On the evening of Monday, 08/04/2024, in the "Krieger Hall" in the Carmel French neighborhood in Haifa - a wonderful magic was performed. Leo Buck's students presented a contemporary musical in the most impressive way.
The entire arsenal of words of praise and praise in the Hebrew language basket can be given to this group of students - from which the report about their appearance in the musical "Sharol" can be derived. A musical that talks about a difficult childhood that continued to be appointed as the essence of the Israeli experience of most of the "shrouls" in the State of Israel.
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► Disco dance here:
The plot - the dilemmas of the Israeli "Sharol" about the honey and the sting
The musical "Sharol" is an adaptation of an original play by Yoni Zichholtz and Shay Lahav. Originally, it was the rock opera "Sherolik" that was staged at "Tsvata" in Tel Aviv already in 2014 - when the play was signed by Shai Lahav and Yoni Zichholtz and the compositions by Yoni Rechter. The title given by them was "Shrolik" and it is taken from the well-known section of Dosh's cartoons, which was published for many years in the newspaper "Maariv", and in it is the portrait of a young man wearing a hat and wearing sandals. It was a pictorial figure which at the time became representative of the image of the typical Israeli.
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The story of the plot of the musical
The play's plot unfolds from 1982, the period of the First Lebanon War, when the original hero Sharolik, or the contemporary Sharol, was born - until 2006, during the Second Lebanon War, in which he receives an "Eight Order".
► Noa Rabu in the role of the soldier interviewing Ariel Feldman (Sharol)
In the meantime, he experienced what many young people go through on the local production line: a difficult childhood, combat service, escaping to India (for example) and returning to a high-tech career and even starting a glorious family.
► A manager at a high-tech company (Omer Karmi) recruits Sherol (Ariel Feldman) for a management position
The "Heliobakim" show - an allegory for the journey of life familiar to many of us
The musical tells the story of Sharol, a young man who goes through the journey of life familiar to many of us on the timeline between Israel's two wars: the First Lebanon War and the Second Lebanon War. The musical is interwoven with life stories accompanied by Israeli songs from all times and accompanies Sharol at all stages of his life: from childhood in the shadow of war, through military service to work and a family in Israel with the love of his life - Yael, whom he dreamed of.
► Inbar Golan plays Yael
Along the way, Sharol learns about the honey and the sting and faces dilemmas that every Israeli faces. He discovers his greatness and his weaknesses, as well as the price that the path to self-fulfillment entails. Every phase in his life's journey is accompanied by a deal with the devil, who gives him on every occasion one quality that he needs (such as: self-confidence, emotion, belonging, etc.) but at the same time, deprives him of one other quality.
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"Sharol" - the beautiful Land of Israel and a focus on revival
The Leo Buck Education Center was founded in Haifa in 1938 in the spirit of the teachings of Rabbi Dr. Leo Buck, who was one of the leaders of the liberal Jewish community in Germany before World War II. In the summer of 2023, the teaching staff together with the directors of the institution and in honor of the 85th anniversary of the founding of the Leo Buck School, were looking for a play An Israeli who deals with the beautiful Land of Israel and focusing on its revival - and from this "Sharolik" was chosen and worked to become "Sharol".
Ambivalent thoughts to the very existence of the show now live
After the Shiva disaster in October, the teaching staff encountered ambivalent thoughts about the very act of performing the musical in front of an audience. Near the outbreak of the war, the educators were debating, and did not even know, if at all and how the work on the musical should be continued.
There were many discussions and debates on the issue, but in the end it was decided to continue the action, with the aim of giving the youth a place where they can be comforted and even strengthened, especially in the difficult and challenging times we are experiencing.
From this, the "Heliobakim" continued to work on the musical, with the belief and hope that the role of the musical would be an opportunity to comfort the audience precisely in these difficult days. To be a little happy, to lift the spirit and even to show how much the life of the Israeli army has always known ups and downs, but life is stronger than everything and therefore it is a pride to live in our country, the State of Israel.
"Heliobakim" - a band as a social engagement project
The group "The Leobakim" has 29 students studying in the 5th, XNUMXth and XNUMXth grades at Leo Bak High School. The school band is an independent school project that does not depend on the choice of major or increased study. This team of students studies all the majors of the school, and XNUMX of them even major in theater.
At the beginning of the school year, after a round of auditions, there were regular weekly meetings. Throughout the process of working on the musical, the number of weekly rehearsals increased, and several singing, acting and dancing workshops were added.
The students' participation in the band is considered "social engagement project work" for the youth - this is because they are working for the community, both in the musical project itself and in all the ceremonies held at the high school.
"The heart explodes with pride"
The evening was moderated by the CEO of Leo Buck, the reform rabbi Ofek Meir, who at the beginning of his speech offered a prayer for the peace of the soldiers and the redemption of the kidnapped prisoners.
