Fairuz : Sahh el Nom : Biel : December 2, 2006 [theater]

We went yesterday to Fairuz's play, which was showing for 3 days in the Biel auditorium in Beirut. It's a musical play called 'sa77 el nom', 'good morning'. It was originally written by Fairuz's husband in the seventies, and Ziad Rahbani directed this production of it.

The Biel hall was full for the second straight night of the play. The set was the square of a typical Lebanese village. The villagers, among them Fairuz dressed in an orange dress and holding an open umbrella, were waiting for the full moon to rise in the sky. With the full moon, would come their king, on the one night of the month when he wakes up to put the seal of approval on their petitions. Petitions to plant a plum tree, to open a restaurant, to import weapons, which need the royal seal of approval before they could be implemented. Fairuz, or '2rinful' = carnation, was presenting a request to fix the roof of her house before the winter rain and cold came. She had been waiting for the king to approve the petition for 6 months, and in the meantime, the umbrella she held was the only protection she had from the sun and rain.
The king, Antoine Kerbaj, dressed in fluorescent pink, eventually comes out, to the sound of the villagers' dabke celebrating him.
And from here the plot develops, the king has only enough energy to seal three petitions and the rest must wait for the next month and the next moon. Fairuz decides to do things her own way.
The play was wonderful. The songs are great, and Fairuz's voice is rich and beautiful.
The plot takes twists that you don't expect and ends up with a triumphant 2rinful. Also unexpected come the innuendos in the story line and parts of the script to the current political situation in Lebanon.
For example the king prides himself in how his kingdom encourages freedom of expression: the people are free to speak what they want and scream as they like, and the king is free not to hear.
And people didn't miss these relationships, and cheers and clapping would rise from time to time. But cheers and clapping also rose when 2rinful sang some familiar traditional songs to put the King to sleep "nam ya waleena nam, ta edba7lak tayr el 7amam".
The clapping and cheering at the end of the play, stronger when Antoine Kerbaj comes forward to bow, and strongest for Fairouz, showed the audience's excitement and awe.

--Review by Birdog : visiting Special Reporter