Israel Opera

Tel Aviv, May 23

Playing the roles of Mr. and Mrs. Gobineau, who lost a child and now enlist the help of Mrs. Flora (Shay Bloch), Oded Reich and Tal Bergman each hold a toy that the child has played with for a lifetime. He is a ship; she is a teddy bear. Director Shirit Lee Weiss decided to match Tobi’s muteness (Hanan Schwarzberg) by making Monica’s character blind (Tal Ganor). Monica is Madame Flora’s daughter, Tobi was a Roma baby. Flora decided to take pity and offer him shelter. Flora’s loneliness is mirrored by Mrs. Nolan (Shaked Strul), who is brought to Flora by Mr. and Mrs. Gobineau after the death of her 16-year-old daughter.

The tambourine used by the singers during important stages is reflected by a much larger circular object that appears to fall from above to become the levitation table during the session. Real mirrors also descend at key moments. That’s why the opera trailer features Monica trapped in a mirror like in more recent horror movies.

During the Sunday night show I visited, the eerie feeling of entering an inverted world intensified when ushers politely ordered patrons to walk in the opposite direction of the usual seats and enter the space from the stage to emerge at the other “end” for a forest of black chairs. The black veil that falls at the start of the opera, blocking the way back to the “normal” seats, gives us a taste of the separation between life and death on which the whole opera is built.

Madame Flora pretends to speak to spirits only to separate the gullible from their money. Menotti, who wrote and composed this 1946 opera after the end of World War II, did not have to look very far for the sources.

Americans were obsessed with spirits and spoke with the dead a century before The Medium was staged. The Fox sisters became a national sensation in 1848 when they convinced other spirits were making their furniture dance and patting messages from the great beyond. When Madame Blavatsky visited Vermont in 1873, a local mystic named William Eddy summoned seven spirits visible to her over the course of two weeks. These spirits spoke to her in Russian and Kurdish, she said.

As in any good horror movie, Flora feels a touch from beyond the grave during one of these sessions and becomes frightened. Trying to redeem herself by cleaning herself up, she tells her victims that they had been swindled, there is no afterlife and she hasn’t really brought their loved ones back.

To her horror, they insist that she is wrong, after all, like Ms. Blavatsky, they have seen and heard with their own eyes.

“The dead are in the dust,” she said, clinging to her rational mind before singing the tune “Fear, am I afraid?”

When she asks her victims if they don’t see the wires levitating on the table, it’s also a devious nod to the audience. We see the wires because we know we are inside an opera building. We even saw Reich pull the wires in the first act. Are we fools to “believe” what we see, or is it the great and beautiful gift of our imagination, to see things even though they are not real?

While Bloch and Ganor both shine in their respective roles, you have to tip your imaginary hat to Schwarzberg for creating such a solid Toby. When Bloch sings Monica’s waltz to him. Offering to give words to the mute, he forms the words in his mouth without uttering them. Allowing the audience to feel like Monica is really able to channel “her” voice.

Only an hour in length, this opera is a good choice for English speakers who might be feeling a bit nostalgic for the house or as an introduction to the dramatic options that opera offers young viewers. It wouldn’t hurt if they like horror movies!

Menotti’s The Medium will be played Thursday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and 11 a.m., respectively. Tickets cost 180 NIS.

19 Shaul Hamelech Street Tel Aviv (03) 692-7777

Tickets must be purchased in advance and sanitary rules must be observed during the show.