At the end of the performance, he praised his girlfriends and band members and even noted that he had already watched the play during the premiere which was held the day before. At the same time, "the heart explodes with pride in the band team". He turned to the youth and pointed out that they have no idea how much power they give to the audience, especially in this difficult time, as well as "the ability to have fun here tonight, as well as to receive all the hope and love and even the strength to continue being Israelis."
Ofek Meir continued to give credit to all who were involved in the work of production. He noted that it was thanks to them that the audience's enjoyment of this fine product was realized. To the sound of the audience's applause - the director of the show, the musical director, the choreographer and the production manager were invited, came and went on stage.
Director of the play: Ariel Kozlovsky
Kozlowski has been a theater director for 21 years. A graduate of Beit Zvi acting school who started directing theater plays at the age of 19. During his life, Ariel was in many youth groups. On the topic of theater, he was interested in the stage area and especially "behind the scenes" of the theater stage. On a daily basis, Kozlovsky works on many projects with youth ensembles, productions for companies, productions for municipalities, ceremonies, annual plays and graduation parties. All this at the same time as his work as an actor.
About 12 years ago he watched an original play at Yoram Levinstein's acting school and the idea of the play excited him greatly. The mechanism of the play is based on the wheel of life (as in the movie Forrest Gump) and basically unfolds a story about a guy growing up along the timeline, from the stage of birth to the present time. In light of this, he decided to make a new version of the play suitable for teenagers with a new repertoire of songs and scenes relevant to their world. Starting last year, Ariel is the executive producer of the band's performances at Leo Buck High School.
Kozlovsky has been working for many years in collaboration with the AB Lighting and Amplification Company, whose people were entrusted with the wonderful sound and the amazing lighting show. Also, Ariel was the man in charge of the set, the colorful costumes, the fancy wigs and the many accessories.
An interview with Director of the play - Ariel Kozlovsky ► Watch
Musical arrangement: Hillel Sheetrit
Sheetrit is a pianist and musical arranger and a graduate of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and a graduate of the Rubin Conservatory. Since 2001, he has been the musical director of youth bands and ensembles, such as: Voka Pipil, Katham Tafoz, vocal combinations, meetings in the ridge and several other ensembles.
Last year, Shitrit joined the re-establishment of the Leo Buck school band and became the musical director of the school in general and of the "Heliobakim" band productions in particular. For 16 years, Shetrit has been working with director Ariel Kozlovsky on joint projects.
Choreography: Shir Sebag-Donut
Shir is an actress and choreographer, and is a graduate of the theater department at Tel Aviv University. While studying at Leo Buck High School, she participated in the "Carmelim" band, which was the first school band at Leo Buck High School.
Today, Shir Sebag Donat is a theater teacher at Urban School A. For the past 8 years Shashir has served as a choreographer for a number of youth groups throughout the country - in Ra'anana, Kiryat Bialik, Ramat Hasharon, Haifa and more. Over the past 8 years, Shir has been working on many joint projects with director Ariel Kozlovsky. In the previous school year, she established, together with the band team, the renewed tradition of the school band. It goes without saying that Sebag-Donut works with the youth with endless dedication, which was also recognized by the continuous and many applauses.
Band management - Coral Gaz
The management of the troupe was entrusted to the excellent hands of Coral Gaz, who graduated from Leo Buck High School in 2014. Coral has a bachelor's degree in theater and human development, a teaching certificate in psychology and a master's degree in educational counseling from the University of Haifa. As a student she took part in the theater course. Her love for the Leo Buck educational institution and its being a warm home for her brought her back to teaching at this high school as a psychology teacher and classroom teacher.
In the previous academic year, Coral Gaz, together with Dafna Yaakovovitz, the director of the upper division, and Rabbi Ofek Meir, the general director, renewed the tradition of the school band.
Interview with Coral Gaz, the band manager ► Watch
Learn and experience together the taste of honey and the difficulty of the sting
As mentioned, at the beginning of each school year, audition days are held which invite the youth who want to take part in all the performing arts - singing, acting and dancing, and are ready to invest their time in the rehearsal rooms as well as be committed and responsible and even... enjoy the big stage.
In addition, the band members take part in all the official and state ceremonies at the school, such as Holocaust Day and Memorial Day, and throughout the process they work together with Hillel Shatrit, the musical director.
Last school year, the professional team chose to perform for the first time the original musical written by Ariel Kozlovsky "Summer Seeds". In light of the great success of this musical, the school band continued to flourish, and this year the band was joined by other students who participated in the Israeli musical "Sharol".
Accompanying all the typical Israeli dilemmas, the "Heliobaks" learned and experienced together the sweet taste of honey accompanied by the difficulties of the sting - however, they worked as much as they could for the sake of self-fulfillment.
An amazing and respectful article for a fine band!! We were at the show and it was perfect!! The school has something to be proud of 👏👏👏👏👏