Hanna, is well aware of the image they have as teenagers who are history buffs. “Yes, we admit that we are nerds. Mega nerds.”
“We don’t care so much about image,” says Avidor. “We just want to do what we love, and two of the things we love the most are theater and history.”
Asked if there is a big demand for these types of productions, Berlal says that “people love going to see musicals such as Les Miserables and Annie.”
“Historical musicals are less popular, but Hamilton is truly transformative and some parts even include rap,” Berlal adds.
For the group, putting together the performance was not such an easy fete.
“It was costly, and it wasn’t always easy going, but in the end we were successful,” Avidor says. “It required a lot of faith, effort and an exorbitant number of quill pens. And now we are singing and dancing and making historical declarations about American history even in our sleep.”