JI HASC 25: Behind the scenes

Everyone is talking about last night’s HASC 25 concert labeled A T.I.M.E. For Celebration. Be it in Tweets, Facebook status or reviews. Since I wasn’t able to attend the concert this year because of a Simcha, I decided to take a different route. I decided to attend the rehearsals BEFORE the show to show a different side of the program. First off it was really nice meeting some of the artist that haven’t been seen much in the US etc. recently including; Dedi, Yoel Sharabi, Elie Kranzler, Mendy Wald… Secondly seeing two greats like Avraham Fried and Yoel Sharabi (who starred in the first 3 HASC concerts alongside MBD) welcoming each other and the kinship among all the performers (some of who haven’t seen each others in years) was extremely heartwarming. Shloime Kaufman has been leading the HASC choir for many years now. During the show however with a packed audience and full orchestra they tend to get a little lost. Watching Shloime and the choir rehearse number by number with each performer you tend to get a BIGGER appreciation for the talent that they guys lend to HASC each and every year. Throughout the next two hours I saw 8th Day perform, JOURNEYS as Abie Rotenberg, Gershon Veroba and Elie Kranzler (an amazing rendition of Its Time To Say Good Shabbos) DEDI and Shloime Gertner with their amazing combo of both Smile and VeKovei to the FINALE featuring over 45 individuals singing Abie Rotenberg’s CandlesMAZING. I want to take this time to thanks Suki & Ding productions/HASC for the opportunity over the last few years to review their shows, and I hope to be able to do it till 120. [photos: Yossi Zweig]