Review: MY LIFE - THE MUSICAL VERSION at Tmu-na Theatre - Very Personal and Revealing! Do Not Miss!

It's a very difficult task to write a review on this show, especially for me.

I can obviously just see it as a theatrical event and write about the way it's written and performed.
But there's so much more to it than that.
This play has also a great deal of public and journalistic significance.

Tmu-na Theatre, where this play is performed, has written many words in the play description that are related to silence and to losing a voice and finding it again. Plenty of general remarks that don't even begin to tell the magnitude of this event.
One of the sentences written in the description is: "An actor who loses the ability to express himself is going on a personal journey in order to find his voice again and along the way reveals a dark and suppressed secret from his past".
Those of you who read play descriptions from time to time might find this kind of vague phrases quite often and usually remain indifferent while reading them.
In this case you have absolutely no idea how much this secret can be related to your real life and even affect them.

Amit Gour, The writer and performer of this one-person show, wrote this play about his personal life and the stories he tells us during the show are about events from his real life. That's why this suppressed secret isn't the fruit of a playwright's imagination in order to create a good play. It's an actual event that occurred during Amit's life that changed them completely.

I would very much like to tell you that secret. But I won't.
Not because this secret isn't important. This secret is highly important, especially for Amit himself, but also to many other people who are familiar with the people involved in this story.
But I still won't tell because by revealing this secret I would spoil the entire meaning of this show. I'd spoil it for the audience that comes to see the show and hears this secret wrapped inside a complete and supportive theatrical piece. I'd also spoil it for Amit Gour himself, while it seems that this play was written and performed as a kind of therapy that he needs to do, like a healing process.
Had Amit wanted he could've told this secret to a journalist and by that revealing it in a public way. His story would've definitely received a much higher exposure that way instead of some tens of people each show in the Amphi Hall of Tmu-na Theatre. But on the other hand, his story would've been edited and published the way the media knows how to publish these stories and not the way Amit wanted to bring his personal story to the world.
By putting on this show Amit took full control on his story and chose to bring it to the public as a theatrical piece and not as plain text edited by others.

And in fact, besides the secret, this is a very good theatrical piece.
Amit Gour tells us how he started to like musical theatre from a very young age while growing in a Kibbutz where people didn't know how to handle a kid who doesn't want to be in the choir like everyone else and wants to show his own voice and to sing solo, a kid who watches musical films and dreams of taking part in them.
During the show Amit shares with the audiences the things he had to go through on his way to fulfill his dream of becoming a musical theatre actor, including the events that held him back.

There are many singing bits throughout this show taken from famous musicals, sometimes in its original meaning and sometimes there's a different and a more personal meaning that Amit gives these songs.
Amit proves us that eventually, as much as musicals can sometimes be larger than life, they actually talk about life itself and the lyrics can be relevant to everyone's life.

In this kind of play, where there's a single performer who's also the writer who wrote about himself, it's hard to tell what exactly the result of the director's work is and what was decided by the actor himself. But in such cases it's highly important to have an objective point of view from someone who can take the basic play and turn it into something that can go on stage and will tell the story in the best and most suitable way for the theatre.
And indeed this was the result in this case because Amit brings us his personal story within the theatrical atmosphere Nir Erez the director has created in a way that highly enhances the entire experience and helps the story-telling task.

There are some dance bits in this show that were created by Oz Morag the choreographer who's usually in charge of big productions where he needs to create choreography for gigantic numbers performed by tens of dancers. In this case his task was completely different: He had to create choreography for just one performer in a small production on a small and intimate stage. This task is as hard as creating massive choreographies and Oz managed to complete this task perfectly.

Do yourself a favour and go see this show.

First of all, because it's written and performed in a very emotional, funny and touching way.
Secondly, even for Amit himself who opens up his heart in front of the audience and reveals his most personal stories and his most kept secrets and he needs to feel your energies and your support. This is not an ordinary play, therefore the traditional "Actor-Audience" roles aren't ordinary in this case.
Oh, yes. And there's also the secret thing that you'll be able to reveal only by going to see the show.

So go, no matter which reason appeals to you more.
Just go.

Play and Performance: Amit Gour
Director: Nir Erez
Choreographer: Oz Morag
Set Designer: Yinon Peres
Lighting Designer: Nadav Barnea
Pianist and Musical Director: Tamir Leibovich

Next performances: 10.3, 11.3, 4.4, 7.4 at Tmu-na Theatre
Duration: 60 minutes

For tickets and further information click here.

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