Surely you JEST

Surely you JEST

All right ... that may be an old one. Or maybe not. But since the Jerusalem English-Speaking Theatre has been around for twenty years already, I’m sure someone else thought of it first.

Back when I was in sixth grade, a group of actors came to our elementary school and put on a short play about Tom Sawyer. I remember several of the vignettes to this day. I also remember a few words from the opening and closing number:

Tom Sawyer—say that name again;
Tom Sawyer—everybody’s friend.

When I found out that some of my friends were going to be in JEST’s production of Tom Sawyer, I couldn’t help wondering whether this was the same show. Turns out that it was. (Talk about closing circles ... after nearly thirty years!) So I went to the show tonight and enjoyed it very much. I also felt like I knew half the cast; they were either friends of mine or their children. Neat.

(Maybe it’s time to start going out for shows again. It’s been too long, I think.)

Anyway, here are two pictures from the curtain call. Enjoy.

The gentleman in the white suit played the character of Mark Twain. Directly to his left (stage right) is the young man who played Huckleberry Finn. After the show, I went to congratulate that young man (one of the members of the cast whom I don’t know, actually), but he didn’t see me. Instead, he ran over to a friend of his and greeted him enthusiastically ... in fluent Hebrew.

I bet that was a first for a production of Tom Sawyer.

Only in Israel ... nakhon (right)?

UPDATE: The father of the young man who played Huckleberry Finn dropped by with a link to pictures from the dress rehearsal (and other JEST productions). Thanks, “Mr. Finn”!