Theodor returns to the stage of the Israeli Opera for four performances – March 2 – 7, 2025!
Theodor is a contemporary masterpiece, inspired by the life and work of Theodor Herzl, visionary of the State of Israel. Composed by Yonatan Cnaan and librettist and director Ido Ricklin, the opera merges music, drama, and brilliant artistry to create a fascinating character study. A production of the Israeli opera, Theodor premiered in May 2023, and was received with thunderous enthusiasm – the kind of wild clapping, foot-stomping, and raucous shouting usually reserved for rock concerts. Chosen by Opera Now as one of the 7 best operas of 2023, Theodor now returns to the stage of the Israeli Opera, conducted by Nimrod David Pfeffer.
Telling an epic story from a very intimate perspective, the opera focuses on Theodor Herzl before he wrote The State of the Jews. Two narratives intertwine onstage: Theodor in Vienna of 1881 when he was a young law student, as portrayed by Adi Ezra, and the older Herzl, a journalist covering the Dreyfus trial in Paris in 1895, as portrayed by Oded Reich. The music is stirring as the opera opens with an angry crowd pushing at the gates, crying “Death to Dreyfus” as Herzl (Oded Reich) observes, notebook in hand, fearful and tense. At home with his wife Julie (Anat Czarny) and their children, he is cold and distant, intent on his task, “not now, I’m writing.”
Lifting and lightening the mood, the scene shifts to Vienna of 1881, as young Theodor (Adi Ezra) and his friend Paul von Portheim (Shaked Strul) join Albia, a nationalistic pro-German fraternity, to the tune of a catchy drinking song. There is a joyful innocence to the young Theodor, marked by a strong wish to fit in, to be accepted and respected by his peers. Anyone who has been a teenager knows that those feelings often lead to some terrible choices.
The emotional force of the opera is overwhelming, as one follows the experiences of Herzl as an individual, rather than a legend, revealed in his vulnerabilities, doubts, callousness, fears, and desires. The Herzl one encounters in the opera is a seeker, an individual struggling with his sense of identity, trying to understand the world around him and his place in the world, wanting to make his mark, and wanting to belong. Oded Reich conveys Herzl’s inner turmoil with a power and intensity that could be felt all the way to the upper balcony during the opera’s live performances.
Anat Czarny brings a strength, intelligence, and dignity to her performance as Julie Naschauer, Herzl’s wife. Her family’s wealth supported Herzl’s pursuit of his visions, even as the marriage was unhappy, and Julie did not share Herzl’s vision for a Jewish state. History traditionally has obscured Julie’s place in Herzl’s narrative, but Cnaan and Ricklin’s opera makes a space for her, giving her a voice. Yet there is no attempt to alter her known opinions or soften her criticism of Herzl’s ideas. The characters in the opera are depicted in all their weakness and contradictions. Shaked Strul is poignant as young Theodor’s friend Paul von Portheim, so insecure and seeking external validation which time and again he fails to receive.
In its emphasis on character and feeling, there is a timeless quality to the opera, its moment in history resonating with contemporary audiences. When, in the first scenes, the older Herzl (Reich) calls on the audience to watch the streets instead of coming to the opera, I felt his words awaken my own inner thoughts and conflicts. Seeing and hearing Herzl’s vision brought to life onstage, heightens the awareness of the current reality and events. As Oded Reich sang: “Every man will be as free and undisturbed in his faith or his disbelief as he is in his nationality. And if it should occur that men of other creeds and different nationalities come to live amongst us, we should accord them honorable protection and equality before the law,”* the quote from Herzl’s The State of the Jews elicited spontaneous applause from the audience (in the performance I attended). Theodor is a timely reminder of Herzl’s vision, a work of music and theatre of astonishing beauty, exhilarating and inspiring.
Performances:
Sunday, March 2nd at 20:00; Monday, March 3rd at 20:00; Wednesday, March 5th at 18:00; Friday, March 7th at 13:00.
Additional information and tickets may be found on the Israeli Opera website.
*Quote from Goodreads translation of Herzl’s Der Judenstaat
