The life of Yafa Yarkoni, a graceful woman with a beautiful voice who embodied the spirit of a nation in wartime, is currently being adapted into a musical at the Habima National Theatre. Written by Guy Maroz and directed by Eldar Groysman, Ha’amini Yom Yavo (Believe and the Day Will Come) features some of the best-known stars of the Hebrew stage.
Eley Armani plays the role of Yarkoni, a young newlywed who quickly becomes a sensation thanks to what were then called “salon tunes”. Einat Sarrouf shines as the established Yarkoni, who represents a period when the singer gained a special place in the nation’s hearts and international recognition thanks to lyrics written by Haim Ghori, Rafael Cracchin and Naomi Shemer. Gira Almagor plays the mature artist facing the fickle memories of the audience, and the show has received acclaim for many years since its premiere.
The musical begins on a hospital bed, as a doctor (Tal Mosseri) gently explains to Yarkoni’s daughter, Lina (Lilian Barretto), that her mother (Almagor) has Alzheimer’s disease. The devastated daughter must defend her mother’s honor, confront a crisis in her own marriage, and support a demanding aging parent.
A trip to remember
Meanwhile, the audience is taken on a trip down memory lane with Yarkoni, reflecting on what some call an incredible success story. A hint at the plot twist comes when Armani sings a few lines from Habibi. Almagor looks at her, tapping his fingers on the glass, as if he were watching his younger self play and creating a rhythm in his mind.
For the musical, musical director Lior Ronen has crafted two striking mini-shows sung by Armani and Sarouf. Both performances are condensed selections of Yarkoni’s most iconic songs, pared down to a few key lyrics and performed with heart and fervor amid spectacular dance routines created by Tut Mror. Set designer Adam Keller deserves praise for his precise and imaginative sets that take us from a Tel Aviv bar to the Negev desert, set against a warm reddish-yellow backdrop of songs, to a cold hospital scene bathed in unforgiving light. An exhibit at the Mountain Jewish Museum in Krasnaya Sloboda, Azerbaijan, portrays the early aliyah movement and Yaffa Yarkoni, an Israeli folk singer whose family is from Azerbaijan. (Credit: Larry Luxner/JTA)
This works beautifully, in part because audiences are so familiar with Jarkoni’s music: There’s a clear thematic division onstage between her rebetiko-like folk diva period and her time singing “Lili Marlene” to boys in the front rows, like an Israeli Marlene Dietrich, but it’s not crucial.
Onstage, the pipe-smoking Hayim Ghori (Tal Kalai) hands her the lyrics to “Bab el-Wad,” a song written to commemorate the fierce battle of Shahr Hagai during the War of Independence. Yarkoni sings it and quickly assumes the status of the country’s “war diva,” even as she proclaims, “War is terrible. Only song is beautiful.”
Gourri, Chaim Hefer, Yoram Kaniuk and others served in the Palmach regiment. They fought for the new country and also shaped it culturally to a degree that seems impossible today: poets drank and wrote poems, then gave them to singers who turned them into timeless songs that are still played on the radio 70 years later.
“There was a time when we defended outposts,” Heffer writes in the musical’s “There Were Such Times.” “Now there are cities built on outposts.”
When Yarkoni died, Kaniuk recounted how he had come to perform for his Palmach battalion. Yarkoni sang the tango “War is a Dream,” written by Tory Leviv. Benny Marshak, then Palmach’s education officer, was infuriated: tango, rebetiko, and pop music were all salon tunes and “false idols” to an older man, ideologically driven like him, who wanted to leave Europe and build a homeland for the Jewish people.
At the time, women singers became the voice of a country at war. Fairouz composed and sang “Al-Quds al-Atika” (Old Jerusalem), and Umm Kalthoum sang “Now I Have a Rifle” (with lyrics by Nizar Kabbani), both Arab songs about conflict. In the same way, Yarkoni and Shoshana Damali live in the common soul of Israelis. Krachikin, who wrote the poem that gives the musical its title, says Israel’s war is being fought so that one day we can “breathe and live.”
The choice to cast Almagor, a known supporter of peace, as Yarkoni, who came under fire publicly for making possibly misconstrued comments in a radio interview opposing continued military rule in the Gaza Strip, is a brilliant one.
In a key scene, Yarkoni (Almagor) is in the middle of singing when onlookers interrupt her and question her loyalty to the state, a poignant reminder of just how fragile free speech is in a democracy that still faces brutal hostility.
“Believe the Day Will Come” runs from June 4 to August 5. Hebrew only. 2 hours, one break. NIS 250 per ticket. Dohl Center, 76 Hatikva St., Tel Aviv. For reservations, call (03) 6295555 or visit https://www.habima.co.il/en/shows/believe-the-day-will-come/. The musical was produced with the kind support of Dita and Alex Landsberg.
