Relationship crises, frustrating sex life, longing for the love that was and hunger for thrills and wild sex. Life is not a musical, but “The most beautiful year of my life” is a musical about life. Two enjoyable hours with Roni Dlomi and Libby Ran, Miki Kam and Orna Detz, Ben Yosifovich and Yoav Milstein, wonderful music and lots of happiness
Auditor’s report Yerami Amir / premiere
★★★★★
Short confession: I’m not crazy about musicals. Their dignity is in their place, but they are not theater in the deep sense of the word, of the plot and the characters. On the other hand, they put a lot of money into the theater (at best) so that it can also produce less commercial quality plays.
This introduction comes to say that “The Beautiful Year of My Life” (a production of the Bhima Theater and the Haifa Theater) is not only made of the expected materials of a musical, it is also theater in the best sense of the word.
Life is not a musical, but “The most beautiful year of my life” is a musical about life. Not another sweet story, which is disconnected from reality and flatters the audience, but life itself. Mainly life in Tel Aviv.
“The most beautiful year in my life” tells about crises in a relationship: longing for the love that was, passion that was lost, betrayals in married life, the hunger for thrills and wild and kinky sex – to save the relationship from the trap of boredom and routine.
The creator of the musical, Ohad Hitman, who also wrote the music and choruses, took complex materials from his private life and poured them into a simple story, sometimes simplistic, sometimes touching. The director Moshe Kaptan knew how to make an interesting and energetic theater out of these materials.
Roni Dlomi and Libby Ren, the heroes of the story, are a married couple – young, beautiful and in love, dreaming of a career in the theater, but along the way experience a postpartum crisis, which disrupts the plans. They deal with parenting, which threatens to kill the relationship and with a frustrating sex life. Byrne and Dolomi are not big stars, but they have a commanding presence on stage.
Also good are Ben Yosifovich and Yoav Milstein, a gay couple, parents of twins, who never stop fighting, but still try to save the love that still remains. Milstein is an excellent comedian, but his segments come at the expense of their relationship, which looks like a cartoon about relationships. Yosifovich is an interesting actor, a rare breed on the theater stage.
Both couples reveal their most intimate weaknesses, touch the exposed nerves – and manage to touch the viewers.
Mickey rises to the role of Libby Wren’s annoying mother, proving again, with all the shticks and tricks, that she is a great comedian as well as a good dramatic actress. Orna (Kfara) Detz, on the other hand, Roni Dlomi’s mother, is undecided about a mother of Spanish origin. Both mothers drive the young couple crazy. Someone already said that you don’t choose a family.
Particularly noteworthy is a lesser-known actor – Israel Ernst, who steals the show in the role of a singing couple’s therapist, and puts the audience to bed with laughter. One of the most brilliant scenes in the musical. I also liked Shira Levy in a small and sensitive role of a waitress and babysitter, who falls in love with her married husband Lee Byrne. The conflict between them could have been presented differently. We are admittedly in the conservative Israeli theater, but if we had already started revealing intimate moments, we could have gone further.
The other actors also fit nicely into the plot, it’s just a shame that the ending is kitschy and contrary to the general spirit of the musical. You don’t need the P-end. Viewers could be left with some unresolved questions. It’s more interesting.
All in all, “The most beautiful year in my life” is a beautiful and human work, even subversive, with wonderful music (a live orchestra behind the scenes) and a lot of joie de vivre. Fun of a musical. And if you want – two hours of escape from reality.