The stage is part of the story.
Rusalka at the Opera House / Yossi Tsbaker
Those who grew up in the eighties, like the writer of these lines, will never forget the first time they saw Disney's "The Little Mermaid".
Not only was it the best film of 1989, it also produced the best soundtrack of that year.
We all knew how to sing the songs by heart, in Hebrew and English.
In fact, most children of the eighties will argue, and rightly so, that the Hebrew dubbing starring local legends such as Shlomit Aharon, Danny Litani, Rachel Atas and Eli Gorenstein does not fall at all from the original.
The film began the renaissance period of the Disney animation studio, which remembered to return to basics after a particularly gloomy decade.
The movie "The Little Mermaid" earned the studio two Oscars, something that seems almost trivial today, but the truth is that these were Disney's first golden statuettes since 1971.
Years passed, and I had girls, and they also fell in love with the Disney movie - including mermaids.
One day I went into a bookstore with my older daughter and she asked to buy the original book written by Hans Christian Andersen (translated by Moshe Ben Shaul).
To my surprise, the 1837 book takes a dark twist at the end.
The furthest thing from Disney's happy ending.
The Little Mermaid (Andersen, a known misogynist, doesn't even bother to give her a name) discovers that love exists only in fairy tales, and encounters a particularly murderous dilemma - in the end she chooses to give up her soul.
Some walk on water, some drown.
Rusalka at the Opera House / Yossi Tsbaker
Between Andersen's gloomy version and Disney's fun version stands the opera "Rosalka" by the Czech composer Antonin Dvožek, which is currently performing at the Israeli Opera.
The opera, which was presented for the first time in Prague in 1901, is one of the pleasant and exciting surprises that have come to the Israeli opera in years.
It turns out that long before the Disney studios thought of the idea of a crab singing to a Jamaican beat, Dvojek was thinking of a chorus of nymphs and King Triton with a baritone voice.
It is a gloomy production, which is more suited to Andersen's harsh story, but musically it does not fall short of the famous and popular operas.
The new production that premiered this week at the Israeli Opera is one of the most impressive seen here, and two people are responsible for it: the director/set designer/choreographer Stefano Fuda and the conductor Dan Ettinger.
You don't need to understand anything about opera or design to be impressed by the elaborate stage that Poda dared to dream and turn into reality.
The stage floor of the opera was replaced by a pool of water, from which the mermaids come out and enter, in a game that tricks our imagination.
For this moment Rusalka seems to be walking on water, for this moment it seems that the prince is drowning.
For a moment there was concern that it was a gimmick, but as the show went on (three and a quarter hours including two intermissions) it was possible to understand how much emotion and precision was put into every nuance of this stage, which became an integral part of the production.
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Amazing even without reaching fifth gear.
Ella Wasiwicki in Ruselka at the Opera House / Yossi Tsbaker
But in the end we come to the opera for the music, and I have a hard time remembering the last time I heard the opera orchestra so precisely and movingly.
It may be that it is Dvožak's dramatic music that fits the warlike mentality on the streets of Israel these days, but Maestro Ettinger managed to bring out of the orchestra this time more than the sum of its parts.
On the night of the premiere, you could see how much the local audience appreciates Ettinger, when he received a standing ovation when he came up to perform the third act.
Acclaims that are mainly known to veterans from Zubin Mehta's great days at the Philharmonic.
It is said that good and influential basketball coaches can be identified by how their teams play in the first five minutes of the game, and in the first five minutes of the second half.
That is, the first moments when the basketball players go up to play after receiving words of encouragement and wisdom from their coach.
It seems that Ettinger could have been an excellent basketball coach.
I don't know what he said or didn't say to the musicians before the performance, and between set to set - but it is obvious that the orchestra came back fresh, sharp and precise every time from the breaks.
And as mentioned, she sounded better than ever.
Erotica is not a dirty word.
Rusalka at the Opera House / Yossi Tsbaker
I was happy to see that precisely in such an invested and successful production, most of the performers on stage were talented Israelis.
And yes, at this point, after so many successful productions in Tel Aviv, I also attribute Israeli qualities to the Romanian baritone of Yunutz Pasco.
I will not mention the names of all the dancers, but this successful production would not have been so exciting without the beautiful erotic dance moments on stage.
Yes, erotic.
Not even implicitly.
Mermaids and nymphs touching each other in a very explicit and loving way.
Trust an ancient art like opera to be the last place to censor itself under PC rules.
Something in the contrast between the beautiful but monotonous stage, in front of the refined movement of the dancers did its thing.
And there was even a moment that looked like a homage to the music video for "I Want To Break Free" by Kevin.
What a beauty.
Scarier than Ursula.
Edna Prokhnik in the role of Yezhiba the witch of the sea, in Rusalka at the opera house / Yossi Tsvkar
Compliments go to Ella Vasilevitzky in the lead role of Rusalka, who even on her not-so-great evening manages to prove what a formidable diva she is.
Even without reaching fifth gear, she overtakes them all in a round.
It is surprising to see Oded Reich, perhaps the biggest star of the Israeli opera in recent years, actually getting marginal roles - just to prove the old cliché that there are no small roles.
Even in one small scene Reich manages to demonstrate his talent.
It was the Russian tenor Alexei Dolgov in the role of the prince who was the only disappointment of the evening, when in many cases his voice was almost swallowed up in the space of the tabernacle.
His ambition is also great for Edna Prokhnik in the role of Yeziba, the sea witch, who makes Disney's Ursula look like Cinderella.
Prohnik's mezzo soprano is impressive, but with such a fine playing performance it feels almost marginal.
What an amazing display.
It was one of the most enjoyable evenings I remember in recent years at the opera, and it is surprising precisely in light of the fact that it is impossible to ignore what is happening in the square outside the Mishkan for the Performing Arts in Tel Aviv, known as "Kirak Hatofim".
The saddest place in Israel.
For the encore, all the production people and the singers came up with a yellow ribbon in solidarity with the families of the captive citizens in Gaza.
That was the moment we never came back
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